ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA.- ABC News Online reported that this year’s Adelaide’s Festival of the Arts has opened, with tens of thousands of people cramming into the city. Thousands of arts-lovers went to the Torrens to see an awakening ceremony, while at the Adelaide Town Hall the Prague Chamber Orchestra played to a near-capacity house. At the Torrens Parade Ground, a huge queue formed all night as people waited to get into the Universal Playground. The opening is the culmination of two years hard work for artistic director Steven Page, but he very nearly did not make it to the opening night.
In a speech that brought joy and tears, Page told a special audience of invited guests he had done all he could to make the 2004 festival an artistic success. However, he amused people when he said he just was not comfortable with too many formalities.
"I just did a speech at the gallery and I was so stiff," he told the crowd.
"I refused to drink before I did it and I thought, ’you idiot’.
"I think it’s the suit... I should have worn board shorts and my land rights t-shirt and my thongs."
He was more sober in thought when he revealed for the first time he nearly resigned before the job was done.
"My mother, Doreen’s here tonight... we lost my brother not long ago and she gave me the strength to push forward, to do this job.
"I really wanted to resign... I couldn’t."
The Adelaide Festival of Arts is delighted that its long association with Artists’ Week will be resumed in 2004. Artists’ Week is the most prominent Australian event of its kind, offering an exciting mix of artists’ talks, exhibitions, and interactive forums of cultural experts, including internationally renowned speakers.
Artists’ Week forums take their start from the exhibitions which make up the Festival’s visual arts program, exploring themes such as; Landscape, Beauty and the Search for Spirit; Art, War & Civilization; The Theatre of Art; and Photography in Global Focus. Artists’ Week’s principal keynote speaker will be freelance American writer and cultural critic, Dave Hickey, one of the most distinguished international voices in contemporary visual arts.
A Sacred Symposium will be a highlight of Artists’ Week, consisting of high-profile, all-Indigenous experts responding to the Festival’s vision of exploring the influence of tradition on contemporary arts practice. The National Association for the Visual Arts will host a special day of talks called, Untitled 2004: the Last Art Forum. Artists’ Week concludes with a nationally significant Architectural Symposium, focusing on the challenges in making and thinking about contemporary architecture.
Artists’ Week 2004 will be a special entertaining window to the most compelling issues and debates in Australian contemporary visual arts and Indigenous culture.
Artists’ Week 2004 is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.  The event will End on March 4, 2004.