Counting and Cracking kicks off RISING festival

Counting and Cracking
L – R: Ahilan Karunaharan, Kaivalya Suvarna, Abbie-Lee Lewis, Shiv Palekar, Nadie Kammallaweera, Gandhi MacIntyre. Image credit: Pia Johnson

On Saturday 1 June, the University of Melbourne celebrated the opening of Counting and Cracking, a headline production that kicked off RISING’s 2024 festival across Melbourne.

The event was held at Union Theatre in the new Arts and Culture Precinct on the University’s Parkville campus. The multi-award-winning production was presented by University of Melbourne Arts and Culture (UMAC) and will run until 23 June.

The opening event saw attendance from University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global, Culture and Engagement) Professor Michael Wesley, and Director of UMAC Virginia Lovett, as well as esteemed guests in the Consul General of Sri Lanka Sandith Samarasinghe, and the Chair of RISING Tim Orton.

A community event followed on Sunday, including a panel discussion entitled “Cultural Catalysts: Creativity in the Sri Lankan Diaspora”. Presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and RISING on the Union Theatre stage, the event saw a wide range of community and Sri Lankan diaspora members enjoy the newly built theatre and Arts and Culture precinct.

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