Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison stoking the sacred fire.

The world moves on, always, and we must move with it if we are to contribute fruitfully.  We see the Festival as carrying forward the spirit in which Judith Wright addressed and challenged her times, through her poetic art and then through more direct activism.

Activism can take many forms, from informing, dramatising and challenging to lobbying, marching and occupying.  Online activism is a new form already shifting the balance of power in our society.

There is no boundary between activism and the arts, as the arts can inform, dramatise and challenge, and so the two synergise into one celebration of who we are and who we hope to be, where we are and where we hope to go.

Our society is far from perfect of course.  There is scope for activism on the nature and tone of our society, on the place of the disadvantaged, notably our indigenous sisters and brothers, and the perilous state of the natural world.

If you happened to see the film Across the Universe you might have been struck by our passivity, these days, compared to the late sixties.

We feel the flame of activism needs not only to be carried forward, but to be fanned, to burn more brightly.