DRAM3107 Festivals: Performance and Curation

This topic critically examines the programming at festivals in the performing arts and considers four key questions: How might a festival leave a lasting impact on participants? What process is undertaken in curating a festival? Moving beyond performance, what additional platforms of expression and communication might a festival embrace? How can the success of a festival be measured? While significant attention will be given to one or more festivals in South Australia, a range of other festivals, large and small, both within Australia and around the world, will also serve as case studies for analysis.

This topic aims to give students the opportunity to:

• Gain exposure to a range of methodologies and critical approaches relevant to festival curation
• Interrogate the role and function of the curator with respect to festival programming
• Critically evaluate festivals in the performing arts across cultures and regions
• Acquire in-depth knowledge about the workings of a particular festival
• Develop a deeper understanding of and sensitivity to cross-cultural interactions in a festival context

1. Display a working knowledge of key concepts in curation
2. Apply the critical and analytical skills developed in this topic to the practice of festival curation
3. Synthesize information from a range of resources across disciplines and apply it to the practice of festival curation
4. Effectively communicate, both verbally and in writing, a plan for festival curation
5. Demonstrate core competencies in cross-cultural understanding and communication