Adelaide Festival Centre opens the new wondrous Children’s Artspace art gallery to the public this Saturday 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.
Interactive workshops, performances and hands-on experiences
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
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
- 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 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
- 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.
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.
This weekend’s events are happening alongside the unveiling of the biggest stage of Festival Plaza’s revitalised public realm, which is part of the larger $993 million Festival Plaza redevelopment, undertaken by the State Government in partnership with SkyCity Adelaide and Walker Corporation.
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.
For more information:
