Floods of Fire, the joint festival-within-a-festival conceived and directed by Airan Berg, in association with Adelaide theatre director Nescha Jelk, led by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and presented in partnership with Adelaide Festival and The University of Adelaide, announces its program of more than 80 free performances, songs, workshops, presentations and roving performances on Saturday 16 March. Our Voices, Our Dreams involves more than 1000 participants and takes place from 2 – 6pm at The University of Adelaide grounds.

All performances and events have been crafted to reflect South Australia’s experiences, responses and reflections on our climate reality, and audiences are invited to freely roam the campus throughout the day. The full schedule and map for the day can be found here.

Highlights of Our Voices, Our Dreams on Saturday include:

• The South Australian Youth Forum’s talk: “Young People: What would we know?”

• A Spectrum Writing Climate Battle, Dungeons and Dragons style, on “World Makers versus World Breakers”

• Teenage dance crew Fireboys, supported by the Australian Refugee Association, with a piece representing different dance styles from around Africa

• Storytelling sessions of flood and fire survival by staff from the State Emergency Service and Country Fire Service

• A performance by professional rapper and Sierra Leone refugee Magajie

• Wildlife nesting box building with James Smith from fauNature

• A devised theatre piece by the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia on the theme of “Sanctuary”

• Latin American women from the Australian Migrant Resource Centre performing indigenous Venezuelan dance

• Warringga Women’s Sharing with Aunty Elaine Magias, Joan Gibbs and Misty Taylor sharing stories of traditional ecological knowledge

• Musical and theatrical performances by students from Elder Conservatorium, Flinders University Drama Centre, Ngutu College, Prince Alfred College and St Mary’s College

• Sustainability organisation BioR presenting chalk drawings of threatened birds by artist Grant Fleming 

• A sculptural work being built on the Barr Smith Lawns, in which audiences can participate, by local collective The Bait Fridge

• A performance by emerging theatre group CRAM of a scene from their play “The Future is YOU”

• Talks by GPs, marine biologists and scientists on resilience, hope and best environmental practices

• The 500-strong members of Our Citizens’ Orchestra at 7:30pm, who have rehearsed with Music Directors Tim Steiner (UK) and Ricardo Baptista (Portugal) and collaborated with members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and local musicians

On Sunday 17 March, 7:30pm in the Festival Theatre, award-winning electronic music duo (and recently announced Eurovision contestants for Australia) Electric Fields, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, will conclude the 2024 Adelaide Festival with Our Celebration. This program will showcase collaborations between South Australian composers, musicians, and the ASO, including the world premiere of the Floods of Fire Symphony, and a newly commissioned song by Electric Fields written specifically for this occasion.