ASSITEJ WORLD CONGRESS AND FESTIVAL

Mr O'BRIEN (Napier) (14:36): My question is to the Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts. How will the ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival, commencing in Adelaide on 9 May, help cement Adelaide's place as Australia's heart of the arts?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:36): I acknowledge the honourable member's great interest in the arts. ASSITEJ is the Association International du Theatre pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse—the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People. Founded in 1965, this global alliance of professional theatre has centres in 80 countries, and its members perform to millions of children and young people each year in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia.

Every three years ASSITEJ holds a prestigious world congress and arts festival for children and young people. It is the most important international event for arts practitioners working in the field of youth theatre. The festival is widely regarded as the most significant cultural event in the world for families and young audiences.

In 2005 I led a bid for Adelaide to be the host city for the 16^th ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival. We were successful and the festival will open this Friday and run until 18 May. There will be 138 performances of 28 productions, involving around 230 performers. Companies and individual artists specialising in theatre for the young are coming from Sweden, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Korea, the USA, Germany, Thailand, the UK, Austria and South Africa—so the Minister for Multicultural Affairs should applaud this act of great multicultural celebration in South Australia—to perform at ASSITEJ in Adelaide.

As of Monday, 374 delegates from 43 countries had registered to attend ASSITEJ, and a total of 27,000 tickets have been either sold or allocated to disadvantaged students. Opening night of the festival at the Adelaide showgrounds this Friday will feature a performance of Nyet Nyet's Picnic by a Victorian puppet company called Snuff Puppets, working with indigenous artists to revive ancient dreamtime stories. I am also pleased to announce that arrangements are being made for several—

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: We could arrange that if you are free on Friday night. Arrangements are being made for several festival artists to perform for patients at the Women's and Children's Hospital during ASSITEJ. Adelaide is the only city to have ever won the right to host the world congress on two occasions. This reflects the high quality and diversity of local artistic work, Come Out staff, the South Australian Youth Arts Board (SAYAB) and Carclew, and the commitment of the state government to the arts for young people.

The 2006-07 state budget committed total funding of $875,000 towards ASSITEJ. State government departments have assisted to provide free tickets for children from disadvantaged schools to attend. In addition, the federal government has granted $225,000 for ASSITEJ through the Australia Council. As a result of participating in the arts, young people are able to discover and connect with different cultures and to develop their creativity.

I urge all members to buy a ticket and take their children, grandchildren nieces and nephews to an ASSITEJ performance this month. In developing this bid, we were very much led and supported by Jessica Machin, Chief Executive of SAYAB and Carclew; and, today, her friends and colleagues will be celebrating her announcement of her move to Western Australia to take up a job with Country Arts in that state. I take this opportunity to thank her on behalf of all young people in South Australia and the people involved in youth arts for the great contribution she has made to our state.