The name promises a lot, but Perth's Awesome Festival lives up to it with a truly awe-inspiring week of music, dance, film, street theater, and interactive art. Presented by Awesome Arts Australia, a not-for-profit cultural organization, the "Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things" aims to inspire young artists and visitors with performances that stretch the definition of what art can be. Audience participation is key throughout, with such oddities as the Museum of Everyday Life, which uses signs, music, and movies to create a "big book with you inside," and Resist, a performance that invites the audience to stand up for what it believes in. The short film Crash!, meanwhile, is created before your eyes in a shipping container, while Llamaland is a Dr. Seuss-inspired explosion of ideas using found, used, and recycled objects to take visitors through a dreamlike environment. But I'm most curious about Urban Playground's Quartet (pictured), a parkour group that jumps, spins, and flies across a purpose-built urban structure designed to showcase their amazing skills. It's awesome indeed. The festival runs from November 22 - 29, 2009 and the Sheraton Perth Hotel is just minutes from the action.