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SPEAKER:
    Good evening-umm, I’ve been asked to tell you all about the Brisbane Festival which is being held here in Brisbane from September 8th to October 6th. You are all of course, welcome to come along to the various activities that we have planned while you’re visiting our city. We’re happy to announce that we have some free tickets which I’ll hand out later.
    The Brisbane Festival is held every year in a number of venues around Brisbane, not only to show off our own local talent but also to celebrate the incredible talent that we have in the Australian and the South-East Asian region. It’s a great time for us to catch up with our interstate and international friends and we’re thrilled that this year we have a record number of performances from South-East Asian participants. We have seen an increased amount of interest from European and American artists in recent years and we welcome them as well.
    Our goal is to bring people together through art by making art accessible to everyone. The Brisbane Festival aims to promote cultural understanding and interaction.
    Right. Well-as you experienced today, we have a wonderful climate here in Brisbane-our average temperature is about 24° Celsius and we have something like 290 sunny days a year. Naturally we want to take advantage of this-so we’ve scheduled performances in public places such as Southbank Parklands and the City Gardens as well as the more traditional indoor venues -the Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane Convention Centre, the Brisbane Power House and some of our university campuses.
    I’ll hand out a copy of the program shortly but I’d like to tell you about some of the highlights of the program and encourage you to enjoy as many of them as possible. I can also give you details on how to get to the venues.
    The first event that I’ll be seeing is the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Performing Arts Centre tomorrow night-that’s September 8. It starts at 8 p.m. and because there is one performance only, you should get there well before 8 p.m.-say 7:30 at the latest. And then for something completely different, Monkey-which is a play-is showing at the Power House at 6:30 on the following night. So you will have two late nights in a row but they are such different performances that I think you have to see both of them. Monkey is based on a 16th Century Chinese story-you might have seen the television series... I can’t wait for that one.
    We also have plenty of music on the itinerary-for those of you who like to hear arias, world- renowned soprano Sumi Jo is performing with the Queensland Orchestra on September 11th. She will be starting at 8 p.m. -if you can’t make it then, though, she will be performing some opera at later performances. And talking about music, Festival Club is going to be held every evening from Wednesdays to Saturdays at the City Gardens-Festival Club features music from around the world. I’m sure this will be very popular with the younger members of our group and you’ll feel very relaxed in the cool, spring Brisbane evenings under the stars... The City Gardens is one of our most popular venues.
    For those of you who are interested in Visual Arts, from September 13-no, I’m sorry September 14-the Art Gallery will be displaying works in the Asia-Pacific Triennial. There are details of that display in the handout.
    If you like drama, you’ll have to see Slava’s Snowshow the next day, at the Performing Arts Centre. It is a Russian production which has been wowing audiences from Moscow to London.
    It starts at 6-again, don’t be late because I’m sure that will be very popular and the Performing Arts Centre has limited seating.
    Barbara Fordham will be performing a series of concerts at the City Football Club from September 20-she has the most wonderful voice and you won’t want to miss one of her concerts particularly if you like blues music. Concerts start at 8-as I said at the City Football Club.
    We also have a Poetry and Writers Festival happening in Brisbane if you’re into that. The Poetry Festival starts on September 22nd and the Writers Festival will be on from October 4 to October 6. And if you don’t go to anything else, you simply must go to the Opera Under the Stars at City Gardens. This will be the grand finale on October 6th-it really will be fantastic and I expect there will be fireworks and all sorts of exciting things going on. So remember that one, Opera Under the Stars-starting at 6 on October 6.
    OK-that’s it from me. I really hope that you take the time to join in whenever you can with the Brisbane Festival celebrations. If you want any more information please come and see me-the information booklets and tickets are at the front door. Have a good night everyone and enjoy your time in Brisbane.