AustLit

'Cancellations and online pivots predominated the festival industry at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, some festivals just scraped through with their 2020 programmes; Sydney Festival and Adelaide Festival ran during January and early March, respectively. Many other festivals, however, faced significant institutional changes. While online pivots became the norm, some festivals shifted from an international to a local approach. Darwin Festival reimagined its scale and scope to offer a hyperlocal programme in August 2020. Brisbane Festival then followed suit in September 2020. Given that health directives in the Northern Territory and Queensland were not as restrictive as those of other states at this time,1 the Festivals had the capacity for delivering in-person programmes. Darwin Festival, however, incorporated online elements to become more of a hybrid event. In this article, I focus on Brisbane Festival, as it programmed a fully in-person event. Such programming raises questions about the efficacy of a hyperlocal approach. How does the rapid shift to hyperlocal programming impact a previously international festival? More specifically, how does it affect the Festival's organisational aims? As hyperlocal festivals are strictly community focused, they tend to support artists and arts workers within a restricted geographical reach, such as a single neighbourhood, suburb or city. Per the definition provided by Emily T. Metzgar et al., 'hyperlocal' connotes the production of community-oriented and original content that promotes civic engagement.2 While the term originated in journalism, hyperlocal programming has since proliferated in the festival industry. In the wake of the pandemic, this programming has, according to Stephanie Convery, reflected 'a renewed consciousness of physical proximity, of boundaries'.3 Essentially, hyperlocal programming highlights the intimate relationship between a festival and its host place. For Brisbane Festival 2020, prioritising hyperlocal ideals arguably strengthened its relationship with the Brisbane community. In this provocation, however, I propose that while the Festival's hyperlocal programming was successful in managing COVID-19 restrictions to facilitate in-person connection, it prompted a major dramaturgical shift that deviated from the Festival's mission of participating in global conversations - that is, engaging international artists to bring global stories to Brisbane.' 

(Publication abstract)