Another year, another Darwin Festival. And the festival’s line up is looking bigger and better than last year’s frankly awesome line up. We managed not only to get a sneak preview on the festival’s program, we also managed to get an interview with Joe Duffy, the artistic director of the festival. There is also a snippet of what to expect from the festival as well, which we have put together into a short clip so you can see what Joe Duffy has to say and the interesting performance.

So what about the line up itself? Well, there are sorts of things, from the comedic genius of former ROVE Corinne Grant to the famous names of music like John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire, just to name a few. There are 75 events, 47 of them involve artists from around here! Similar to last year, there are plenty of free events, like Dancing in the sand, and the famous Teddy’s Bear picnic makes a return. There are dancers from all over the world as well as people from local areas. And aimed squarely at the youth of Darwin, events such as Silent Disco, Hip Hop battle and an all new event, En Route, based around mobile phones and IPods. All this will happen between 12th and the 29th August in Festival Park, otherwise known as Civic park, with the lighthouse, in the amphitheatre and other places. Tickets are to be sold online, and from box offices in DEC, Festival park and other places, so look out for places that sell tickets.

So watch, Grinders, and see you at the festival! And check out their website

School has started again, but we all know chillax time is just as important! Grind has composed a list of activities and ideas that may keep you occupied and entertained when it’s time for a break from school.

1. Riding buses to nowhere

This idea came up as we sat around doing nothing in particular. Round up a few mates, hit the buses and cruise. As students get to travel for free, provided they have student cards, a group can travel all around Darwin for free. Buses also provide luxuries such as air conditioning and, since they move, the scenery is always changing. Another advantage of riding buses is that you will get to know Darwin and its bus routes.

2. Learn something new

Not exactly an original idea, but learning to do something new, whether it be a musical instrument, a new trick on a bike, or learning to draw can be very rewarding. Some suggestions of things to learn are: Morse code, juggling, as many digits of pi as possible, and trick card shuffling. See which ones you can come up with, try them out and leave us a comment saying how you went. You’l kill some time and learn something new while you are at it.

3. Write a short story

If you are anyway interested by reading fiction, then writing a short story can be interesting. You can write a short story about a character from a book or TV show you have watched or read, or you can make up a character. Even the character creation process can be interesting, as you can give your imaginary character any trait you want, any flaw, any strength and any name. And what is great about writing your own story is that anything can happen; from your character attempts to buy a trombone in Humpty Doo to Darth Vader attempting to destroy the human race from another galaxy, its up to you. And at the same time, you practise things such as spelling (very important) and grammar, as well as putting ideas into words.

4. Cooking

If you have a well stocked pantry or fridge that is full of ingredients, then cooking can be very rewarding and keep you occupied until you have finished. If you have never cooked before, you might want to try something simple like cupcakes, and then progress from there. Cooking can win you points with your parents and friends. Also, cooking is a valued skill by the opposite sex, so keep at it.

5. Get arty farty

Whether you are into art or not, it does not matter. Just do something which involves art, whether its finger or toe painting, drawing, arranging displays or leaving encouraging messages to passers by on the footpath in chalk. It does not matter if can or cannot draw, paint, write legibly or be creative. You can also attempt to teach yourself any of these.

Note: finger and toe painting is extremely fun, but remember only to get the paint on the thing you are painting, you do not need to redecorate the floors of the house while toe painting.

6. Make something

Home made items can be a lot of fun to make, whether you decide to make a sculpture out of the pebbles in your garden or make a castle out of a cardboard box. Or, you can make small gifts out of items laying around your house. You can make jewellery out of erasers, or robots out of you old VCR, or even a chain out of paperclips. If you are interested check out:

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/

7. Make a mini movie

If you have a video camera or a digital camera that can record videos, you can make and direct a mini video. With simple items, a few friends and a bit of improvisation you can make just about any type of mini movie from a three minute action thriller involving fights with a giant cardboard box monster to a ten minute sci fi featuring an alien with a liking to a laundry basket.

8. Make someone’s day

There are a few ways to go about brightening up another person’s day. You could write a thank you letter to someone who helped you, it is always nice to be appreciated. Or, you could write to a distant friend who may be drifting out of touch; its always good to hear from different friends. Another good idea is to write a list of things you like about someone then give it to them. If you find a display of appreciation embarrassing you could find a way to give it anonymously. If there is someone new in your street or at school/work, you could welcome them and introduce yourself and things of importance, such as your friends.

If you are interested check out http://www.operationnice.com/

9. Plan world domination

Plan out how to take over with a friend. You could try any approach, from taking over the world’s security services to contacting aliens and using them to take over the world. You could write up plans, and draw arrows on a world map and label it master plan as well as include photos and plans for strategic targets. This can keep you occupied for quite sometime.

10. Write a Grind article

Whether you are a part of Grind or not, you can write a Grind article. You can write it about anything from school subjects to genetic engineering. Anything that is relevant to you is probably of interest to others, and you could write an article about it. If you have an article already written, or even just need ideas, or maybe just interested, just email: grind@grindonline.com.au

Whilst thumbing this year’s programme I noticed 3 things:

1. It’s a good deal meatier than last year, there’s much more to see this August.
2. The acts are a lot more diverse, culturally as well as with intended audience, there is a LOT more for young people.
3. I was going to be incredibly broke by the end of this month, the quality of these performers astounds! I want to buy tickets for all of them!

Here at GRIND we are proud to be reporting on this year’s festival and will do our best to keep you up-to-date on the events page, with interviews with performers, and reviews of shows we loved.  Harriet and I had an afternoon chat with the festival’s artistic director Jo Duffy in anticipation of the upcoming cultural feast and we posed one BIG question to her on behalf of you all:

“Why should young people come to the Darwin Festival?”
Her response had us giddy and excited…

“Firstly”, She said “Because it’s the biggest cultural event in Darwin!” Well yeah, thanks Jo, but we had kind of figured that out already.  “Not only that, but we designed much of this year’s programme with young people in mind”….  Wait, really?  That’s awesome!  We had no idea; looking at the programme now though I can see what she meant.  There’s a veritable feast of talent for young people to ogle and boggle at, with tickets to cabaret acts ‘Tiger Lillies’ and ‘Meow Meow’ selling fast, Gothic Marionettes the ‘Grimstones’, Harry Angus from ‘The Cat Empire’, not to mention the spectacular ‘Morganics’ show about Hip Hop culture.  There’s short films for the littlies (9 years and above) and for those of us (myself and Harriet included) who like a bit of a dance there’s a silent disco on for only ten bucks a headset!  Jo was particularly proud of ‘Legal Walls’ a graffiti project showcasing young NT artists’ exploration of graffiti as “a legitimate means of cultural exchange” and there are many more free shows around town featuring a range of mediums that I can’t wait to explore.

Jo also had us grinning when she drew our attention to pricing; this year’s festival has many youth friendly events for much cheaper than usual and she told us it was specifically so that young people (on a tight budget as we are) can go to the festival!  Let’s all give Ms Duffy hugs I say, for fifteen dollar live music!  Not only that, but the Festival will be using our beloved Garden’s Amphitheatre a lot more than in past years as well as a brand-spanking-new venue ‘the lighthouse’ which Jo described as being “like a big top tent, only without the roof”, interesting description, but it will make for an intimate and fun new setting and is a major drawing card for this year’s festival which will be central to the Darwin CBD and Civic Park.

Personally, I can’t wait for this festival; I’ve already got my rather impressive pile of tickets and will be living off 20c noodles for the next two weeks because of it.  I hope to see you all there, look for me at the teddy bears picnic; I’ll be the fairy with the pink and green hair!

For more information about the festival and booking tickets you can pick up a copy of the programme at any library or tourist centre, check out their website www.darwinfestival.org.au or call 89434200