Sellars Quits as Festival Head Amid Controversy

Just four months before its opening, Los Angeles-based director Peter Sellars--artistic director of 1990 and 1993’s multicultural Los Angeles Festivals--has resigned as director of Australia’s 2002 Adelaide Festival following months of controversy over finances and programming.

Sellars will be replaced by Sue Nattras, currently chief executive officer of the Adelaide Festival and artistic director of the Melbourne Festivals of 1997 and 1998.

Reached by phone in Paris, where he is directing the opera “L’Amour de Loin,” Sellars called his decision to step down “very positive” and refused to comment further. In a prepared statement, Sellars said: “It appears that my presence is an impediment to the realization of the 2002 Adelaide Festival.... I am disturbed by the tone and darker implications of some of the reaction to the Festival program.”

Sellars’ decision takes place after an outcry from the Australian press and the local arts community after his festival program was announced Nov. 4. The schedule for the March festival, which includes more local programming and greater focus on indigenous cultures than previous festivals, was attacked for ignoring Adelaide Festival traditions, as well as including too many free events, thus cutting expected ticket revenues. And, while the budget was higher than that of previous festivals, the schedule had been cut from the usual 17 to 10 days.

The resignation also followed a decision by festival corporate sponsor Telstra to withdraw an estimated $500,000 sponsorship over the festival’s plans to feature Adolf Hitler in a TV advertising campaign, suggesting that if Hitler hadn’t been rejected from art school, history might have taken a different course. The ads were pulled before they aired, and Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications corporation, reinstated the sponsorship.

In an interview with The Times, John Morphett, festival board chairman, called Sellars’ departure “his decision” and said that the board offered Sellars the option to broaden the program. “His view was that he would be happy to do that if he had more money. We couldn’t find any more for him, and he wasn’t happy about the idea of modifying his program.” “