Children's Artspace Opens At Adelaide Festival Centre Today With PLAY IN THE PLAZA Weekend

Adelaide Festival Centre opens the new wondrous Children's Artspace art gallery to the public today celebrating with Play In The Plaza, a free and interactive long weekend of live music, roving performers, workshops, exhibitions, markets and more!

Children, adults, and families are invited to join the festivities in and around the newest riverside attraction - Children's Artspace - which is dedicated to children of all ages to share big ideas and engage with art created by and for South Australian children.

Hosting a new exhibition each school term, the gallery will present interactive workshops, performances and offer creative experiences to inspire children. It is collaborating with an international network of similar institutions including the Hamada Children's Museum in Japan, the Children's Museum of Art in New York, the International Museum of Children's Art in Oslo, Norway and the National Gallery Singapore.

Play In The Plaza will kick off the weekend of festivities with free events programmed by the creative team behind Families at Adelaide Festival Centre over the long weekend, from Saturday March 12 - Monday March 14 from 10am - 3pm each day, and live entertainment, markets and food trucks until 6pm.

Free events and highlights include:

• Kidtrepreneur Markets - the inaugural Adelaide Festival Centre markets will feature young movers and shakers creating and selling their wares at Space Theatre on Sunday, March 13 from 10am. A list of the talented young creators here.
• Cardboard Cubby Town - Presented by craft enthusiasts Mini Mad Things, participants can make and decorate their own cardboard houses to create a town that will take over Dunstan Playhouse foyer.
• Kaleidoscope Workshops - An interactive workshop encouraging everyone to see the world in new, abstract and bright ways just like when you look into a kaleidoscope. Register here. Full list of weekend workshops here.
• Roving Entertainment - Entertainment by roving performers and community groups including Free Agents Youth Theatre, Bamboozled, Swing That Thing Adelaide, Kalalaya School of Indian Performing Arts and Studio Flamenco plus more!
• Bowerbird - Adelaide's leading design event will showcase Australian designers and makers in Festival Theatre Dress Circle foyer from March 12-14 from 12pm - 6pm. A list of stallholders here.
• Eastern Plaza stage and bar - support local musicians, DJ's and live performances outside Festival Theatre's new Plaza Entrance, including guitarist Armin Gunay, songwriter and storyteller Jimmybay and folk / country singer Aaron Thomas. March 12-14 from 12pm - 6pm.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM: "Children's Artspace is the newest riverside attraction at Adelaide Festival Centre, dedicated to the next generation.

"We look forward to highlighting new spaces with plenty of action and entertainment this weekend and in coming months in and around our venues - from visual art, music, storytelling and First Nations programs.

"We invite people of all ages to join us in supporting South Australian artists and make the most of our new creative hub and lively spaces."

Children's Artspace head curator Alice Dilger: "I am thrilled that Children's Artspace will provide a hub of children's artistic creativity in Adelaide's city centre.

"Adelaide Festival Centre made it a priority to ensure the artwork was created by children, giving them the rare opportunity to be mentored by professional artists and see their resulting work presented as a curated exhibition.

"Children's Artspace will show all students that their voices as young artists and people are valued and important."

Executive Director, Children's Museum of the Arts, New York City, USA Seth Cameron: "Children's Museum of the Arts is excited to welcome Children's Artspace to the dialogue on children's art, and we look forward to many fruitful collaborations between our organisations and between child artists from across the globe."

The first exhibition in Children's Artspace will be Kaleidoscope: Playing with Colour created by students from Keller Road Primary School and Hackham West R-7 School, with the mentorship of South Australian artist Ruby Chew. Mentors are local artists who have been specially selected and are graduates from Adelaide Central School of Art.

Also launching this week will be a series of dramatic and colourful light projections on Adelaide Festival Centre's famous shell shaped rooftops by renowned projection artists The Electric Canvas.

Each weekend until the end of March, live music, free entertainment and an outdoor bar will also be on offer at the new Festival Plaza Entrance with a frequently updated schedule of events available here as part of the Welcome Back To Festival Theatre program.

Children's Artspace will be open to the public from Wed - Sun 10am - 3 pm (until March 20) and then from Wed - Sat 10am - 3pm.

High-res images, videos, full lineup list and media kits for Children's Artspace and Play In the Plaza events can be found here.

Images of new Festival Theatre entrances can be found here.

Current COVID protocols can be read here. Patrons can also take a virtual front row seat to some shows and events with our new online portal.

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