South Australia (Adelaide Region)
Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival of Arts, which takes over the city for three weeks at the beginning of March in even-numbered years, is a huge event, attracting an extraordinary range of international and Australian theatre companies, performers, musicians, writers and artists. Around the main festival has grown an avant-garde and experimental Fringe, which for many is more exciting than the main event. The official festival began in 1960 and since 1973 has been based at the purpose-built Festival Centre; there’s late-night cabaret after the evening’s events. 

Writers’ Week, the literary festival, is held in marquees in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens, across King William Road from Elder Park, and there are free outdoor concerts and opera – even films. Other venues around town host Artists’ Week, exploring the visual arts, and a small film festival. Programmes are available interstate from all Bass outlets and the offices of Tourism South Australia, and in Adelaide from the South Australian Travel Centre or the Adelaide Festival of Arts, PO Box 8116, Adelaide, SA 5001 (tel 08/8216 4444, fax 8216 4455), who have an office at 105 Hindley St.
The Fringe Festival begins with a wild street parade on Rundle Street a week before the mainstream Festival of Arts and ends a day after. Based at the Lion Arts Centre, on the corner of North Terrace and Morphett Street, and at venues all over town, it unleashes buskers en masse onto Rundle Mall. Twenty-four hour licensing laws are taken advantage of, as the Sydney and Melbourne arts scenes join the locals for some serious partying: late every night the Fringe Club has bands, cabaret and comedy. For more details on the Fringe, contact their office: Fringe Festival, PO Box 3242, Adelaide, SA 5000 (tel 08/8231 7760, fax 8231 5080), or pick up a programme from any SA Tourism office in the state.

Womadelaide is an outdoor world music weekend that began in 1992 as part of the Arts Festival but has now developed its own identity and is held every alternate (odd-numbered) year to the festival. It takes place in late February in Botanic Park: the full weekend (Fri night–Sun night) costs over $100, but day and session passes are also available. B#Records are the official store selling Womad tickets in Adelaide.