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2high Festival

Multi-arts experience for young & emerging artists and cultural producers

Backbone Youth Arts presents 2high Festival. Taking place at Brisbane Powerhouse, 2high Festival showcases Australia’s young emerging artists. Interactive displays of art, live music, performance and everything in between, brings 2high Festival to life.

Each year the Festival is organised by a new, fresh group of coordinators aged between 18 and 26. These coordinators work in collaboration with industry mentors and Backbone Youth Arts to deliver on all aspects of the Festival: from ignition to blast off. There are 12 fresh faces added to the 2high Festival alumni each year; with so many great minds combining to Awaken The Machine, the event promises to be highly inspiring.

2high Festival’s name is a short, sharp way of describing the Festival’s process and is taken from a circus move called ‘two high’ where a performer stands on another’s shoulders. The move acts as an analogy for the mentoring aspect that is central to 2high Festival’s process.

Two high is also a metaphor for the enhanced ability to see ahead that someone gains from a raised vantage point. This foresight is something that 2high Festival prides itself on, as time and again the Festival showcases the next wave of arts practitioners to the Australian public.

Founded in 1993 by former Backbone Youth Arts Artistic Director Susan Richer, 2high Festival offered women the opportunity to act in key decision-making roles in the arts industry. Today, many movers-and-shakers in the arts world are women and as such, 2007 saw 2high Festival evolve to welcome both young men and women into the mix.

Evidently, evolution is a strength of 2high Festival, and over 17 years the event has morphed into the mammoth machine it is today — an unprecedented opportunity to showcase the highest calibre of Australia’s young emerging artists.

Last updated by Rhyanna Hewitt (2011-10-25)