BLEACH* Festival, the Gold Coast’s annual contemporary arts festival, returns this Winter with a packed program, presenting over 30 shows and 110 performances of music, dance, theatre and visual art, this August.
The 11-day program presents 8 world premieres and 18 Queensland premieres, and brings together over 400 Australian and international creatives including Bree Van Reyk, Ellen van Neerven, Erik Griswold, The Farm, Gravity and Other Myths, Karul Projects, Lucy Guerin AO, Wayfinders – A Pacific Journey and Tim Munro.
Now in its 13th year, BLEACH* Festival celebrates the region’s world-renowned natural landscape as a unique stage for authentic and unexpected cultural experiences that inspire a deeper connection to place.
The festival will be presented across four unique festival hubs including North Burleigh, Broadbeach Cultural Precinct, HOTA, Home of the Arts and the Tallebudgera Valley.
“It’s an incredible privilege to be delivering the 13th BLEACH* festival for the City of Gold Coast. The program is full of heart, full of soul, and has place, this place, our place, the Gold Coast, at its core,” said Rosie Dennis, Artistic Director, BLEACH* said:
“With a program full of free performances in Broadbeach and North Burleigh as well as a BLEACH* HOTA takeover and a special ‘slow art’ concert series in Tallebudgera Valley, I encourage everyone to brace the winter chill and immerse themselves in this year’s festival.”
Love Your Local North Burleigh Festival Hub:
The Love Your Local North Burleigh Festival Hub will host the largest program of free dance, performance and live music, including the First and Last Light performances.
Opening the festival with a dawn event on the beach, First Light on Thursday 1 August will see a meditative series of spoken word performances, song and live music, featuring soul vocalist Mohini Cox and the four-piece band The Snack.
The Love Your Local North Burleigh Festival Hub will also host the open-air Gold Coast Live Music Stage, showcasing a talented line-up of Gold Coast Music Award nominees against the natural backdrop of Burleigh Beach every Friday to Sunday throughout the festival.
In celebration of a decade of creative excellence, the award-winning contemporary dance company The Farm, whose touring highlights include the Venice Biennale, Tanzplattform (Germany), and the Barbican (London), will premiere their new work TEN – a bold performance of movement, sound and theatre.
Leading Australian contemporary circus group Gravity and Other Myths will present their immersive performance Playbook, exploring the fast-paced nature of life. In a world premiere, contemporary Indigenous dance group Karul Projects have curated The Walking Track – a series of six performance works experienced along the Burleigh Esplanade.
To close the festival, Last Light on Sunday 11 August brings together triple Grammy-winning flautist Tim Munro and internationally acclaimed composer Thomas Green at dusk for an eight-piece immersive electric guitar performance, culminating with a communal party on the beach soundtracked by the soul, hip-hop and RnB group Blackline Band.
Tallebudgera Valley Festival Hub:
The Tallebudgera Valley Festival Hub will be home to Slow Art – Sounds Of the Valley – a one-of-a-kind musical experience set amongst 20 acres of Gold Coast hinterland, premiering four new works from award-winning musicians.
Presented as a three-hour melodic experience, visitors will be taken by bus to experience 30 minute ‘mini concerts’ by award-winning Gold Coast pianist Karl S Williams, Australian performing artist, writer and singer Christine Johnstone and Australian percussionist and composer Bree van Reyk, culminating in a solo performance by award-winning American-born composer and pianist Erik Griswold. Gourmet picnics are supplied by the award-winning Palette Restaurant.
Broadbeach Cultural Precinct Festival Hub:
The Broadbeach Cultural Precinct Festival Hub will deliver a substantial musical program taking place on a 15-metre floating stage on the Nerang River.
The line-up includes Wayfinders – A Journey to the Pacific, a community choir of over 100 Pasifika voices from across south-east Queensland led by conductor and composer Rubina Kimiia, paying tribute to the Pasifika community and their enduring culture.
Also featured will be the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Brass Orchestra, acrobatics group Gravity and Other Myths and award-winning choreographer Liesel Zink who will bring together 100 local dancers for a large-scale contemporary performance work, Us And All of This, promoting togetherness and reflection.
A specially commissioned new work by Brisbane-based lighting design studio After/All, titled River of Gold, will map the Gold Coast waterways with a sea of light along the Nerang River. The Broadbeach program will also be home to Speakeasy, an outdoor bar open daily from 5 – 8pm, highlighting the vocals of Mohini Cox.
HOTA, Home of the Arts Festival Hub:
With its biggest program to date, HOTA, Home of the Arts, will showcase the festival’s dance and physical theatre program, with performances from two of Australia’s internationally acclaimed choreographers Lucy Guerin AO and Darcy Grant (Gravity and Other Myths). The program will span 8 stages across HOTA, including theatres, an outdoor stage, the cinema, the gallery and the lake.
In her first Gold Coast appearance, award-winning contemporary choreographer Lucy Guerin AO will showcase a series of works including Duets – five two person performances presented over four hours, alongside a 21-screen installation of archival works from Guerin’s 21-year career.
Leading circus group Gravity & Other Myths will present The Mirror – a genre-challenging acrobatic show exploring the concept of entertainment in a world dominated by screens and social media.
Following a sold-out season in 2022, one of Australia’s foremost contemporary theatre companies, Shake & Stir, will present Fourteen – a moving coming-of-age story about adversity and resilience set to a 90s soundtrack, following a young boy’s journey growing up gay in central Queensland.
Presented in partnership with Sydney’s Griffin Theatre, award-winning Mununjali author, editor and educator Ellen van Neerven will present Swim, their debut work for the stage, following a non-binary person’s complex trip to the public pool, delving deep into the sovereignty of water, gender identity and the enduring strength of family and culture.
The alternative Gold Coast-based rock band Selve, known for their live shows at Woodford Folk Festival, BLAK DAY OUT, Springtime, Brisbane Festival and BIGSOUND, will screen the first instalment of their visual album, Red Desert Dream – a dream-like short-film set across a psychedelic motel and a baron desert road.
Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise Shock Therapy Arts will also present Locked In – a multidisciplinary, physical performance that unravels the connection between our sensory and extrasensory experience of the physical world, following the journey of a man with Locked-in syndrome.
Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said BLEACH* has celebrated uniquely Queensland stories and places for more than a decade, presenting rich and inclusive arts programming and showcasing the Gold Coast and Queensland as cultural tourism destinations.
“This year’s vibrant program of over 30 productions, presented by over 400 talented Queensland, national and international artists, will bring communities together to engage and connect with arts and cultural experiences at four beautiful locations across the Gold Coast,” said Minister Enoch.
“BLEACH* helps deliver on our 10-year Creative Together strategy to renew and transform Queensland through creativity with a focus on building a strong, sustainable arts sector in Queensland, growing jobs for artists and arts workers, activating our stunning places and spaces and boosting the state’s creative economy.”
“The Queensland Government’s support for BLEACH* and the Queensland artists and companies showcased across the 2024 festival, recognises the important role of the arts in strengthening our communities and cultural reputation as we prepare to host the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Minister Enoch.
“BLEACH* is the jewel in the Gold Coast’s cultural crown,” said Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate. “We can’t wait to again experience world premieres, special performances, and homegrown talent in unique locations across our city this August.”
The 2024 BLEACH* Festival runs 1 – 11 August. For more information and full program, visit: www.bleachfestival.com.au for details.
Image: Fever Dream – courtesy of Lindsay Moller Productions