Chapter 25 Off the Beaten Track

Abstract

One of the key elements of success in any festival is its authenticity. This is often more easily achieved in generically specific celebrations of dance, theatre, opera, food, film – anything where the context allows for a deep exploration of the genre, rather than the cherry-picking approach which a large multi-arts festival demands. But authenticity can also be achieved through a serious engagement of the host city, town or region. There are festivals whose programs, at first sight, live and breathe a sense of place: you want to be there, to experience a program which will allow you to understand the cultural depth of a place. Many religious festivals demand pilgrimage, and those arts festivals that necessitate getting you off the beaten track already have a head start in generating excitement and devotion. This isn’t a travel pitch, but the business of getting there, arriving and grabbing as much as you can while you’re there, including serious engagement with the local culture and creating the possibility of collaboration or exchange, is central to the experience. You don’t go to these places to slow down, but to be informed and re-invigorated by a socio-geographic and cultural environment which you may never have expected to discover. East Arnhem Land sits at the top of Australia’s Northern Territory. It is the traditional land of the Yolgnu people who have been there for tens of thousands of years. Each year, the GARMA festival takes place on this land. Attendance is by invitation only, though that can be extended to you by application. Its defining agenda is Indigenous cultural exchange.