Adelaide Festival of Ideas Returns in 2021

Illuminate Adelaide in partnership with the University of Adelaide presents a new iteration of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in 2021. 

Ideas matter. They define how we see the world, and provide a sense of what the future could look like. In 2020 they were more important than ever as scientists raced to find vaccines, mass social movements mobilised millions of citizens and environmental crises threatened our very existence. 2021 is the perfect moment to reinvigorate the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in partnership with University of Adelaide and unpack the notion: Bright Future. 

University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Høj AC said: “The University of Adelaide is delighted to be hosting and curating this year’s Adelaide Festival of Ideas. 

“Our University has been a supporter of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas since it began more than 20 years ago. As the leading institution in South Australia for the creation of new knowledge, ideas and innovation, our campus is a natural home for the festival.”

For this year’s special program as part of Illuminate Adelaide, guest curators are Yuwallarai journalist and activist Kirstie Parker, social entrepreneur and 2021 Young Australian of the Year Isobel Marshall and Head of Humanities at the South Australian Museum Professor John Carty.

Professor Peter Høj AC said “I am proud to see that among the guest curators for this event are a current student who is also a socially minded innovator, Isobel Marshall, and a current staff member who is a professor of anthropology, Professor John Carty. They will make a unique contribution to this event.”

“We look forward to welcoming many visitors from the community onto our beautiful campus, to engage with leading thinkers on issues that are critical to our world’s future and our society’s prosperity.”

Together, they will invite great minds from around Australia and the world to explore a range of ideas vital to capturing this moment in history. A socially, culturally and environmentally inspiring program of panel discussions, debates and keynote speeches will be scheduled across four days, with many of the sessions free.

The full program will be announced in May.

Robyn Archer

From the Chair: Thank you for an incredible 2018 AFoI

Well – what a memorable experience the 2018 AFoI was for all who attended. Our move to the west end of North Terrace and to July worked for audiences. It was fresh outside but the sun shone for much of the time. The venues were warm and welcoming, and the contributions of our speakers kept the atmosphere buzzing with provocations and much food for thought. Robyn Archer’s opening night Dedication Keynote address set the scene perfectly with a strong call for vigilance regarding the challenges to democracy around the world and the dangers of rising intolerance. These themes were touched on again by a number of speakers throughout the weekend.

As with all good festivals, audiences had difficult choices to make – which sessions to attend and which ones to miss. The good news is that over the coming months, audio from all sessions will be available to stream from our AFoI website.

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas would not happen without the support of so many good people. On behalf of our Board, I extend heartfelt appreciation to  our many guest speakers who gave so generously of their time and thoughts. Starting with our Program Advisory Committee whose collective wisdom enriched the program, thanks also to the many sponsors and event partners who provided cash and in-kind assistance to ensure that the AFoI remains mainly free for audiences.

Our gratitude extends to the dozens of AFoI donors who provided generous support, and of course, many good people volunteered over the weekend to ensure that the venues and events flowed seamlessly. And finally, gratitude, respect and appreciation to our AFoI 2018 Programming and Production team, brilliantly led by Executive Producer Sandy Verschoor. Without this small team of dedicated people, each of whom rose above and beyond the call, there would simply have been no event. You are all gold!

Greg Mackie
Chair and Founder
Adelaide Festival of Ideas

Adelaide Festival of Ideas meets Entrepreneurs Week

Day two of the 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas coincides with Entrepreneurs Week, and as such, we have focussed our Friday 13^th July program on social enterprise and innovation.

We start the day with Katrina Donaghy on Blockchain, and how exciting the future of this technology is going to be, followed by Tim Causer in conversation with Stephanie Johnston on the work of Jeremy Bentham, a radical innovator whose work underpinned the establishment of South Australia. 

Julianne Parkinson, at a Behind Closed Doors networking lunch and learn session, will present on Ageing and Entrepreneurship, Rob Wilmot (UK) from Crowdicity speak on how open innovation can deliver transformational change, and the Don Dunstan Foundation presents Guy Turnbull.

From Singapore we welcome Caroline Seow, a former Systems Engineer with IBM and Head of Marketing, Apple Asia Pacific, who has turned her passions to purpose-driven businesses as transformative agents for maximum societal.

Caroline will then join local champions for social enterprise Sarah Gun from GOGO Events and Kari Allen from The Sparkke Change Beverage Company together with Adam Smith from Torrens University who advocates for the intersection of higher education and corporate social responsibility. The panel discussion will be chaired by Brenton Caffin, Executive Director of Innovation Partnerships for Nesta (UK).

The Arts Industry Council of SA will host a forum to explore whether artists as true entrepreneurs can build sustainable practices. The Match Tournament is an energetic pitch session full of ideas on how we can think differently about ageing with the winner winging their way to Copenhagen.

And to close the day, Dr Megan Clark, the recently appointed head of Australia’s Space Agency, will deliver the SIAA Annual Distinguished Lecture on our strategic priorities in Space.

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas will present more than 130 speakers in over 90 FREE sessions from July 12-15. Full program now available in the July edition of Adelaide Review or download from the website. 

www.adelaidefestivalofideas.com.au

2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas – From the Chair

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas is an example of what can happen when passion is mobilised and shared. The 2018 AFoI is a rich offering of ideas and a testament to the generosity of spirit of so many speakers. Along with our many volunteers, we invite you to rug up, and be engaged and active citizens.

In a world where opinions are in over-supply – and sound-bites abound. We are bombarded with tweets and brain-farts of ever-more reductive simplicity! the AFoI provides the curious citizen with a menu of more substantial content. Over three days and evenings, as an audience member you can choose your thought-lines and enjoy mixing it up with some of the most interesting people.

To mix metaphors, the 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas presents a cornucopia of thinking aloud – a smorgasbord of delectable ways of looking at the world from the perspectives of creative imaginations from many areas of expertise.

Of course, to make a free event possible means that we rely on the contributions of cash and in-kind from dozens of great community and business supporters. Without this goodwill, the AFoI could not happen. It is these acts of civic pride, philanthropy and generosity that make this possible.

So – what’s the very best way for you to make this effort worthwhile? Come along and enjoy the stimuli!

Help us populate the AFoI archive

Here at AFoI headquarters we’re sitting on an incredible treasure trove – recordings of AFoI sessions going all the way back to 1999. There are around 450 recordings all up. This is more than 95% of all the sessions we’ve hosted but only around 50 recordings have made it on to our website so far. For the last year we’ve been determined to rectify this and share our archive with the world but life, day jobs and the 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas have all got in the way. We need some help!

There is so much valuable, insightful and simply marvellous content there, from thinkers including Naomi Klein, Malcolm Fraser, George Monbiot, Germaine Greer, Bob Brown, Gerard Henderson, James Lovelock and so many hundreds more.

We need a few good people to help with this work. It involves listening to recorded sessions, uploading them into our website (this one) and adding a little enriching information such as themes and the speakers involved.

If you see the value in this and would like to contribute, please get in touch. Email Nick Crowther, AFoI board member, and we can discuss this significant and fun project in more detail.

This year’s theme – Who’s at the Wheel?

This is an exciting time to be alive, but it can be uncomfortable in the passenger seat.

Where are these new roads heading and will we find our way home? Are we so distracted by visions of the future that we have forgotten to solve the problems of today? Will we still be able to preserve the fine art of being human?

For three days and nights in July, we invite you into a world of new ideas, innovations, inspirations and provocations from 120 speakers, with 40 presentations, 24 panel discussions and five special events. Discover for yourself exactly who’s at the wheel…

Azusa Kyushiki

Azusa is a passionate young professional within the local performing arts events and festivals industry. She is on a journey to spread her love of arts with Adelaide audiences and create memorable experiences!

Belinda Petersen

Belinda is the passionate PR Director of BPPR who loves nothing more than to see her clients plastered in neon lights on TV, radio, online and in print.

Anne Wiberg

Anne Wiberg is passionate about music, arts and a life worth living. She works with arts festivals and organisations both in SA and interstate and continues to chair the board of Music SA.