SA Power Networks is proud to be the Youth & Education Program partner for the Adelaide Festival - ensuring young people, who may not otherwise, get access to the arts.

Attending Adelaide Festival’s world-class shows, performances and exhibitions opens up opportunities for students to engage with theatre and explore new perspectives of the world in which they live.

As part of our partnership, we support two access programs – Festival Connect and Adelaide Festival in Schools.

Festival Connect is an inclusive equity program that covers the cost of transport for school students to attend Adelaide Festival shows. The focus is on Category 1-4 schools (which are defined by the Department of Education as the most socio-economically disadvantaged). The program also subsidies accommodation costs for remote or regional schools.

This year, over 80 students from three schools, including Le Fevre High School, Wandana Primary School and Elizabeth Vale Primary School, were treated to a performance of Airplay – a unique show expertly balancing comedy, sculpture and circus, in a breathtaking homage to the power of air - at the Festival Theatre.

Adelaide Festival in Schools was a program directly driven by us to get Festival acts directly out to students in their school environment.

This year, Slingsby Theatre Company headed down to Roma Mitchell Secondary College to host an interactive workshop for around 30 of their Year 7 female students. The session involved students planning, scripting, and performing their very own theatre creations using shadow puppetry.

Caley Watt, a performing arts teacher at Roma Mitchell Secondary College, believes it is so important for kids to be exposed to the arts and see people who are thriving and working in that space.

“Seeing performers like Slingsby show our students the power of performing and how the arts can be a viable career pathway is truly a gift,” says Caley.

“Having these workshops with professionals who love their art so much, and come in and inspire our students, is going to be one of those moments where they go, I really like this, or I am really interested, and then they are able to choose it more, keep doing it at school and find other opportunities outside of school.

“For a lot of our kids, with the area we are in, the distance to the city, as well as the socioeconomic status, arts just aren’t always accessible.

“Without this program, these kids might not have every had this opportunity to see Adelaide Festival performers, let alone have them come to our school, so I know it is an experience that they will never forget.”

Andy Packer, Director of Slingsby, led the school workshop and also shares his thoughts about the importance of not only showcasing arts to young people, but getting them involved.

“What’s great about the arts is it uses our mind, emotions, hands, and can even bring technology into things. Art syntheses a whole lot of what being a human really is, to express how we feel and when we see someone express how they feel we go, actually I feel the same way, so that builds a bridge and unites us all,” says Andy.

“It’s really powerful for young people to have an opportunity to stand up in front of their peers, teachers and significant adults in their lives and perform as the centre of attention.”

As a continuation of the program, Slingsby ended up hosting a special performance of their Adelaide Festival show The River That Ran Uphill to 120 students from Hampstead Primary School, Enfield Primary School and Wandana Primary School in April.

“Slingsby is really interested in making sure we remove any barriers so that as many young people and community members get access to the work that we create,” says Andy.

“It’s wonderful to have a collaboration with Adelaide Festival to then enable us, through SA Power Networks support, to get in front of students in these Category 1-4 schools, and make sure we are democratising that experience, so arts can be accessed, shared and experienced by anyone.”

For more on how SA Power Networks is supporting the community, visit our Community Partners page.