Interactive, outdoor drama honoured
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Not a person but an event is the recipient of the Manifest Creative Arts Festival’s most prestigious award this year.
The nativity scene, complete with real baby, ends your walk on the Road to Bethlehem.
Credit: Ormond Howard.
The interactive, outdoor drama Road to Bethlehem will receive the Gabe Reynaud Award during a ceremony also named in honour of the pioneering Seventh-day Adventist filmmaker. The award recognises excellence in using the creative arts for ministry.
“It recognises a collective creativity,” says Manifest co-convenor Nathan Brown. Road to Bethlehem encompasses many aspects of creativity, from acting, costuming and staging, to scriptwriting, sound and lighting. “And it shows Adventists creatives can make an impact in the community.”
Road to Bethlehem is now in its 19th year. It began in 1995 as a ministry of Nunawading Seventh-day Adventist Church in Victoria. Twenty people volunteered to stage the event, which attracted a crowd of 700 over two nights. Now, with the support of Seventh-day Adventist Church in Victoria, 400 people volunteer to stage the event, which attracts a crowd of 15,000 over four nights.
“If you mention Seventh-day Adventists, so many people know about Road to Bethlehem,” says Carolyn Dunne, a member of the steering committee since 1996. The goodwill costs about $70,000 each year, but Road to Bethlehem does not charge for entry—the event is a gift to the community.
The City of Whitehorse recognised Road to Bethlehem’s role in building community by nominating it for an Australia Day Community Achievement Award in 2003. And Fairfax Media’s theage.com.au featured the event on its website in December last year. Despite this extra attention, Carolyn and the other members of the committee have resisted turning the event into a “carnival.” “We’ve always maintained it has to be spiritual. So, no Santa Claus. Everything about Road to Bethlehem is biblical.”
Road to Bethlehem has spawned four other Road to Bethlehems—in Dakabin Park, Queensland; in Erina, New South Wales; in Livingston, Western Australia; and in Tauranga, New Zealand.
Gabe Reynaud Awards, Chan Shun Auditorium, Saturday, March 23, 7.30 PM. Drinks in foyer from 6.30 PM.