New festival promises more than just bright lights on cold nights

Illuminate Adelaide, the nation’s latest winter arts festival, has released the first glimpse of its inaugural program.

From Parrtjima – A Festival in Light in Alice Springs, to Vivid Sydney’s colourful projections, festivals featuring projections and illuminations have become popular tourist attractions nationally and internationally in recent years.

Simultaneously, sparked in part by Dark Mofo’s success in attracting cultural tourists at what was previously the quietest time of year for Hobart’s hospitality and accommodation industries, winter festivals are also increasingly widespread around Australia.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts