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MORE NEW ART GOES TO MARKET AT APAM 2006

The Australia Council’s 7th Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) will feature the largest line-up of new Australian productions seen by international and national arts presenters and producers at one time.

The Australia Council today announced the 36 companies that will take the stage at APAM 2006 in Adelaide in front of an elite audience of more than 400 arts programming decision-makers from 25 countries.

APAM is a crucial platform for Australian artists and companies wanting to take their shows around the world.

Australia Council CEO, Jennifer Bott said ‘International touring opportunities are growing rapidly, particularly for small to medium performing arts companies. The key is to ensure international presenters experience a diversity of work firsthand, and develop strong relationships with artists and companies – APAM provides the perfect environment for this to happen’.

The program includes world premieres and new work by some of Australia’s leading companies and artists such as Lucy Guerin (Vic) with Aether, Australian Dance Theatre (SA) with Devolution, Shaun Parker with Blue Love (NSW), para//elo (SA) with Lontano Blu and Honk if You Are Jesus by the State Theatre Company of SA.

The program will also include some of Australia’s most critically acclaimed work over the last year, including Company B’s Page 8 featuring David Page (NSW), Force Majeure’s Already Elsewhere (NSW), The Last Days of Mankind by Circus Elysium (Tas) and Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Sapphires (Vic).

Fresh from their recent Melbourne International Arts Festival success, Chunky Move’s (Vic) I Want to Dance Better at Parties and Back to Back Theatre’s (Vic) small metal objects will feature at the Market. After its sell out season, staged in the main thoroughfare of Melbourne’s Flinders Station, Back to Back will take its production to Adelaide Railway Station.

Back to Back’s general manager, Alice Nash said the company was delighted to re-stage the work in Adelaide to a broad array of international presenters. ‘APAM will help us build on the interest generated by the Melbourne Festival, by introducing small metal objects to a wider international audience that we would otherwise never reach,’ she said.

Robina Burton, general manager of ChamberMade (Vic) experienced the benefits of APAM’s international reach in 2004. After showcasing Phobia, invitations to tour nationally and across Europe were locked in for 2005, with more to come in 2006. The company also secured a US agent.

‘After our Phobia Spotlight appearance, I rushed back to the exhibition booth and found people already waiting to know more about the production and book the show. I spent three days in back-to-back meetings, fielding an enormous range of interest from presenters all over the world,’ said Ms Burton.

‘What’s exciting about APAM in Adelaide is that we host this international event during our biennial festival of arts, one of the world’s leading arts and cultural festivals and the Adelaide Fringe, the largest Fringe event in the country,’ says Greg Mackie, executive director, Arts SA.

‘It’s an amazing time for participants not only to see the best performing arts represented at the Market, but to attend festival events and experience the best on offer from around the world, including performances, exhibitions, new films and our world renowned Writers’ Week. It’s a time when the entire city is buzzing with energy. We are proud to be hosting APAM for the fifth time,’ he added.

In addition, two New Zealand productions that reflect New Zealand’s distinctive talent, Indian Ink’s Krishnan’s Dairy and Makerita Urale’s Frangipani Perfume, will feature at the APAM with Creative New Zealand support.

APAM attracts some of the world’s leading festival programmers. International delegates at the 2004 APAM included Julia Carruthers from London’s Royal Festival Hall, Linda Shelton from New York’s Joyce Theater, Itzik Becher – head of Aviv Productions (one of the leading North American agencies), Helen Cole from the UK’s Arnolfini and Stella Hall from Newcastle Festival in the UK.

The Australia Council for the Arts established the biennial event in 1994 to increase international and national touring opportunities for Australian performing arts. Since then more than 60 Australian companies have undertaken around 150 tours to 1200 venues, generating around $30 million in revenue, as a direct result of APAM.

APAM will be held at the Adelaide Festival Centre from 27 February – 3 March 2006. APAM is an initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts and is presented in partnership with the South Australian Government (through Arts SA), the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in association with the Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Bank 2006 Festival of Arts and Adelaide Fringe.

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