VIC: Melbourne Festival opening cancelled over Shrine row

AAP General News (Australia)
08-06-1999
VIC: Melbourne Festival opening cancelled over Shrine row

By Ilsa Colson and Joanne Williamson

MELBOURNE, Aug 6 AAP - This year's Melbourne Festival is without an opening ceremony after
organisers today bowed to community pressure and cancelled a controversial plan to hold it at
the Shrine of Remembrance.

Festival artistic director, Sue Nattrass, said the decision saddened her, but it had been
necessary because debate over holding the October 14 opening at the Shrine was causing rifts
and divisions in the community.

"And that was the last thing I wanted out of this process," Ms Nattrass told reporters.

"I don't want any part of our community to feel upset about this, either returned soldiers
or people from countries and cultures that have been our enemies in the past. This was about
reconciliation and the future."

The decision comes at the conclusion of a week of controversy over the ceremony, with
organisers already bowing to public criticism by cancelling fireworks and a performance by 40
Japanese drummers planned for the opening night.

More than 100 Victorian RSL branches yesterday voted against using the Shrine as a venue, a
position supported by numerous callers to talkback radio programs - mostly diggers and their
families.

Prime Minister John Howard also weighed into the debate today, saying the Shrine was a holy
place.

"I don't think shrines should be used for anything other than remembering the dead," he
told Radio 3AW.

Ms Nattrass said no decision had yet been taken on an alternative venue for the opening
festivities and there was a chance there would be no opening ceremony at all.

"But I think it's the wisest decision to take, given the way the debate has escalated and
the feelings of the people in the community, that I respect."

No threat had been made to funding or sponsorship as a result of the controversy, she said.

She insisted the Shrine trustees had been very supportive for the entire six months of
planning for the opening, and were aware of and had accepted the program details.

A trustees' sub-committee had held "meeting after meeting" to discuss the plans.

One of the most vocal protesters against holding the opening at the Shrine, Victorian RSL
president Bruce Ruxton, was one of trustees but Ms Nattrass was uncertain whether he was on
the sub-committee.

Mr Ruxton, who earlier today urged Ms Nattrass to shift the ceremony, saying she had
"nearly all of Victoria against her", was this afternoon not immediately available to comment
on the cancellation.

Ms Nattrass said she felt no bitterness towards anyone in the wake of the controversy and
refused an invitation to criticise Melbourne radio hosts who had led the charge against the
ceremony, saying "they have their role".

"I don't have an attitude towards it except that they have a right to speak out as they
wish," she said.

The ceremony at the Shrine had been planned to honour the people who had died to give the
rest of the community freedom - in particular freedom of speech, she said.

Shrine of Remembrance Trustees chairman Peter Isaacson said the decision was appropriate in
the circumstances, though disappointing for the school children who were to have performed in
the ceremony along with other musicians.

The decision to cancel was made entirely by festival organisers without any pressure from
him, Mr Isaacson told AAP.

He said he believed the program could have been altered to make the ceremony suitable for
everyone, but concerns would have been better raised privately than aired on commercial radio.

Ms Nattrass said an alternative to a formal opening ceremony could be to put more resources
into the festival's existing outdoor program.

The Japanese Taiko drummers, who performed in last year's festival, may still be used if an
alternative venue is chosen.

With planning for the Shrine ceremony having taken six months, Ms Nattrass expected it
would take some time to choose another venue and she would not comment on other possible
sites.

The 14th Melbourne Festival will comprise 2,000 performers including 200 international
participants putting on 180 shows - in theatre, music, dance and opera - over 17 days.

AAP imc/ra/arb

KEYWORD: FESTIVAL NIGHTLEAD

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