Picture the scene - March 12, 2013, a helicopter clatters across Lake Burley Griffin. Its occupants peer below at the huge letters spelling out words that define Canberra, boats of every kind bob on the water, bands can be heard playing from five different stages and an enormous bar snakes along the shore, where 800 people will be given a sip of local sparkling wine every half hour.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Creative director Robyn Archer announced yesterday a number of high-profile events to mark the Centenary of Canberra next year, including the world premiere of new work by the Australian Ballet, the opening of the National Arboretum, at least two books, and the longest ''bubbly bars'' in the world.
Launching the centenary countdown, Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a ''formal and public commitment'' on behalf of the Commonwealth to the role and significance of Canberra in the life of the nation. ''As this city begins the countdown to its centenary, I say to all Australians, Canberra is a success, our collective success over 10 decades, and it deserves to be celebrated,'' she said.
Archer said the ambitious program revealed yesterday was a ''fraction'' of what would be happening through the year. ''It is massive. I wanted to start to demonstrate, it's going to be a huge, huge year for Canberra. It's going to be a whole-of-city effort that will blow people away,'' she said. ''It's an opportunity to showcase Canberra to the rest of the country.''
She said the centenary team had been working for three years on what was a '' very complex operation''.
''The advocacy for Canberra has begun,'' she said. ''If people think Canberra is flat, boring, peopled only by some inhuman version of public servants who have no other life - then this program sets out to bust that myth,'' she said.
Among about 20 commissioned works for the centenary will be a new work by the Australian Ballet based on the ''democratic architecture'' of Parliament House, as the iconic building celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, in collaboration with its architect Aldo Giurgola.
Other important commissions are a ''stirring choral and orchestral tribute'' from composer Andrew Schultz to be performed by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the new Centenary Choir and a co-commission with the Sydney Theatre Company of a stage epic based on Kate Grenville's book, The Secret River.
With its grand opening scheduled for February 2013, the National Arboretum is set to become a centrepiece of the centenary celebrations and one of the region's most popular new attractions.
Archer said the heavy rains over the past year had been a boon for the arboretum.
On the birthday weekend, March 10-12, over-18s will have the opportunity to raise a glass and sample some local tapas at The Longest Bubbly Bars in the World.
On March 12, the whole of Australia will celebrate 100 years since Lady Denman, wife of the then governor-general Lord Denman, stood on the newly laid foundation stones and officially named the new capital, ''Canberra''.
Archer said at noon on March 12 there would be a toast to Canberra and she hoped that people would raise their glasses in their workplaces, at home or wherever they might be
The project ''Canberra'' in so many words would create a physical outbreak of words all round the city. ''In a place where words are all-important, this interactive process of building words in all shapes and sizes, all cultures and colours, will offer everyone a chance to participate,'' Archer said. ''No one is more important in the centenary celebrations than Walter Burley Griffin and his wife and colleague Marion Mahony Griffin, whose lives and work will be celebrated in the 2013 Canberra birthday period of March and beyond,'' she said.
The Street Theatre would build on its successful ''Made in Canberra'' program, while the Canberra Theatre Centre planned to put on a production from each state and territory.
