Often we hear of an event that promises to close the gap between an audience and the offerings – a truly interactive experience – where the art doesn't exist without 'physical' interaction. This years 2high Festival set out to achieve this, promised to, & delivered, on many levels.
The framework for 2high Festival, has been built primarily on experience, in all its forms – a key to its strength & longevity. From the moment the fresh-faced coordinators are selected each year to represent performance, exhibitions, music, production, engagements, marketing & online departments it is established that this experience will be uniquely their own. With freedom for exploration & more importantly, room for error, the coordinators are given the freedom to create a festival how they imagine it. When ideas, or decisions need informing, the coordinators have the luxury of industry mentors, a Festival Manager & Backbone Youth Arts as guides.
Above: Butoh-inspired interactive performance '6 women in front of a white wall' by Little Dove Theatre – beautifully engaging for artist & participant. Photo: J.P. Robertson
Right: A personal favourite – a romantically autonomous yet sinister performance in the well, Kieran Swann (pictured) meticulously binding & attaching eggs to his torso with string. Photo: Yuki Nakano
Attention to detail throughout programming, design & interaction are oft overlooked, or discarded when an event's vision is clouded by profit numbers or trends. As each "boutique" or "unique" event becomes another haphazard, profiteering, carbon copying machine, the word 'festival' gets uglier. Does an event such as 2high Festival, in its 16th free year, suggest that a high level of detail and clear vision is not dependent on money, and that corner-cutting is perhaps a result of laziness, greed or false pretense? We feel it to be a responsibility to reference and uphold an idea's origin or a personal ethos. Remember? Back when it was only you, a 2nd-hand laptop & free internet at the state library. So, when the pineapples & greenbacks start rolling in does that not mean that those out of reach places & audacious ideas are now possible or were they specifically for "the pitch"?
2high Festival instills in its cultural producers not only the true value of money, (and how to use it wisely), but the worth of an individual – one's desire for an accurate execution in-line with an events ethos & vision. We were overwhelmed to have witnessed the evolution of 12 ultra-hip individuals who took their ideas from concept through to resolution, perhaps even more than they realise themselves. We feel, quite frankly, that these "first time" producers presented a 2-day happening that outshone many other examples of multi-arts, and music festivals alike. Quite simply because there was a definitive through-line – a clear detailed vision & a desire to accomplish – a desire that one could feel throughout the festival – had come from the right place.
2high Festival is a one-of-a-kind multi-arts festival – our involvement & time, (without pineapples), a testament to our belief that such a cultivation is vital to the next wave of arts practitioners & arts experiences. We hope to have assisted new possibilities & spawned new interest so that such a significant and noteworthy event sees continued support.
Thank you to our new friends for such an enriching experience.
Robert Millett & Cynthia Howard (pictured) during a MegaMix happening. Photo: Yuki Nakano