“I’m gonna try to not make you go ‘whoa, there’s so much happening!’” says David Caffrey, Events/cultural Coordinator for New Acton, talking about tomorrow’s ArtNotApart Free Arts Festival.

Unfortunately, he failed. By the time I’d finished my conversation with David and Festival Curator, Chloe Mandryk, my head was well and truly spinning. The team has organised an event simply brimming with a diverse range of artistic experiences: there’s drawing performance, new media, a collective exhibition, painting, paper projects, photography, sculpture, street art, video and more.

What is ArtNotApart? It’s a multi-arts festival that aims to extend the boundaries of what people think of as art, and puts a spotlight on Canberra’s art scene. The fourth ‘episode’ of the festival is an initiative of the Molonglo Group, and this year also enjoys support from Brand #CBR and Arts ACT.

“This event is a really important one for us – the fourth episode sees us moving from an emerging event to an established event,” says David.

“Having 5 500 people come last year was a really big step for that establishment, but now with the government supporting it, we can start planning longer term and exploring the development of the festival.”

For Chloe, the festival is an opportunity for artists to enjoy their practice and share it with people. “We have a lot of new ideas coming through – artists are realising new projects, talking to people who wouldn’t usually be their audience, and talking to each other.”

Dave says that ArtNotApart is “Trying to extend the boundaries away from just poetry or just visual art, and getting audiences to enjoy and explore as a festival as a whole – it’s about breaking down the divisions between artist and audience in a punchy manner.”

The festival will feature a range of distinct spaces with very clear visions for each, and there are some truly exciting things happening…like the Street Party. It’s not your run of the mill street party – this one is a scaffold building, 26m long and 8m high, clad with ply and canvass, painted live, with exhibitions underneath, circus all around and DJs on top.

Then there’s Apartmental, a site-specfic commissioned work in which dancers and a video artist will transform an apartment into an immersive artwork which explores “how we perceive and respond to space, using the body, light and sound to articulate new ways of describing the relationship between humans and the environment.”

One not to be missed is Six Women Standing In Front Of A White Wall, a Butoh live art work by Chenoeh Miller – an interactive dance-theatre installation that investigates the effect of touch or no touch on a human being.  Put simply, as per the title, six women stand in front of a white wall and respond truthfully, in all the extremities of human emotion, to the audiences every action… or inaction.

Beats from Bits is sure to blow your mind. It’s Livecoding: programming as performance—beats from bits. You’ll be able to see music and visuals made with code, right in front of your eyes. Everything you’ll see and hear will programmed live by Ben Swift and Torben Sko using their own custom software.

For fans of sustainable fashion, there’s Suitcase Rummage – a mini-scaled market aimed at supporting emerging artists, crafters and second-hand marketeers. Suitcase Rummage helps to expose locally produced handmade, recycled and up-cycled products – all from a suitcase or three.

While it’s not aiming to be a family festival, ArtNotApart does have something for younger creatives in Whippersnapper Woods –  Andrea Belfall has curated a program which David says, “treats the kids like people, like they are interactive audience members who want to do fun things and want to explore their creativity.  There’ll be everything from lego to box forts to giving kids the chance to make their own chamber where they can escape from the adult world.”

“One of our guiding quotes is from Nietzsche – ‘In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play’, and that’s really important when it comes to the festival,” says David.

“Neitsche talked a lot about creativity being its richest in children and then it gets conditioned out of them as they grow up…so this festival’s trying to bring play back.”

I could write thousands of words about all the offerings at tomorrow’s festival – I could tell you about the 3D printer that’s coming along; or the collective exhibition ‘Terms and Conditions’, or the installation where your mobile phone is put in an inflatable parachute and dropped from the Nishi building; or the artist talks and workshops; or the music and poetry readings; or the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, or the Sound and Fury party; or the great food and juices on offer…there simply is just too much to mention.

The only solution is to get along to New Acton Precinct tomorrow for an experience that is sure to stretch the boundaries of your imagination, and broaden your thinking about what is art. Download the program here, plan what you absolutely can’t miss, and then just wander and immerse yourself in all things art.

the essentials

What: ArtNotApart Free Arts Festival
When: 1pm to 7pm Saturday 15 March
Where: New Acton Precinct
Web: artnotapart.com
Program: artnotapart.com/program
How much: Free.