Awesome Festival

The "Awesome Festival" (officially the Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things) is an arts event in Perth, Western Australia held each November since 1995. [PDFlink| [http://www.awesomearts.com/resources/Newsletter%201.pdf Awesome News Issue 1] |647 KiB, Awesome Arts Australia. Retrieved on 2008-08-25.] The participation and interaction of younger visitors is encouraged by street theatre, interactive art, dance workshops, film screenings and musical performances. It is organised and run by Awesome Arts Australia, a not-for-profit company based in Perth. [cite web|url=http://www.awesomearts.com/about-awesome/team-awesome/|title=About Awesome & the Awesome team|publisher=Awesome Arts Australia|accessdate=2008-08-25]

The company is involved with separate programs, including a food art program in the remote mining town of Leonora and other school community projects that create works to showcase at the festival. [cite news|url=http://kalgoorlie.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/art-you-can-eat-in-leonora/1244374.aspx|title=Art you can eat in Leonora|date=August 14, 2008|work=Golden Mail|publisher=Fairfax Media|accessdate=2008-08-25] [cite journal|last=Alach|first=Felena|date= Feb-March 2004|title=Awesome: out of the comfort zone|journal=RealTime Arts|issue=59|pages=p. 28|url=http://www.realtimearts.net/article.php?id=7353] Some of these are sponsored by its commercial partner, the multinational mining company BHP Billiton Nickel West. [cite web|url=http://www.awesomearts.com/media/bhpbillitonnickelwestformsawesomepartnership/|title=BHP Billiton Nickel West forms awesome partnership|date=July 9, 2007|publisher=Awesome Arts Australia|accessdate=2008-08-26]

The festival has featured international acts including a contemporary dance group from Canada and Architects of Air, a United Kingdom-based group designing large inflatable sculptures; [cite news|url=http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/20031122/impressions/home.shtml|title=Festivals and family fun|last=McNeill|first=Sarah|date=November 22, 2003|work=Post Impressions|publisher=Post Newspapers|accessdate=2008-08-25] minor acts have performed shows exclusive to Perth from France, Taiwan, New Zealand and around the country. [cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22652183-5005364,00.html|title=The AWESOME arts festival begins November 16 in Perth|date=October 26, 2007|work=Perth Sunday Times|publisher=News Limited|accessdate=2008-08-25] Kismet, the prominent [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DCQArlsLXd4C&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=Doppio+Teatro&source=web&ots=wT6bZduB3_&sig=RR65fqFvQG4clUb3HzK9DdwNnt8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
title=Our Australian Theatre in the 1990s
first=Veronica
last=Kelly
date=1998
publisher=Rodopi
isbn=9042002891
pages=253 p133 ] theatre company from Puglia, Italy, performed a dance and actobatics version Beauty and the Beast in 2002, prior to touring elsewhere in Australia. [cite news|title=Theatre troupe leaves tragedy behind|last=Laurie|first=Victoria|date=November 14, 2002|work=The Australian|publisher=News Limited|pages=4|accessdate=2008-08-26]

The 2003 program included an interactive video by Melbourne arts group Chunky Move, a migration and colonisation performance by Hong Kong's City Contemporary Dance Company and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, contemporary dance by Canadian group Cas Public. Artists and groups from Belgium, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Slovenia and France also performed or displayed their work. [cite news|title=Thump, bump, look on: fun for everyone|last=Clarke|first=Rita|date=December 1, 2003|work=The Australian|publisher=News Limited|pages=Features section (p. 15)|accessdate=2008-08-26] A performance by Slovenian artist Matej Andraž Vogrinčič involved filling a building site with thousands of beach balls, as a tribute to childhood beach games, [cite news|title=Getting around to having a ball|last=Laurie|first=Victoria|date=November 11, 2003|work=The Australian|publisher=News Limited|pages=Local section (p. 6)|accessdate=2008-08-26] and Belgian performance artist Caroline Amoros performed her character Rose, an eccentric old lady interacting with people on the street while walking a poster of a dog. [cite news|title=Rose by any name|date=November 16, 2003|work=The Perth Sunday Times|publisher=News Limited|accessdate=2008-08-26] Architects of the Air, based on a design by Nottingham and Geneva-based artist Alan Parkinson, exhibited Ixilum following the similar Arcazzar exhibit in 2002. Ixilum was a small inflatable city, inspired by Iranian architecture and formerly displayed at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. [cite news|title=Airborne city lands|last=Priest|first=Annika|date=August 10, 2003|work=The Perth Sunday Times|publisher=News Limited]

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