Dani Ricciardi

Every person in Adelaide experienced the pandemic years in a different way, and for Dani Ricciardi that period of flux was also marked by intense creativity and new beginnings.

As the inaugural Head of Marketing and Communications for Illuminate Adelaide, she worked through disruptive lockdowns and a giant storm that forced the opening night’s cancellation to shape the identity of South Australia’s most prominent new festival in decades. And she can still clearly remember the moment when she knew that all the effort was worth it.

Walking down North Terrace the night after Adelaide had emerged from lockdown, she paused to take in the crowds that filled the broad sidewalk.

Hordes of excited festivalgoers of all ages had braved the cold to marvel at the City Lights projections, filling the crisp winter night with excited chatter. “That’s what success feels like,” she says, “seeing people out and actually enjoying the city.”

By creating branding, content and advertising material for festivals, Ricciardi is translating the grand visions of artistic directors into something the public can understand and get excited about.

It’s a fitting role for somebody who grew up in “a family of non-arts goers” before immersing herself in that world while working at a ticketing company.

The first time she experienced the transformative power of festivals firsthand was at WOMADelaide, which she calls “the reason why I do what I do, in so many ways… When you walk into that park for four days, you are stepping away from life.

You get to just breathe and see what the world would be like if everyone was in a really good place all the time.”

Now, whenever she is struggling to explain her passion for the arts to family members, she gives them a simple pitch along with an invitation to join her.

“Just trust me, and if you don’t like it we can leave,” she tells them. Once they arrive, she adds with a laugh, “we never end up leaving.”

While performers, marketers and even artistic directors come and go, the festivals they work on “are bigger than any single person”; each has an essence that transcends the individuals involved.

And while being part of the inaugural Illuminate team was daunting, working on festivals that already have a dedicated audience brings an entirely different type of pressure.

Stints at the Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre and her current role as Director of Marketing & Development for Arts Projects Australia mean that Ricciardi has become familiar with the sense of responsibility she holds as a custodian of various festivals.

It’s “terrifying,” she says, because “you don’t want to get it wrong. But your job is also to challenge the norm of how things have been done before.”

Any artistic endeavour requires the regular introduction of new ideas to thrive, and because “the audience’s appetite for the experimental or something that they wouldn’t normally engage with is so much higher when it’s part of a festival,” each one presents a great opportunity to experiment with new approaches.

Technology is one key driver of innovation, and Ricciardi has seen firsthand how it can change both marketing strategies and the audience experience.

That was especially visible when state border closures forced Illuminate to engage with a digital audience as lockdowns prevented interstate travel.

But she is just as certain that the human connection that first drew her to festivals will remain at the core of the experience for generations to come.

“WOMADelaide isn’t just a music event,” she explains.

“It’s a moment to connect… It’s pretty hard to walk out of that park after one, two, three or four days and not feel some kind of positive energy or have a great experience or see something that you’ve never seen, heard or experienced before.”

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This article is part of the Festival City Stories series, a collection of reflections about Adelaide made by the people who make this a festival place. The project was funded through the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Arts South Australia, Arts Recovery Fund, and delivered in partnership with the State Library of South Australia. 

Written by: Alexis Buxton-Collins

Photography by: Alex van de Loo