The Alice Desert Festival is an annual cultural celebration set in Alice Springs, Australia. It spotlights the talents of Central Australian artists and performers through exhibitions, visual arts, theater, dance, music, comedy and writing, while introducing international elements into the mix.

"The arts are an important part of our cultural life, and they also play a significant economic role in the territory," says Marion Scrymgour, Minister for Arts and Museums in Australia’s Northern Territory. "The growth and development of successful events like the Alice Desert Festival shows the vital role the arts play in our great territory lifestyle."

As serious as this sounds, the festival involves a lot of fun. After all, this is Australia we’re talking about.

It generally kicks off on a Friday with a street parade that seems to get bigger and better every year. Free workshops for float dressing, costume making and other parade skills help get the creative juices flowing. Then just about anyone who wants to can join in the evening parade as it makes its way from the Todd Mall to the festival HUB_space on the banks of the usually dry Todd River.

The HUB_space is the center of attention for the first few days of the 10-day festival. It is a place to gather, hang out and enjoy a variety of entertainment, ranging from traditional dances to light shows. But throughout the festival, more than 100 events occur all around Alice Springs.

At the core of the festival are its workshops, which allow festival goers to study subjects as diverse as Aboriginal Basket Weaving and Argentinian Tango. Offerings in 2005 included Shona Music Workshops, exploring the traditional rhythms, songs and dances of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, and Professional Development Workshops for musicians in the independent music sector.

Arts organizations see the festival as an opportunity to promote their members’ works. In 2005, members of Territory Craft exhibited projects based on a "Masquerade" theme, while Desert Mob set up a marketplace of arts and crafts by Aboriginals of Central Australia.

And in some cases, events are like festivals within the festival. For example, the Sixth Annual Aboriginal Dance Conference was part of the 2005 Alice Desert Festival. It offered six days of workshops and free daily performances. There also was Cinema in the River, a two-day showcase of Australian films. Among the feature length films screened in 2005 were "The Call of Kakadu," a multi award-winning film about Northern Territory wildlife, and "Lore of Love," about the journey of an Aboriginal girl on the brink of womanhood.

Alice Springs is located in the geographical center of Australia, between the Tanami Desert and the Simpson Desert. The nearby MacDonnell Ranges provide relief from the heat with their many gorges and water holes. Although it has a population of just 26,000, Alice provides good services for touring the Outback, Aboriginal sacred sites, and famous rock formations, such as the Olgas and Ayers Rock, the world’s largest monolith.

The Alice Desert Festival is scheduled for September 1 to 10, 2006, when it will change its name to the Festival of the Desert in recognition of 2006 as the United Nations International Year of Deserts and Desertification 

British Columbia travel writer Toni Dabbs is a regular contributor to The Cultured Traveler.