My picks: Alison Mooney’s picks for the festival

A guide to Horizon festival by Alison mooney

We asked artist Alison Mooney — one of the coast’s finest visual artists — to spill the beans on what she’s attending at this year’s festival. If you see Alison at one of these events, please let her know that you heard it here first. “Thanks for the tips, Alison”, you’ll say.

Sunshine Coast Comedy Gala

Live comedy is such a weird and wonderful beast — how do comedians do it?!? And why?!?

This line-up is tops, too. It’s Curated by the Sunshine Coast’s Funny Coast Crew — some of the most reliably hilarious people on the national circuit.  

There are different tones of funny, different perspectives and all of them are masters of holding a mirror up — as if they’re taking a group selfie — pointing and laughing and man it feels good. 

The energy in the room is as awesome as the crowd. You move between trusting, or judging, each comic. It’s a full body experience. And much recommended.

Noise by Dancenorth Australia  

One of the most exciting parts of this show, for me, is what the amazing musician and conductor Chucho Bruno will bring. We lucked in when he moved to town. Chucho is a multi-talented and highly intuitive musician who also happens to have come up with his own sign language to conduct a group of musicians on the regular — and he’s leading the 100-strong drummers for this work. Your bones will vibrate, and you’ll feel absolutely alive for having seen this. Pretty sure.

Kids’ stuff. And lots of it

Chony’s Art School, who goes above and beyond weekly, is stepping into festival mode. Plus, of course, Junior Burger — these guys were standouts last year for me with their adult offering, ‘Eddie Ray – Silence of the Jams’. Take thee behbehs to them.

Tallo-billa: Ocean Fieldtrip

I absolutely love hearing people, who are nerds for a thing, go deep into their element. And this is that — technology, marine research, sound on a boat, in a beautiful place. Want an extra extreme-value-add? Lyndon Davis is doing a Welcome to Country on the ocean. His stories of the region are worth their own show.

You Are Neither Here Nor There: Sam Cranstoun

Ok, sometimes, the trick to making sure you see amazing work is to (sorry everyone in my industry) ignore all the big words and just go and see the thing. You’ll feel something. What that is, will be unique to you, but you can trust that the people presenting this to you, care very much about pushing new ideas to the front. And then, when you read the words after experiencing it, you’ll be so stoked the arts exist.

to check out Alison’s work, head here.

This feature promotes Horizon Festival’s upcoming annual event.

Horizon Festival — the Sunshine Coast’s premier multi-arts festival — returns 25 August to 3 September 2023.

The 10-day offering takes place all over the Sunshine Coast — beaches, the hinterland, warehouses. The lot.

At our core: we celebrate place — it’s the heartbeat of the festival — and our programming reflects this.  But, more importantly, we honour the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we stand — the Kabi Kabi Peoples and Jinibara Peoples.

Our events vary. And they’re (almost) always in spectacular locations. There’s music, art, theatre, dance, workshops, ceremony, and plenty for the family.

So, pop the kettle on, put your feet up, and enjoy flicking through this year’s program — we’d love to see you at an event.     

See you on the horizon,

The Horizon Festival Team