MIAF 2009

The program for the 2009 Melbourne International Arts Festival (MIAF) was launched earlier this week, and is already generating significant debate in the blogosphere.

Over at Born Dancin' you can read the author's concerns about the apparent lack of cultural diversity in the festival program, and further thoughts about the festival's desire for exclusivity; while the crew at Spark Online note how the new Festival Director, Brett Sheehy, comes with a certain amount of baggage ("The new Artistic Director’s bio carefully stresses the numbers, reading like a corporate profile," they write) and, like Born Dancin', they also note the "culturally homogenous program dynamic". Ultimtely, though, their conclusion is "We are not at all disappointed" with MIAF 2009.

Over at Theatrenotes, Alison Croggon views the program in a far more positive light. "MIAF 2009 promises to be a really interesting festival, and will attract a wide range of people," she writes.

What I think will be explored below.

To begin with, some of you will be able to read my own thoughts over at Arts Hub, where I describe incoming Artistic Director Brett Sheehy's first MIAF program as 'Euro-centric ... considered and safe'.

It was an interesting piece to write, as Sheehy was unavailable to speak to me about his festival program, unlike the directors of the Darwin and Brisbane Festivals, who have also launched their programs in recent weeks. I would have preferred that Sheehy speak for himself about the range of works, the strengths and weaknesses of his program, but that turned out not to be possible. (Nor did Sheehy take questions from the assembled media at a MIAF media briefing a few weeks prior to the launch, which did strike me as a bit odd, quite frankly. Why have a media briefing at all if you're not going to discuss the program, and your reasoning behind including or excluding certain events, with the assembled journalists?)

But anyway, let's concentrate on the program.

The Good

There are numerous events in the program which have caught my eye, including...

A very strong visual arts program, programmed by Simon Maidment, which unites artist-run initiatives like Conical, commercial galleries such as Anna Schwartz, and state-supported venues such as the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces. Artists from Australia, South Africa, Brazil, the UK and other countries are presented across a range of media, including film, installation, photography and design.

Beck's Rumpus Room showcases the cultural diversity I would have liked to have seen spread across the entire program. Bands such as Fischerspooner (UK) Melt Banana (Japan), My Disco (Australia) and Ramallah Underground (Palestine) can be seen for $15 a night, which is an absolute bargain. Definitely somewhere I will be spending a few of my nights I suspect!

Dance fans will find much to interest them in the program. The more I read about the UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company, the more I look forward to seeing them, with In your rooms described by The Guardian as "probably the most important new dance work to be created in Britain since the millennium". And it features Sigur Ros on the soundtrack - yay! I'm not much of an opera fan, so I'm less exited by Sasha Waltz's Medea, but I do look forward to seeing Körper, given the amazing reviews that Waltz and her dancers are generating.

From Ireland, the Abbey Theatre's Terminus is going to be a must-see for me, given that it won The Scotsman newspaper's Edinburgh Fringe First Award - high praise indeed given the scale and strengths of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; and likewise, the two works presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company, Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling and Lally Katz's Apocalypse Bear Trilogy are also high on my list.

And I will also have to check out a gig at the Planetarium, Elemental, which merges sound art, video art and poetry, especially because the four poets involved - alicia sometimes, Sean M. Whelan, Emilie Zoe Baker and Paul Mitchell - are all old friends of mine.

The Bad

As with Born Dancin' and Spark Online, the Euro-centric nature of much of the performance program concerns me.

It is homogenous, with the festival's major acts drawn from a handful of countries - France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, the USA, Germany, Germany again, the UK again, Iceland, Belgium, Belgium, the UK, Germany yet again...

There are, however, plenty of Australian acts in amongst them, though the inclusion of Chunky Move strikes me as predictable, and perhaps a little unimaginative, given the strengths of the local dance sector.

I'm also a bit dismayed by the dominance of music over other artforms, especially orchestral and classical music. You've got the London Philharmonic, the Australian String Quartet, Vocalconsort Berlin, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a Back marathon, and a series of concerts based on three religiously-themed classical music works, to name just some of the works on show.

Brett Sheehy's public statements valuing 'exclusivity' are also concerning to me. Dialogue and cultural exchange are experiences I greatly value, and a key part of making art in any city, but especially in Melbourne. That said, as someone who has worked professionally in the arts industry on and off since 1999, I recognise the economic imperatives which might drive such measures: it doesn't mean I have to agree with them though.

And I'm also suprised by the lack of projects which would lead to a lasting impact for the local arts sector. I can find no mention of workshops by visiting artists in the program which might lead to a legacy beyond successful box office takings; and the Artists' Bar, where local and visiting artists could rub shoulders and share experiences and ideas is no more. (That said, there will be a series of forums and talks at the Arts Centre Fairfax Studio throughout the festival, which I hope will provide some stimulating discussion.)

Finally, at the media launch, Sheehy spoke about wanting to ensure his festival engages with regional Victoria, but instead of actually programming events in the regions, or helping create partnerships between regional artists and those from Melbourne or overseas, his solution has been simply to bus people in from regional centres such as Ballarat and Bendigo. Again, not something that nurtures the local arts ecology in any meaningful or lasting way.

* * *

So there you have it. There are aspects of the festival that appeal to me, and others that I definitely find problematic. Those of you reading this will also, naturally, have your own point of view - especially those of you who work for MIAF, and trust me I will know when you visit and leave anonymous comments, thanks to my statcounter - and I look forward to reading your thoughts. Especiall yours, Brett Sheehy, if you're around!

Most of all, I look forward to seeing some art that moves and excites me, and leads to stimulating conversations with the people around me, whether it's at MIAF or MIFF or Fringe or the latest, dazzling work by BalletLab, which I saw last night and which I hope to find time to blog about tomorrow.

On with the show!

The Melbourne International Arts Festival runs from October 9 - 24.
www.melbournefestival.com.au