“The artistic centre of Melbourne looks, well, a bit lonely when it comes to street life. We wanted to bring the talent outdoors, turn the area inside out. I’ve been in Melbourne for seven years, working in The Southbank precinct and you don’t get a sense of the vibrancy of the area; all the creating is going on inside. Two years ago I curated a festival called The Garden Party that took place in a gravel car park behind the Recital Centre. It‘s a charged pocket of the neighbourhood. Not a huge amount has been happening in the arts precinct previously. We realised then that we should all be doing more outside. We need to do more things outside and more things in summertime.” So Siddle and various colleagues from the various arts institutions of Southbank decided to put together an outdoor festival intent on bringing the arts precinct to life. “The14 arts departments have come together and are contributing something to the festival,” she says. “The collaboration is unprecedented and unique. We’re proud of it – it’s an incredible collaboration.” Summersalt, which includes the VCA contemporary/digital music/arts extravaganza, the Sugar Mountain festival, under its umbrella, is a day and night weekend outdoors arts binge.
“There are fantastic outdoor spaces in the area,” adds Siddle. “The festival hub is in Dodds Street, which will be closed to traffic for the festival to make it pedestrian friendly. It’s an eating and drinking hub as well as an entertainment hub. We have two bars, Shine and Slide and even a milk bar selling traditional milk bar goodies.” SummerSalt Festival will open on Friday with a whole lot of noise courtesy of Bold as Brass leading a procession from Federation Square to Testing Grounds, inviting the public to join in a musical walk to start off the excitement. “Testing Grounds is a pocket of land behind the Ballet Centre. It was doing nothing but now it’s a fantastic community space with lots of experimental things happening there,” Siddle says. “During Summersalt it’s an outdoor music venue, we’ll have Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, Lake Street Dive and Peter Hook and the Light.”
SummerSalt performances will include circus, dance, theatre, puppetry music, all happening outdoors. One highlight is Blak Cabaret, a theatrical, soulful satirical show by indigenous performers, taking place in the courtyard of the Coopers Malthouse. Summersalt days are kid friendly and night time is for the grown-ups. “The majority of events are free,” Siddle says. “Some are ticketed but at low cost. People can come to Summersalt multiple times. It doesn’t have to be a special occasion; you can come and wander around precinct, anytime. There will be an app you can download which will connect the digital and the real world around you, creating a theatrical effect while you’re there, there are three characters, and you can follow one of those characters around the area.”
The variety of acts on offer during SummerSalt fairly boggles the mind. A total of 75 different artists and acts including Mitchell Butel, Tina C back in town with a new show, Women of Soul (a band made up of various musicians from Cookin’ on 3 Burners, Bamboo and Deep Street Soul) are involved. Ben Walters, Crusty Suitcase Band, Stalker Theatre Company will Company appear, along with Scotch and Soda where music meets acrobatics. Dining Room Tales Summer Barbeque brings punters and performers together over an al fresco meal. Visitors can enjoy the experience of meandering through the Exxopolis, the newest Architects of Air ‘luminarium’, which is gigantic translucent PVC domed structure inspired by cathedrals and mosques. “On the first weekend we have this dance program called Dance at Dusk at the Hub in Dodds St,” Siddle adds. “We’re screening three films curated by Anouk van Dijk, Artistic Director of Chunky Move, and David McAllister from The Australian Ballet. They collaborated and chose these films, and ahead of the films you can take a dance class and learn one of the routines in advance! So you can learn the steps and join in when the film’s on!”
Siddle is looking forward to one act in particular. “Scotch and Soda are insanely good; they’ve come back from Edinburgh with four and five star reviews.” She insists she’s had a wonderful time putting Summersalt together, despite having to do it in only six months. “It’s a big challenge getting a festival of this size up, with 280 events; it’s a stretch. We only started in June, so we’ve only had six months from start to delivery. It was a short time frame but we’ve had to deal with it. I’ve enjoyed it so much! Talking to other arts people and rethinking the way we present some of our work. It’s a warm, easy going atmosphere. .Summersalt is a unique festival. Some of the artists would never normally do things outside. It’s a whole different atmosphere; it’s a different feeling when you do things outdoors. You relax. Daylight hours, perfect. I wanted to create a festival that was participatory, and interactive. Something that encourages people to get involved.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
