Summer Festival Guide: Culture
Get cultured this summer.
Every year it seems like the festival list gets bigger, the line-ups more star-studded and the FOMO more all-consuming. Like most of life's problems, the solution is knowledge. Achieving the perfect summer season takes diligent research. You gotta weigh the pros and face the cons. Sharpen pencils. Make a graph. But the sun's out, and there's tins to be crack — so maybe skip all that and just read our handy guide instead. Here's our pick of the culture festivals you should be visiting…
The Pleasure Garden is the thinking folk's rave. Yes, they've stacked the line-up with fest faves - Opiuo, Montaigne, Remi and Fat Freddy's bloody Drop for starters - but they've got an immersive creative arts scene that'll make your grey matter dance as well. Taking inspiration from their time working on some of the biggest festivals in Europe, co-founders Geordie Barker and Goose McGrath have brought mind-blowing custom stages, large-scale installation artworks, and even carnival rides to the table. You'll have to head along to see exactly what surprises they'll spring in 2018, but anyone who remembers last year's light-up ladybugs and glowing lotus loveseats will tell you it's worth finding out.
Just a couple hours out of Sydney's hustle and bustle Lost Paradise is all about looking to the inner spirit. To paraphrase, if music is the heartbeat of Lost Paradise, the serenity is its soul. There are yoga masterclasses with master yogis, as well as tantric, shamanic and dance healing workshops. Outrageous Entertainment will perform their world-class acrobatics, fire, stilt, UV and LED light magic and Switcheroo Circus will teach you a few tricks of the trade. Make interactive and collaborative art with Ico & Fwendz and Kraken, or become a work of art with The Glitteratti. They haven't forgotten the music of course; NAO, Little Dragon, DMA'S and Cigarettes After Sex are all on the almost 50-act bill.
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Further south, MONA FOMA has spread to 11 days, including the two-day debut of Mini-Mofo in Launceston, and rare pairings and collaborations abound as per usual. Canadian art-rock royalty Godspeed You! Black Emperor will score The Holy Body Dance Tattoo's office-grind opus Monumental. Tannery, the Tasmanian leather and taiko orchestra, will make beautiful music with a leather horn section and imported Japanese drums in a double bill with Gotye and the Ondioline Orchestra's concert for late electronic pop pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey. In maybe the most intriguing event, Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips will run DIY time travel workshops - manipulating the continuum with Afrofuturism and science fiction, memory, imagination, music and language.
Multicultural Arts Victoria is presenting the fifth year of Mapping Melbourne, a 17-day series of multi-disciplinary events celebrating independent Asian artists and our unique Australasian culture. You can get into most events without stopping at an ATM, including the launch party, which combines performance art, dance and live music from dancer Yumi Umiumare, art collective Club Ate and Haiku Hands. The opening night also features the first of three Mapping Melbourne performances from Japanese rapper Kojoe and celebrated jazz pianist/beatmaker Aaron Chouli - who've newly joined forces as Kaiju Hip Hop Jazz Project.
still looking for tips for the summer season? we've got the guides for you…
Francophiles of South Australian rejoice, as well as painting Melbourne and Sydney blue, white and red this year So Frenchy So Chic In The Park is also headed to Adelaide. There's beaucoup French culture, food and beverages, as well as family-friendly activities - kids 12 and under even enter free. The line-up is no bagatelle either; organisers have gathered a fine crop of French entertainment for the shindig, including Nigerian-born rapper Fefe, funk/jazz/soul purveyor General Elektriks, the eclectic sounds of Francois & The Atlas Mountains, avant-garde luminary Juniore and three-piece outfit LEJ.
Reaching even further afield WOMADelaide has another colossal global offering in 2018. In the idyllic surrounds of Botanic Park, some of the world's best musicians come together in one of Australia's greatest cultural events. The UK's Architects of Air are returning with their new inflated luminarium, Arboria, a collision of bounce houses, geometric patterns and installation art. Pay witness to the first of its kind collaboration between Cuban and Jamaican musicians Havana Meets Kingston, as well as Grammy-winning Taureg outfit Tinariwen. On the home front Yolgnu singer-songwriter Yirrmal is also on the line-up with The Miliyawutj, and modern jazz luminary Kamasi Washington is headed over from the States.
If you prefer your cultural delights sourced from closer to home, Twilights At Taronga have collected a celebrated line-up of some of Australia's greatest musical exports. First on the bill are The Jezabels, making their Twilights debut. The same week Dan Sultan returns to Taronga, this time with the absolutely killer combination of breakout act The Teskey Brothers. The series has also paired with Electric Lady, whose festival blew our minds back in July, to bring Montaigne, Tired Lion and Sloan Peterson together for one massive night. If beats are more your speed they also have a partnership with Future Classic, who are presenting Mount Kimbie, Kucka and Christopher Port. There's something new coming out of the natural amphitheatre every week, so pick your poison.
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