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March 28, 2007
I see that Adelaide is hosting another Festival of Ideas. Good on them. They are important events in the cultural life of the South Australia and the nation. Adelaide does this kind of thing very well indeed.
 I remember that the 2003 one raised the ire of Sydney cultural conservatives and the disgust of Tim Blair. It was seen by conservatives as an example of the way that Australian intellectual life is dominated by the left. It became caught up in the cultural wars and the conservatives' discourse that pits an 'ordinary Australian public' against a constructed (left-wing) 'elite'.
I seemed to have taken a low key approach to the 2005 festival here at junk for code. I was more engaged with it in terms of needing to make the shift to a digital world over at public opinion.
The list of speakers for the 2007 Festival is here. The theme is an interesting one: 'Which way to the future? It directly addresses the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our the way we live our current lives. So where is the green in the red and black festival logo?
I understand that some of Adelaide's bloggers (Kerryn Goldsworthy at Pavlov's Cat, Tim Dunlop at Blogocracy and Gary Sauer-Thompson at thoughtfactory) will be involved in 'blogging the festival.'
One possible problem the Festival faces is that dissenting voices are needed debate, not the talking together of amongst friends that mutes differences of opinion. That's the cultural conservative charge.
So how is that avoided that?
Mark Cully, Chair of the Festival’s Program Advisory Committee, has elaborated on what the festival theme, ''Which way to the future?', means. He says:
’Most people agree on the kind of future they want – growing prosperity, a sustainable environment, decent work, a feeling of security, and to bequeath a better world to their children. What we don’t agree on is the best way to get there. The speakers at FOI 07 will map out possible paths, challenge our thinking and debate the alternatives. The future should not be foreboding. It is ours to imagine, then create.’
Does that mean the issue of how Adelaide can become a more ecologically sustainable and people-friendly city will be addressed by the speakers? The big themes need to be linked to place.
From what I can make out from the speakers list Peter Cullen is carrying the flag on environmental issues along with James Lovelock. Are they going to build on the architecture symposium from previous Adelaide of Arts festivals by linking architecture and sustainability. Do not Adelaide's architects--- talk about regionalism in architecture?
Going digital is the next big step for the festival to take. My experience is that the Festival audience is very well informed and knowledgeable, and so what would be creative is to find ways to include the audience in the on-going digital public conversation and debate about the ideas introduced by the speakers. That kind of diversity would help to avoid the conservative charge about a cabal of leftists as it shifts the focus to the conversation sparked by the festival.
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Shame I am not closer. I would have made the trip to see what this thought factory fellow has to say :)