Outgoing Festival director Kate Ceberano said in a statement, "It has been thrilling to be a part of this juggernaut that is Adelaide Cabaret Festival! A rare jewel is this Festival, celebrating the virtuosity of contemporary cabaret artists. It's been the highlight of my career to have been a part of this journey so far, and I can't wait to go off with a bang for 2014! More importantly, I wish Barry the best of luck - I know he has plenty of friends in high places, and I can’t wait to find out what he intends to program."
"Under Kate Ceberano, the Cabaret Festival has moved from strength to strength," Premier and Arts Minister Jay Weatherill added. "Kate will be a hard act to follow, but in Barry Humphries we might just have found the right person. As one of Australia's most famous artists, I have no doubt he will use his inimitable style to keep Adelaide's Cabaret Festival in the international spotlight."
Discussions are already underway with Festival producer Torben Brookman, who met with Humphries recently in London; they have begun thinking about who Humphries would like to bring to the event in 2015.
Humphries stated, "I would like to offer my congratulations to Kate for doing such a good job for the Adelaide Cabaret festival. It will be a hard act to follow and in the meantime I look forward to savouring her curatorial talents in the forthcoming festival next year. Some years ago, I was asked confidentially by a famous film director how I would respond to an invitation to curate the Adelaide Festival, and I replied in the affirmative. I heard nothing further until the State Premier and former Arts Minister, the Honourable Michael Rann, was quoted in The Advertiser objecting in strong terms to such a cultural appointment, implying impertinence and pushiness on my part. Mr. Rann and I are now good friends and I am not sorry that I never had the chance to direct the Adelaide Festival, since the Cabaret Festival is closer to my heart and more up my street. Happily, there seem to be no official objections this time to my having a crack at it. My rule as an entertainer has always been a selfish one: to please myself. I find that if I am pleasing myself I am, on the whole, pleasing my public.
"My personal tastes are wildly eclectic and I am lucky to travel so much and enjoy the work of such a diversity of popular entertainers. I hope to bring some wonderful performances to Adelaide, the Australian city I have enjoyed since my student days. I already have some ideas and I have spoken to many friends ‘in the business’ who have expressed keen interest in this event. I am thrilled to have this job and I hope I will honour my commitment to the people of Adelaide who have long supported me in my own humble offerings in Grote Street.” The 2015 Adelaide Cabaret Festival will run June 5-20, 2015.
