This Is Not Art

Overview

I missed TINA last year because I was frightened of travel that's more than a walk but less than a plane flight, and it was a bad choice: People there were all going to lovely parties and meeting young arts types from other states and going to afterparties with them on the astroturfed rooftops of houses that had pet rats named Sorbet. Well, fine, that was only one specific house, but you get the picture. Adventure to Newcastle, utopian tent city of good times, etc.

This Is Not Art is a festival that's actually five festivals, bringing together acts and panels and talks and fairs and workshops and installations and gigs from emerging and innovative culture-makers from around the nation in a celebration of all things young, creative and experimental. There's the Crack Theatre Festival for the dramatically inclined, Critical Animals for Theory kids both institutional and indie, Electrofringe for all that stuff with technology and stuff, the Sound Summit for musical adventurers and the Young Writers' Festival for, well, you get it. And actually all of it is for everyone, with the festival being geared toward introducing people to what's new across the arts as well as facilitating community and collaboration amongst practitioners.