Adelaide Arts and Culture Guide: AGSA, the Adelaide Festival and Australia's Festival City

Adelaide's identity as Australia's Festival City is not marketing hyperbole: the Adelaide Festival of Arts (one of the world's great arts festivals, held every two years since 1960), the Adelaide Fringe (the world's second-largest arts festival after the Edinburgh Fringe), WOMADelaide (one of the world's finest world music festivals), TAFE and the Adelaide Film Festival make Adelaide unique among Australian cities in its festival culture. The Art Gallery of South Australia (one of the finest state art galleries in Australia), the State Library of South Australia, and the recently expanded Adelaide Festival Centre complete the city's exceptional arts infrastructure.

Art Gallery of South Australia — the AGSA (North Terrace, CBD, opened 1881) holds one of the finest art collections in Australia, with particular strengths in Australian colonial art, decorative arts and design, and contemporary Australian art. The Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art (held annually since 2015) has established the AGSA as the national leader in Indigenous contemporary art festival programming. Entry to the permanent collection is free.

Adelaide Festival of Arts and Adelaide Fringe — the Adelaide Festival (biennial, March) presents major international opera, theatre, dance, and music productions in Adelaide's CBD venues, with the River Torrens precinct and the Festival Centre forming the festival hub. The simultaneous Adelaide Fringe (annual, February-March) transforms the entire city into an arts festival with over 1,000 shows across 400+ venues, making it the world's second-largest arts festival. The combination of the Festival and the Fringe in the same month makes Adelaide's March arts season unique in the world.

WOMADelaide — the annual world music and dance festival held in Botanic Park (March) is one of the world's finest world music events, consistently presenting extraordinary international artists across African, Latin American, Asian, and Pacific music traditions. The festival's combination of music, food (the Taste the World food village is exceptional), and the beautiful Botanic Park setting makes WOMADelaide one of Australia's great festival experiences.

Adelaide Festival Centre — the Elder Park performing arts campus (the Festival Theatre, the Dunstan Playhouse, Her Majesty's Theatre, and the Space Theatre) is the home of State Opera South Australia, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Theatre Company South Australia, and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. The Festival Theatre's 1,978-seat main auditorium is one of Australia's finest performing arts venues.

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