The first Festival lasted 2 weeks from March 12 to 26.
Its patron was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The Festival attracted more than 200,000 people to performances and the Torchlight procession from the Town Hall to the river drew 250,000 people.

Sir Robert Menzies opened the third Festival. Among the attractions were Marie Collier and Richard Lewis in Sir William Walton's opera 'Troilus and Cressida.

 
The length of the Festival was expanded in 1966, to 16 days, 10 - 26 March. The number of Festival events grew to 284 from 165 in 1964.

 
The fifth Adelaide Festival of Arts was held from the 7th - 23rd March, 1968.  Highlights of the program were the opera singers Tito Gobbi and Marie Collier.

 
Sir Robert Helpmann's 1970 Festival was a Festival of great quality, of bravura, of panache. It was popular too with some claiming it was the most brilliant and effective of all the Festivals.

Louis van Eyssen acted in the dual role of Artistic Director and Administrator of the seventh Adelaide Festival.

1974 was an important year for the Adelaide Festival as it was the first Festival able to utilise the brand new Festival Theatre.

 
The first Festival able to use the four auditoria and the full facilities of the Adelaide Festival Centre with 316 separate performances.

 
Anthony Steele's 1978 Festival cost over $1.5M, staged 14 world premieres, spanned 23 days and brought to Adelaide many eminent artists.

 
From March 7 to 29 1980, the Festival presented more than 700 performers in more than 320 performances.

 
The Festival opened on March 5 with a giant parade through the city centre with over 10,000 people with banners, floats and costumes.

 
The fourteenth Adelaide Festival was Anthony Steel's second successive Festival as Artistic Director, and was held in a year of activities for the State's Jubilee 150 celebrations.

 
The fifteenth Adelaide Festival was - by many measures - the largest and most ambitious multi-arts program that had ever been staged in Australia.

The distinctive flavour of Clifford Hocking's eclectic taste permeated almost all areas of the program, creating many memorable experiences within an extraordinary whole.

 
Directed by Rob Brookman, the 1992 Festival was a 3-week event, running 28 February to 21 March.

Directed by Christopher Hunt, the 1994 Festival challenged its audiences, running from 25 February - 13 March.

Festival Director Barrie Kosky presented a vision concerned with architecture, cities, suburbs, landscapes and mapping - and how they interact with art, performance, literature, light, sound and ecstasy.

The 20th Adelaide Festival of Arts program was based on the themes of the sacred and the profane. The program comprised 413 performances, presented by 494 international artists and 2,752 local artists.

 
The Telstra Adelaide Festival 2000 , held from 3-19 March, was an artistic success, completing Robyn Archer's ambition to program a contrasting pair of events in 1998 and 2000.

Peter Sellar's vision was of a series of cultural experiences that would move people to act differently, to respond and to participate.

 
Held from 3-9 March, with Brett Sheehy as the Artistic Director. Critics, artists and the public acknowledged this event as one of the world's great cultural celebrations.

The Adelaide Bank 2008 Festival of Arts was held from 29 February - 16 March, with Brett Sheehy as the Artistic Director for the second year in a row.

The Adelaide Bank 2010 Festival of Arts is looking to be one of the best festivals in recent years. Stay tuned via the website and our newsletter for all the latest news and updates.