Ten Days on the Island will run from March 25th to April 3rd, 2011 and as Tasmania’s biennial international arts event and Australia’s only state-wide arts festival, it proves to be an action-packed programme of free and ticketed events.
This is artistic director Elizabeth Walsh’s final Ten Days programme, which will feature nearly 500 artists from the A to Z of island cultures. Coupled with new works and commissions from local and interstate artists, Ten Days has something to offer every taste with 232 free and ticketed events in 111 venues in 62 locations across the state.
Ten Days will feature six world premieres and 12 Australian premieres in theatre, dance, world and early music, chamber opera, exhibitions, installations, films and literature events celebrating island culture.
These artists have been invited to take up residency at Ten Days and invest their time and talent in the Tasmanian artistic landscape. International artists from islands across the globe and Australia’s finest will present performances and events across the broadest artistic spectrum in a programme.
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens will be a prime location being transformed by a tableaux of flashing neon, shadowy projections and bursts of fiery radiance. The young and old are encouraged to take an enchanting journey through a series of sound and light installations in the trees, beds and bushes, where the nocturnal beauty of the gardens is the main attraction.
There is a blistering season of ‘Dance Hall’ events that have been lined up where venues across Tasmania will get fired up by deep cuts and infectious grooves while Launceston’s youth contemporary dance company present ‘Stompin’, a world premiere and multi-art mash-up called ‘I Cars’. Tasdance then brings together four choreographers in another world premiere titled ‘Artery’.
The poetic narratives of Tasmanian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer are brought to life through puppetry in ‘When the Pictures Came’ while the Youth Theatre Island Exchange Project brings together two talented youth ensembles from Tasmania and Newfoundland who will be presenting a world premiere work reflecting their sense of island culture and home.
On the film front, musical explorer and electric lap-steel guitar player Mike Cooper presents two works as a soundscape artist and plays a live accompaniment to some classic silent films at ‘Mona’.
Finally, what better way to conclude the festival than with a panel discussion hosted by Virginia Trioli discussing ‘What is the great Tasmanian book?’
Ten Days kicks off with a bonafide family night out on Hobart’s Parliament House Lawns, on the 25th of March from 5pm.
Artistic Director Elizabeth Walsh has planned a Ten Days Grand Tour for visitors to enjoy a wonderful evening out at free or ticketed events.
For the suggested itinerary or anything else about Ten Days on the Island 2011, visit the website.
