Adelaide Festival Center Presents 'Come Out Children's Festival' 2015

Adelaide Festival Centre today launched its 2015 Come Out Children's Festival program with hundreds of shows that promise to engage, stimulate, challenge, educate and entertain young minds.

Running over nine days, from May 22 - 30, the diversity of shows, talent and interactivity for children in this Festival is astounding. The program features a total of 550 events, performances, exhibitions, workshops and activities with no less than 12 South Australian premieres, one Australian premiere performance and five world premieres.

The theme for this year's Festival is 'Building Bridges', providing a metaphorical link between the Festival's artistic events and the Australian curriculum, especially the arts.

The Festival's hero image was designed by 15-year-old local student Alinda Tunc from Glenuga International High School. Schools across the state took part with children asked to design something that represented the Festival's "building bridges" theme.

The program for Come Out Children's Festival is divided into two categories - the schools program where children can participate in events and performances through their school, and the general public program.

The schools program includes 100 performances, 18 film screenings, 287 workshops/activities plus 6 statewide projects that all schools can participate in from the classroom. There is also an exclusive opportunity for three schools to have artists visit and work in their classrooms.

The general public program includes an extra 30+ performances, 4 extra film screenings and 90 workshops and extra activities. Also included is a strong visual arts component with 15 exhibitions/tours, a Q&A forum, and a keynote address by US Professor Katie Dawson, who is recognised internationally as a pioneer in the classroom and in the field of applied theatre. Katie will deliver the keynote address 'Building Capacity in Schools through the Arts' illuminating how the arts build our capacity to create, critically engage and connect with our world and with each other.

The Festival kicks off with a unique event for the community, A Bridge Across Time at 11am on Friday May 22. Voices both young and old will soar in this beautiful event that will evoke a moment in time with three generations - past, present and future all engaging in a shared experience. One remembered, one real and one imagined. Children will launch the Festival in lieu of the usual dignitaries and the Mighty Choir of Small Voices will walk the River Torrens Footbridge and sing iconic Australian song Eagle Rock. Led by Cirkidz, they will parade across the bridge to the sounds of the ACH 'Sing for Joy' choirs of Adelaide elders.

More than two million South Australian children have participated in the Come Out Children's Festival since its inception in 1974 and it is an intrinsic part of growing up in this State.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Director Douglas Gautier says, "Adelaide Festival Centre is producing the festival for the first time. We embrace the responsibility that comes with putting on an event that holds such an important place in the hearts and souls of South Australians of every age. We want to grow and nurture the Come Out Children's Festival to provide the opportunity and benefit of participating in the arts to as many children in South Australia as we possibly can."

Premier of South Australia Jay Weatherill reminds us that: "Exposure to the arts fosters creativity in our children. Creativity helps children cope with change and makes them more resilient, it also encourages critical thinking which is one of the great strengths of South Australia's world leading education system".

The Come Out Children's Festival delivers not only on quality but quantity - there truly is something for everyone in the program from theatre, dance, circus, science, puppetry, investigative play, orchestral works, robots, literacy and astrology. Festival highlights include: The action-packed adventure story of Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton's best-selling books is back, this time with the sequel The 26-Storey Treehouse.

See the book come to life on stage, expect mayhem, riotous inventions and catastrophic disasters from the cracker team that brought you The 13-Storey Treehouse. The performance is presented in association with CDP Productions which is renowned for its adaptations of well-known books and is an award-winning theatre production house that specialises in boutique theatre of the highest quality. Country kids will also have the opportunity to see the show as it tours regionally to Barossa, Port Pirie, Whyalla and Port Lincoln thanks to Country Arts SA.

Argus by Dead Puppet Society is a whimsical wonderland making use of nothing but household objects and four pairs of hands. The performance for 7-14 year olds transcends from the simple to the sublime when a fragile little creature seeks to find a home in a world where he just doesn't fit in. It's magic in miniature, a place where table tops grow grass and water bottles become the depths of the ocean.

Kids will get a chance to go on a circus safari through jungles, oceans and plains when The Circa Carnival comes to town with Carnival of the Animals. This is a whimsical and exuberant tale of creatures of land and seas that tumble, leap and spin their way through the animal kingdom. Using large digital animations and ingenious multimedia techniques with the language of circus, the stage is transformed into a series of animal habitats and children are taken on an acrobatic safari that's guaranteed to delight big and little kids alike.

Look, an Imaginary Theatre production, takes kids on a journey of joy, transformation and imagination as this intimate production unfolds a gentle story of resilience and friendship using exquisite physical storytelling, object theatre and interactivity. For the littlies aged 2 - 5 year olds, it's a gentle theatre experience that entices them into play through fun physical storytelling.

For the big kids 8+ Chalk About , A Curious Seed production, is both sophisticated yet generous hearted. It's a playful, funny and sometimes moving look at how young people see themselves and others, featuring dance, chat and one perfect scene containing everything you could wish for (including pizza).A Curious Seed is an Edinburgh-based company.

Especially commissioned for the Sydney and Melbourne Festivals and co-produced by State Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company as part of the Come Out Children's Festival, Masquerade is a world premiere bound to amaze and enchant audiences aged nine to 90. A new Australian play by award-winning playwright Kate Mulvany, based on the iconic children's book by Kit Williams. Masquerade is presented in association with Windmill Theatre.

The Festival also tackles real-life issues in History of Autism by Julian Jaensch and members of Company @, using the medium of theatre to unpack society's understanding of autism over the last 70 years. Company @ is a home-grown South Australia company and is believed to be the only autism spectrum theatre company in Australia. They offer actors with autism a chance to openly express their emotions and experiences of living with autism, to help them conquer some of the conditions most difficult development restrictions.

An interactive workshop throughout the Festival is the South Australian premiere of I Think I Can. Cutting-edge Tasmanian Puppet Theatre Company Terrapin use puppetry, live video and active audience participation where students choose a miniature puppet as their alter ego and play out their lives on a large scale model railway in the actual Adelaide Railway station.

Little Big Shots is Australia's premiere international film festival for kids and features for the first time as part of the Come Out Festival Children's program. It will feature the best in children's shorts, animations and documentaries, live action all amazingly produced by children from around the world. It's on at The Mercury Cinema.

Even babes in arms are catered for with a special performance for bubs aged 4 - 18 months. Presented by Adelaide Festival Centre in association with the State Library of South Australia Nursery by Sally Chance Dance, has two dancers and a musician who invite babies' investigation of the people, objects, movements, sounds and wordscapes within it.

As part of the schools program, Adelaide Youth Sinfonia will introduce students to a number of orchestral instruments in Discover the Orchestra, whilst Adam Page creates a symphony from everyday sounds in a South Australian premiere Like It or Loop It by exploring the music that can be found in the strangest of places, from the music in brushing your teeth in the morning to doing your homework at night.

Dear Hope Street by Maybe ( )Together, also part of the schools program, is an inspirational participatory art project where students use Google Street View and postcards to connect with residents on Hope Streets around the world. Another South Australian premiere at the Digital Hub, City Library, artist Alex Desebrock invites discussion about Google Street View, asking children to write a postcard to a Hope Streets across the globe. Hundreds of Hope Street residents have replied to these postcards - proving that this is much more than an art project, it's about heartfelt, human interaction.

Art and science collide in what is likely to be a challenging debate Arts Versus Science moderated by respected author and TV personality Dr Rob Morrison . He will lead an exceptional panel who will draw on a vast range of education, research and work across the arts and sciences to explore how the two fields differ, but also what space there is for collaboration. Featuring Keynote speaker Professor Katie Dawson, Professor Martin Westwell, Professor Tanya Monro and Circa Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz.

The Invisible Torrens is a world premiere at SAHMRI Auditorium and sees arts and science come together as tools to explore and visualise the invisible world of the River Torrens. Using microscopes and individual and collaborative drawing techniques, students will companre water samples from the Torrens and make observations and artworks based on what is found.

See the planets align in the StarDome, an educational and mystical experience where kids can crawl inside the giant space ball that is the SciWolrd StarDome. Surrounded by night sky projections they'll learn about day and nights, seasons, stars, planets, solar system, gravity, phases of the moon and constellations.

Kids can get creative with Robot Road Trip, an arts technology experience where students get hands-on experience with the realm of creative robots. This is another South Aussie premiere at the Artspace Gallery.

And they can unlock their inner Master Chef with San Remo Kids Kitchen. The San Remo Kitchen will set up at Adelaide Festival Centre during the Fesitval and will travel to schools within a 30km radius of the CBD in the week following. Chef Fiona Roberts will assist in creating perfect pasta dishes for the entire family.

Don't miss Cardboard Challenge where schools can join in the annual global event that celebrates child creativity. Come Out Children's Festival is inviting schools to engage their artistic entrepreneurs in building their own cardboard creation. Come in and check out Cardboard Cubby Town in Lyrics, potential architects can participate in artists workshops to add to the ever-expanding Cardboard Cubby Town.

Though a series of mini-plays, the True North Youth Theatre Ensemble asks what it means to be a kid in A Kid Like Me. This is a world premiere where the audience becomes part of the show using innovative handheld Zig Zag controllers which influence the direction of the narrative and how the performance is played out - a technology invented by SA contemporary performance ensemble and technologists The Border Project.

Literacy is acknowledged with National Simultaneous Story Time, a nationwide project where kids across Australia will read The Brothers Quibble by Aaron Blabey at the same time. Book worms will be delighted as Little Tent of Stories is erected on the River Deck, a quiet and nurturing space to delve into the wonderful world of books. Featuring Story Time Sessions from libraries across Adelaide as well as It's Rhyme Time in association with The Advertiser Little Big Book Club where popular nursery rhymes and books are brought to life, and Big Questions from Little People provides an opportunity for children to draw from a selection of more than 100 existing questions compiled by Gemma Elwin Harris, and answered by the biggest brains in the world.

Another Festival highlight is the Big Family Weekend held on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May. Bring the whole family together for a weekend full of performances, workshops, arts and crafts and even an attempt at the world's largest finger painting. Look out for the full family program announced in February 2015.

Workshops on offer include innovative and dynamic community youth centre Northern Sound System, which has created a fun music workshop called Song Recording SLAM! where students will record an urban track with their whole class. For little artists there is Collage Me by The Art Bus, where you can transform fond memories of family and friends into pieces of collage art.

Put your dancing shoes on in the Silent Disco or participate in the Restless Dance Theatre workshop Come Dance with Me.

A City For Whoo, created by Angelique Edmonds for the School for Creating Change, is a world premiere experimental urban walking trail where participants explore and discover how city spaces are created and for whom. Participate in SA's first virtual band for brass, woodwind, strings and percussion players Virtual Band Jamm, while South Australian Museum will present Making Music showing kids the instruments from the museum's collection. Adelaide Oval Tours will have sports fans imagining the roar of the crowd as they have the opportunity to go behind the scenes at Adelaide's premier sporting stadium. And Rumour Has It by Take the Floor choreography sends a strong anti-bullying and literacy message.

Come Out Children's Festival moves into the digital arena with four unique Digital Experiences; Film Fusion by South Australian composer, musician and educator Julian Ferraretto introduces composition techniques through creative improvisation; Sharing Stories by SharingStories Foundation is The Adnyamathanha Story of Yulu, The Kingfisher Man; Totem Poll by Freerange Future is a statewide project and world premiere where children can take a journey through the online Totem Pole; and another statewide project sees Sydney Opera House present two unique digital events Guwanyi Walama: To tell and return and Significant Australian Places: Sydney Opera House.

The Come Out Children's Festival is produced and presented by Adelaide Festival Centre and is proudly supported by the Government of South Australia through Arts SA and the Department for Education and Child Development.?

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