South Australia’s 2015 Come Out Children’s Festival

The ‘Come Out’ Children’s Festival opens today with 1600 school children performing as the ‘Mighty Choir of Small Voices’ on the Adelaide Oval footbridge. The children will sing Daddy Cool’s classic Australian rock song Eagle Rock.

Following the performance the kids will march across the bridge led by ‘Cirkidz’ and the ‘Heathfield Renegades’ before stopping to listen to a choir of elderly citizens celebrating the contribution of older people to the Arts.

For the first time the Come Out Festival is under the custodianship of the Adelaide Festival Centre. The Centre’s CEO and artistic director Douglas Gautier has stated, “We are delighted to present the Come Out Children’s Festival for the very first time. This Festival, an intrinsic part of growing up in South Australia, will become an important component of Adelaide Festival Centre’s ongoing engagement with children, young people and their families. Our organisation believes in the value of children being involved in the arts from an early age – already we welcome 130,000 young people and their families to the Festival Centre every year.”

This year’s Festival runs from May 22-30. The programme features 550 events, performances, exhibitions, workshops and activities with 20 South Australian premieres, 1 Australian premiere and 4 world premieres.

The Big Family Weekend (May 23-24) compliments the official opening with free activities including the Cardboard Cubby Town Workshops, readings in the Little Tent of Stories, Collage Workshops, Robot Soccer, Festival Centre Backstage Tours and the StarDome – an interactive journey of discovery throughout the solar system. Kids and their parents can also take a free ride on the Popeye and River Torrens paddle boats all weekend between 10am and 3pm.

There will also be visual art exhibitions. A retrospective of the work of Lynley Dodd, the artist behind Hairy Maclary, will be on display at the State Library, while the Festival Centre will play host to Drawing on the Heroes Who Shape Us, a portraiture exhibition from students who participated in workshops with established artists to create portraits of their everyday heroes.

Over 10,000 people are expected to take part in activities at various venues across the weekend.

For full details of the Programme go to http://www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/come-out-childrens-festival