In 1974 the Youth Program Committee of the Adelaide Festival of the Arts hosted a program for young people that they called Come Out.

This program was so successful that it was reborn the following year as a stand-alone festival - the Come Out Children’s Festival.

Since its inception more than 2.5 million South Australian schoolchildren, teachers and families have participated in what has become one of the largest arts festivals for young people in the world.

Festival Director Georgi Paech says the success of Come Out/DreamBig Children's Festival points to South Australia’s willingness to wholeheartedly embrace the arts.

"I think we have a great culture of adults supporting the arts, and people want to share that with their children," she says.

"There's something so wonderful about arts events in terms of the way that it connects us as a community, and I think that people want to share that with the young people in their life."

For more information on the DreamBig Children's Festival, including ticketing, click here (external site).

Beloved children's author Roald Dahl, writer of classic novels including James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, reads to students at Lenswood Primary School in 1989. Picture: State Library of South Australia

Like a fish out of water, this incredible installation was part of the Come Out festival in 1981. Picture: The Performing Arts Collection, Adelaide Festival Centre.

Students work hard to prepare a banner for the Come Out Parade. Picture: Adrian Adams, Performing Arts Collection, Adelaide Festival Centre

Dancing in the streets - well, in Hajek Plaza at least. Students get foot loose during Come Out on the Plaza. Picture: Adrian Adams, Performing Arts Collection, Adelaide Festival Centre

Students with instruments prepare to bring the music to the Come Out Parade, 1981. Picture: Adrian Adams, Performing Arts Collection, Adelaide Festival Centre

Here be dragons!  A Come Out installation in Elder Park, 1989. Picture: Lisa Tomasetti, Performing Arts Collection, Adelaide Festival Centre

Colour and movement:: School students gather for a parade through the city in 1989. Picture: State Library of South Australia