Illuminate Adelaide Co-Founder and Co-Creative Director, Rachael Azzopardi talks Illuminate Adelaide and the Luminary Artist in Residence

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Rachael Azzopardi’s career has taken her from aspiring opera singer to one of the key creative forces behind Illuminate Adelaide, shaping a festival that blends art, technology and audience experience on a city-wide scale. With a background spanning major festivals, commercial theatre and leading arts organisations, Azzopardi brings both creative instinct and strategic vision to her role as Co-Founder and Co-Creative Director of Illuminate Adelaide. In this conversation, she reflects on the evolution of Illuminate Adelaide, the importance of understanding audiences, and the festival’s layered approach to programming, including this year’s Luminary Artist in Residence, pioneering digital artist Miguel Chevalier, whose works feature across both ticketed and free experiences. Read our interview with Rachael below.

Rachael, starting with your career, you started as a performer studying drama and voice, then moved into producing concert and choir work, and you’ve worked on festivals like Sydney Festival and now obviously Illuminate Adelaide.

And Adelaide Festival, I started doing drama and went to the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide and studied music and wanted to be an opera singer. Then I got a bit jaded with that and found my way, I suppose. I really enjoyed organising all the concerts at university, and that opened my eyes into working backstage.

 

After university, I actually went to Sydney and worked for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and then came back to Adelaide and was music coordinator for the 1996 Adelaide Festival, Barrie Kosky’s festival. That really cemented that I was on the right path and that I loved producing and working with artists. And, I think I had an understanding of artists because I’d sort of been an emerging one. So, it really started there.

 

Then, I went to the Adelaide Festival Centre and then got a job, and got headhunted to be program manager and operations manager on the Cultural Olympiad for Sydney Olympics, which was pretty cool.

 

It just sort of snowballed from there. Worked in commercial theatre for years on Lion King and Oliver and Cabaret. I really have worked quite a varied career, I suppose, commercial theatre, but I also worked as executive producer for Chunky Move, which is a contemporary dance company in Melbourne and then worked as sort of head of artistic for Sydney Theatre Company with Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton when they were ADs, which was fantastic. Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival.

 

When I came back to Adelaide, I actually worked at the Adelaide Festival for a year under Rob Brookman and when Rachel and Neil were there, and then was lucky enough to work with Lee to get Illuminate up and that really. That was six years ago now.

 

It’s crazy how fast that’s gone!

So fast! We just can’t believe it. We were talking about it recently. It’s weird it took us a year to really get the event up and on in terms of even getting the business case together and presenting it to government back in 2019, to then being given the green light in 2020 and our first one in 2021, obviously.

 

So, I’ve had a varied career, performing, but mainly producing in commercial, but also in companies making and creating work and festivals as well.

 

How do you think that the different roles have informed how you lead and curate Illuminate Adelaide?

I’ve always found myself as a creative producer rather than a nuts-and-bolts producer in terms of you have to do that but I feel like I’ve always – maybe it is because I’ve come through sort of acting and wanting to be on stage – had a creative insight or vision. I’ve been really lucky enough to meld both of them.

 

When you’re a producer, you’re looking after every single area of a production especially in commercial theatre because the producer is actually even in charge of the creative team, like the directors, the lighting designers, the composers. You really have to understand the creative side. But of course, then you have to understand the technical and production side and then the marketing side because you’re selling tickets and you’re marketing.

 

I think I’ve been really lucky to get such a broad experience, but then also be at companies like Chunky Move and Sydney Theatre Company where the gravitas of making work of writers creating new plays. It’s just all come together, and given me quite a broad skill set.

 

I’ve always loved programming work, whether it was at festivals or I was really lucky with Andrew and Kate to have a seat at the table to be able to look at what we wanted to program with Sydney Theatre Company for the subscribers. And that really got me really learning how to understand an audience because when you’re a programmer or an artistic director, it’s not necessarily what you like, it’s about what your audience likes.

 

I’ve always loved programming work, whether it was at festivals or I was really lucky with Andrew and Kate to have a seat at the table to be able to look at what we wanted to program with Sydney Theatre Company for the subscribers. And that really got me really learning how to understand an audience because when you’re a programmer or an artistic director, it’s not necessarily what you like, it’s about what your audience likes.

 

Which are not always the same thing.

No, they’re not. Of course, you have a you sway towards things that you like, but it’s really about trying to step back out and make sure you get a bit of what you like, but also really listen to what your audience is and understand your audience. Andrew Upton at Sydney Theatre Company really made me appreciate that and understand that. He said “my role is not about putting on stage what I necessarily like. It’s about listening to my audience.” And that really resonated with me.

 

I was really lucky to work with him and watch him craft. I think you have to understand your audience. That doesn’t mean that they have to like everything, because sometimes it’s about challenging them and taking them a little bit out of the comfort zone. But I suppose leading them to that.

 

Illuminate is a fully curated program, and we’re really lucky that we really wanted to make a diverse program. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve worked in so many different organisations. Those skills have really helped me, with Lee, to look at different types of audiences. We have to put layers into Illuminate so it’s not just about the big events with thousands of people. It’s also more nuance or smaller and more intimate experiences as well.

 

We have to put layers into Illuminate so it’s not just about the big events with thousands of people. It’s also more nuance or smaller and more intimate experiences as well.

 

This year’s Luminary Artist in Residence is Miguel Chevalier. How do you select the Luminary Artist in Residence and what role do they play in shaping the program?

Each year it’s been slightly different. The Avalanches were our first one. We’ve had Ouchhh Studio from Turkey, and now Miguel. It’s about the body of work of that artist, I think, and how it talks to Illuminate and the different layers, as I said before. We try not to just make it a music artist. It’s about an artist as a whole and their body of work. With Miguel, he has 45 years’ experience, and is at the forefront. He started projections on buildings but he’s still so experimental and multidisciplinary. His work is really exciting.

 

With Miguel, he has 45 years’ experience, and is at the forefront. He started projections on buildings but he’s still so experimental and multidisciplinary. His work is really exciting.

 

Lee and I first saw his work in Paris. We’ve been following him for probably about three years. And we were lucky enough to see his work. We saw his work and then we really started thinking about how he really resonated with us for our audience as well. And what he was doing was really quite ground-breaking. We were just so in awe of his work.

 

We saw this beautiful exhibition that he did, and it had so many touch points. He creates his work with his hands. He has sculptures that he creates –  3D works – but he also has incredible computer work and immersive screen-based work as well.

 

When we choose an artist, we want that artist to make us feel something. It’s not just about putting art and technology together but it’s how we put those two things together and they tell a story and how it resonates emotionally as well. So, with Miguel, we wrote to him and said “we’d love to invite you” and it took a couple of years because he’s so busy and he’s so booked up ahead of time.

 

When we choose an artist, we want that artist to make us feel something. It’s not just about putting art and technology together but it’s how we put those two things together and they tell a story and how it resonates emotionally as well.

 

Then we were lucky enough to meet him last year and sit down with him and obviously see another of his work and really worked through what Illuminate was and what he does and choose some work together to really showcase. So obviously we’ve got his Digital Abyss at ILA, which is the ticketed event. That’s a much bigger, broader view of his work and showcase of his work, from 3D installations to small screen work to then the big lightroom interactive.

 

It was really important to him and also to us to show more of his work, and we really wanted everyone to be able to access the work. That’s why it was important for us to put his work in City Lights, our free program, so that everyone got the chance to know his work. And that’s The Origin of the world and Pixel Waves, which we’re putting in City Lights.

 

It was really important to him and also to us to show more of his work, and we really wanted everyone to be able to access the work. That’s why it was important for us to put his work in City Lights, our free program, so that everyone got the chance to know his work.

 

So, it’s really the gravitas of the artist, but also their body of work and how we feel their work will resonate with the audience.

 

As you said, he’s been doing it for a long time. He’s described as a pioneer of the digital art movement.

Yes, he’s an absolute pioneer, but his work is still so like young at heart. It’s so current. He keeps he keeps pushing himself. He keeps learning different ways. His interactive work with AI is absolutely at the forefront. He keeps progressing and moving and learning himself and experimenting. And that’s really quite visionary, and it’s really exciting that he’s never sort of rested on his laurels.

 

He and his team are continually at the forefront, which is really hard in this industry in that multidisciplinary sort of pioneer way. We thought it was so exciting because digital works and he has a magical and poetic storytelling way that we found really alluring.

 

How important is it for you to showcase artists who have helped define an art form like him, rather than those that are just on the current trends?

I think with our program and with the artists that we showcase and present, it is about showing whether it’s an emerging artist or someone like Miguel – the different levels of artists or what different artists are bringing, whether it’s an emerging artist showcasing their work, we always try and find those luminaries and those pioneers.

 

The digital world has changed so much. I mean it’s changing constantly. To have someone that understands from where it’s started to now, it brings a sort of heft and a deepness to our program, which then supplements the other artists we work with as well. So, it’s about showcasing different artists at different levels and, and different experiences.

 

The digital world has changed so much. I mean it’s changing constantly. To have someone that understands from where it’s started to now, it brings a sort of heft and a deepness to our program, which then supplements the other artists we work with as well.

 

We don’t want just one way to look at the work. It’s really great to have people presenting their work for different experiences, which I think you can only get if you have artists from all different walks of life or levels. Emerging to pioneers, and also when they all come together and they meet each other, that is just a really fantastic opportunity to give younger artists to actually see Miguel’s work and also meet him and, and understand.

When you think of an artist in residence, often they’re a a residency of like six months or something, and they’re producing works under that residency. Yours is more, if I’m understanding correctly, an artist that is chosen and who will have multiple works through the program.

Yes, I suppose because we’re a festival. If we were a gallery or an institution where we could have someone come make work and then present it, it probably would, but I think we haven’t but that’s not to say that we might not do that in the future. Or commissioning an artist to make a work and then also present work that they’ve done, which we sort of did with Ouchhh, Ouchhh came and did a new work in the pavilion and then did a whole series of talks and did another work at ILA our free program, I suppose it just depends on where the artist is at that point and how much time they have as well, to be honest.

 

I think because we’re only three weeks, to be able to show as much of the work of that artist for us is a residency in a way. It’s about showcasing not just one work. It’s a breadth, but we do have that conversation for six months to a year. We really work with them about what works of theirs, or what they want to present.

 

It is a very in-depth conversation we have with that artist about presenting. We don’t just pick the works and pop them in. We showed him different sites, the City Lights, different buildings, different architecture. We talked about how we could present his work in different ways, so he was very much involved with how he wanted to investigate Adelaide. He’s never been to Australia.

 

It is a very in-depth conversation we have with that artist about presenting. We don’t just pick the works and pop them in. We showed him different sites, the City Lights, different buildings, different architecture. We talked about how we could present his work in different ways

 

Yes, I was wondering whether the artists are shown a bunch of buildings and told these are the buildings that we do projections on which one would you like or whether it’s we think your projection would go really well on this building?

A little bit of both, to be honest. We don’t try and prescript because if there’s a building that we haven’t ever projected on, we’re not averse to that. We know the city, we Google map them, especially if he hasn’t been here before. we can show different works.

 

We love Bonython Hall. We really felt, I suppose a synergy. When we looked at his work, we thought it would be quite incredible in that building to put that architecture with that artist. We did present Bonython and he was like absolutely no brainer. He was really excited.

 

We love Bonython Hall. We really felt, I suppose a synergy. When we looked at his work, we thought it would be quite incredible in that building to put that architecture with that artist.

 

So, sometimes it goes that way. But then other times, we showed him different buildings and he wanted to be on Government House as well. Or, we tried to find the right place for his exhibition and of course chose ILA. We showed him a couple of different spaces and he really resonated with ILA, and what it represents for him is quite exciting.

 

As you said, he’s bringing the three different works, two of which are part of the free City Lights program, The Origin of the World and Pixel Waves, and then of course, Digital Abyss, which is the paid one at ILA. Yeah. What story do the three works tell together, if any?

They’re all quite different, to be honest, They’re different representations of his work at different times. With Digital Abyss, he’s been inspired by the deep ocean. He’s very passionate about our environment. Actually, he’s done work about being inspired by the ocean in different works he’s done around the world. He did an exhibition in Paris that was working with the deep ocean, but slightly different. But I think it’s about his environment, whether it’s the ocean, which is Digital Abyss. What is the through story? That’s hard, isn’t it?

 

He’s very passionate about our environment. Actually, he’s done work about being inspired by the ocean in different works he’s done around the world.

 

There might not be one. It could just be different forms of his art.

He tends to work with natural environments. Like he sees Pixel Waves as a rippling in a way matching the oceans, but in a more playful way. I think it’s really a showcase of his work over the years and what inspired him. It’s always about the world or about the environment.

 

And these three works are over an about 20 year period? So, you can see that progression.

Yes, Pixel Waves is one of his first works. Then Origin of the world. And then I think Digital Abyss is where he is heading, especially with the interactivity too.

 

Which international lights or arts festivals have inspired Illuminate Adelaide and how do you adapt the ideas to fit Adelaide’s identity?

We’ve never adapted anything that we’ve seen. When we started out for Illuminate Adelaide, Lee and I really wanted it to be unique. We got a lot of “Is it like VIVID?” because that’s what we knew in Australia because it had lights.

 

We do steer away from the light festival because we don’t feel that we’re just a light festival. We feel that we’ve got lots of layers. We have a huge music program. We have immersive experiences in the Botanic Gardens and at the zoo.

 

We do steer away from the light festival because we don’t feel that we’re just a light festival. We feel that we’ve got lots of layers. We have a huge music program. We have immersive experiences in the Botanic Gardens and at the zoo.

 

There’s the food as well now.

Yeah, the food. We’ve got Augmented Games which are showing AI and play. We love the fête des luminaires in Lyon, which is the original in the world.

I’ve heard that it gets really cramped there when it’s on?

Yeah. We’ve been a couple of times now. VIVID is about 300,000 people normally, and in four days; in Lyon they get 1.5 million. It is quite extraordinary because they close off the whole town – it’s all pedestrian. It’s so beautiful. The council cover every single street light in blue or red gel. The atmosphere is beautiful. I think what we took from them is the gravitas and the importance of the artist.

 

I feel at some light festivals it’s just about a light work. It’s not really interactive. It doesn’t say anything. Everything has its place. I love neons. I love the storytelling that we’re doing with Neon Dog Park. That’s fun. But I think it has to have a variety of experiences that are both interactive or that give you some different senses and an experience. That’s really important.

 

Lee and I see lots of festivals around the world and it’s great to see the installations, but just because it’s Instagrammable, it doesn’t mean it should be in Illuminate. There are some things that work, and they’re great. But other things, we want people to have a different experience and have a bit of a deeper experience with art and technology. That intersection of art and technology is really at the forefront and the artist, of what we do.

 

Lee and I see lots of festivals around the world and it’s great to see the installations, but just because it’s Instagrammable, it doesn’t mean it should be in Illuminate. There are some things that work, and they’re great. But other things, we want people to have a different experience and have a bit of a deeper experience with art and technology.

 

What impact do you hope that audiences will take away from the festival beyond the visual experience?

We’re really important about the shared experience as well. A lot of the time technology is on your screen and it’s a very solo experience. What we’ve tried to do is bring that out to the streets, whether it’s through the City Lights program or with Augmented Games, you get to play each other, compete with each other, play with strangers. It’s about a shared experience. And at Night Visions, you’re walking through a beautiful garden. You’re seeing nature really meld with technology in a blended way and being outdoors, and that shared experience, and that magic that lighting technology can give you that is really quite unique.

 

Live performance is so fantastic. I think we try with that shared experience to have the same experience as if it’s live. That the installations have come alive and they’re telling a story to you as well, in whatever sense. The shared experience that people go away, that it makes them think they’ve seen something that they’ve never seen before, that they experience Adelaide and our city in a different way.

 

Live performance is so fantastic. I think we try with that shared experience to have the same experience as if it’s live. That the installations have come alive and they’re telling a story to you as well, in whatever sense.

 

We feel that in winter sometimes, you can get a bit down and, and we feel that it’s a positive little kick in the middle of the year to, to keep you going in a positive way. You get to be out in the streets with everyone sharing an experience together. We don’t do that enough.

 

Illuminate Adelaide is a massive city shaping event with many moving parts. What does a day in the life look like for you as you move from development into the festival? And how does it change when the lights are on and the public is in the spaces?

Obviously, we work really hard all year round putting the program together and the teams working out where things go curating all that. Then we get it ready to launch out to the world.

 

Once we launch our program, our team are incredible and they pretty much run with it. They’re the ones that really make it all happen. We’re there and we steward it. We go from curating and working out what we want to do, then the closer we get, we’re problem solving. If there are any things that come up, we can help the team help deliver and keep the momentum going, work it and make sure we get the message out.

 

Then, when it’s on, we’re just running around doing lots of media and events, but it’s just such a fantastic time. It’s so rewarding. You work all year putting it together and the team works so hard at getting out and putting it on and delivering it.

 

It’s really rewarding to walk around the streets and just see people enjoying it and really embracing it. It’s sort of like Christmas Day for three weeks. You get to go out and about and see people experiencing it and things that you’ve been thinking about and planning, suddenly people are actually enjoying it and experiencing it.

 

It’s really rewarding to walk around the streets and just see people enjoying it and really embracing it. It’s sort of like Christmas Day for three weeks. You get to go out and about and see people experiencing it and things that you’ve been thinking about and planning, suddenly people are actually enjoying it and experiencing it.

 

That must be really rewarding.

Yeah, I love walking down North Terrace or Rymill Park or wherever City Lights are and just watching people interact, play with it, or whether it’s a young kid or these incredible seniors walking groups that walk around and they’re out and talking and, experiencing something that they haven’t experienced.

 

So, it does change but once we get on and up and I am just really there to support the team in delivering it. And, and also, we’re always looking at how people experience things and enjoy or don’t enjoy. It really helps us shape the next year as well.

 

How far in advance do you plan, do you plan one year at a time or have you already started working on next year’s festival?

Yeah, absolutely. Even ‘28 commissioning artists because some we talk to, we either pitch work or we have artists that we want to get into Illuminate. Like with Miguel, that took us two or three years to actually secure him. So, we’re always working at it, but some things are longer in advance. Others that, we always want to make sure we’re current as well with other installations. So sometimes we’ll leave things a little bit later. But yeah, we’re already halfway through ‘27 planning, and even commissioning some works for ‘28.

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And which festivals are you about to go explore once this one has wrapped up?

Hopefully, there’s a fantastic festival in Prague called Signal, which would have been incredible, and there’s a whole plethora of them in the UK, the Northern Lights ones. And obviously also music is really important to us, so we’re going to get over to Poland.

 

Because Unsound is from Poland, isn’t it?

Yeah, absolutely. They’ve got an edition in Krakow and Warsaw, and a train from Krakow to Warsaw, which is pretty exciting. Artists on the train in between the cities. So, I think we’re going to go and hang out with them and see what’s happening with them and then obviously Signal. And then we always make sure we get to London because there’s always so many fantastic museums and exhibitions there as well.

 

There’s also MUTEK in Montreal, which is an incredible three days of artists, whether they’re music or visual installations. There’s always so much going on. I wish we could see more, but we’re really lucky that we get to travel and see things.

 

I think that’s the part that the general public always look at with the role of an artistic director role and think that’s the dream. Getting to travel the world and pick shows. But of course, there’s also a lot of hard work involved. It’s not just traveling and saying I want that one and that one.

Let me tell you! We were away last year and every day we were on a train going somewhere else.

 

It’s not leisurely.

We’re not going to complain, but it is pretty gruelling sometimes. And you travel miles and you see something and it’s really disappointing but you’ve got to have these experiences. It’s also about meeting different directors and talking to different artists. Like with Miguel being able to spend time with him really cemented it. Having a zoom is great, but actually being in his home and looking at his studio and seeing how he creates and having those conversations is really important to what we do to make sure that we’re bringing the best to Adelaide.

 

Like with Miguel being able to spend time with him really cemented it. Having a zoom is great, but actually being in his home and looking at his studio and seeing how he creates and having those conversations is really important to what we do to make sure that we’re bringing the best to Adelaide.

 

Was there anything that we haven’t covered that you would like to cover?

Just that there are so many different opportunities for people to get amongst it, with experiences both ticketed and free. We want everyone to go out and have a good time. And then also, all our food programs to even just support all the businesses. That’s really important to us to get out with our remote host program, and really support the city at a, at a quiet time. Well, it has been, it’s getting busier now in July, which we love.

 

there are so many different opportunities for people to get amongst it, with experiences both ticketed and free. We want everyone to go out and have a good time

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We thank Rachael Azzopardi for this interview and cannot wait to explore Illuminate Adelaide 2026