Queensland Performing Arts Centre's (QPAC) Out of the Box, established in 1992 as a biennial festival, is one of the few festivals in the world that focuses on 3 to 8 year olds. The festival has received acclaim both within Australia and overseas for its early childhood arts programming.

Over 400,000 children and their families/carers have attended and participated in the seven festivals to date. All of the Festivals have presented a program consisting of:

• Theatre performances
• Participatory workshops and hands-on activities
• Exhibitions, art installations and displays

Building from the success of the festival, QPAC have developed an on-going program for children and those who work with and care for them, drawing on the expertise of artists, arts educators and companies from around Australia and internationally.

Special activities are also planned, such as research initiatives that build collective knowledge about children, their creativity and development.

Over 60,000 happy children, parents, teachers and carers attended the wonderful performances, a range of exciting workshops and the many free events and activities that filled the over the week of June 13 to 18 2006. The next festival will be in 2008.

In the meantime you can explore the Out of the Box website . There are games and fun activities in the KID Zone , and great resources and activity suggestions in the PARENT Zone and SCHOOL Zone .

And if you would like to be among the first to hear about what will be coming to the 2008 festival, or if you would like to hear about other great programs for children being offered at QPAC you can also subscribe to the Out of the Box e-newsletter.

See you at the next Out of the Box Festival!