When CityMag’s editors were in school Come Out was not a sprawling festival with more than 550 events programmed to follow a transcendent opening ceremony.

We remember it more as the one time a year us kids in hills schools got to see some theatre. Apparently things have moved along and the nine-day festival has grown-up even though its audience hasn’t. Based on the theme of “Building Bridges”, the 2015 program covers all kinds of territory from a fun introduction to urban planning with A City for Whoo to debates on the relative merits of art vs science (not the band, the disciplines). It all opens on May 22 with a ceremony that dispenses with the dignitaries, replacing them with kids who carry out the official functions, and brings three generations of choirs to sing together whilst a parade crosses the River Torrens footbridge.