Performance4a

With over 100 events and 120 artists, the fourth Encounters Festival takes over Brisbane’s South Bank cultural precinct and the West End until May 19. Encounters: India reflects the near-overwhelming vastness of India with a program of music, film, visual arts, food and community events. The South Bank precinct has been transformed into a bustling parade of contemporary India. At the Nepalese Pavilion, a lone sitar player greets the dawn; an Indian Bazaar evokes the colours and fragrances of a Delhi market on the Forecourt; throughout the parklands and streets, bursts of Bollywood recharge the mind’s battery; the Queensland Conservatorium’s many spaces echo to myriad musical styles from more than 50 concerts and masterclasses.

The focus at Sydney Writers' Festival 2013 is telling stories.  How perfect for us here at Performance 4a!  Not only is our season of Stories Then & Now - presented with Carriageworks - part of the Festival, but two Performance 4a storytellers participate in other SWF events. Sheila Pham (pictured) is in the Stories Then & Now cast, and will be speaking at a session called "So You Want To Be A Writer" on May 19 at ICE in Parramatta. And the delicious mistress of the Red Lantern Pauline Nguyen, who stars in our forthcoming production The Serpent's Table speaks on three panels about food, migration and writing.

Multicultural Arts Victoria will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Emerge Festival from May 18 – July 31, looking retrospectively at the abundance of cultural wealth, music, dance, cross-cultural exchange and understanding that has emerged and been shared over the last decade. The Festival will be launched with Emerge in the West, a massive one-day cultural celebration in Footscray on May 18 and will spread throughout metro Melbourne and beyond with performances and unique cultural experiences, including the signature Emerge Main Event, at Fitzroy Town Hall on June 16.

The Serpent's Table is a collaboration between Performance 4a and Griffin Theatre Company.  On 14 December, our Creative Development concluded at Carriageworks with a showing to potential presentation partners. The audience was treated to dishes by Pauline Nguyen (mistress of the Red Lantern restaurants) and celebrity chef Adam Liaw, completing the experience of their stories.  There were short performance excerpts from Darren Yap, Anna Yen and Jennifer Wong. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with the audience deeply moved and highly entertained.  We hope to develop the project to presentation stage in 2013.