Arts and cultural festivals
Each capital city has a festival. Major festivals are:
Sydney Festival (January)
Each year the Sydney
Festival
offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms and including dance,
theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large-scale free outdoor events.
For three weeks in January the festival hosts around 80 events involving upwards
of 500 artists from Australia and abroad. In any given year, it makes use of
most of the main theatres across the breadth of the city and also has a
commitment to the presentation of quality, large-scale outdoor events such as
the iconic Domain Series.
National Multicultural Festival, Canberra (February)
The National Multicultural Festival is held over four days and features the very best in
local, national and international music, dance, food and creative arts.
Festival favourites include the Food and Dance Spectacular, the Greek Glendi,
Carnivale, the International Concert and the Pacific Islander Showcase. The
Festival Fringe complements the mainstream festival, and provides a place for
artists who break traditional barriers to bring their work to a wider
audience.
Red lotus flower floating in the reflection pool in front of Winthrop Hall,
by Korean pop artist Choi Jeong Hwa for Perth International Arts Festival, March
2012. Image by Kathryn Wells.
Perth International Arts Festival (February–March)
The Perth International Arts Festival is the oldest annual international multi-arts festival
in the southern hemisphere and is Western Australia's premier cultural event.
The first Perth Festival was in 1953 and it now offers the people of Western
Australia some of the best international and contemporary drama, theatre, music,
film, visual arts, street arts, literature, comedy and free community events.
Some other events in the festival include the Contemporary Culture program and
the Perth Visual Arts Festival.
As well as these, there are satellite festivals surrounding the main festival
which itself offers more than 30 Australian premieres. The Western Australian
Indigenous Arts Showcase (WAIAS) is part of the Perth International Arts
Festival, and has involved over 90 Indigenous singers and songwriters,
musicians, actors and comedians from all over Australia's largest state.
Adelaide Festival of Arts (March)
The Adelaide Festival of Arts has created a strong tradition
of innovation since 1960, inspiring celebration and presenting diverse art from
across Australia and around the world. Held in the warm South Australian autumn
in every 'even' year, this is a large-scale multi-arts event of extraordinary
richness and diversity.
Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania (March)
Tasmania's flagship celebration of island arts and culture, Ten Days on the
Island,
boasts a multitude of events in 50 locations across the island. Events and
activities range across all types of music, dance, visual arts, theatre,
literature, food and film. Individual artists and companies come from all
corners of the globe, and a number of local artists also take part.
Darwin Festival (August)
Yilila, winners of 2006 NT Indigenous Music Awards. Courtesy of Yilila.
The Darwin Festival
is an expression of the city's uniqueness, celebrating its multicultural
community, youthful energy, tropical climate and great lifestyle. The cultural
program provides a feast of local, national and international performances to
excite, inspire and entertain. It includes opera, cabaret, dance, music, film,
comedy, the visual arts and workshops – incorporating music and dance from
Indigenous, Indonesian and Pacific Island communities. There is also a strong
visual arts component, with traditional land owners guiding visitors through the
many galleries exhibiting Indigenous art.
Brisbane Festival (September)
Brisbane Festival 2010, no source.
Brisbane Festival is Brisbane's foremost international multi-arts
festival, offering an outstanding program of theatre, dance, music, opera,
multimedia, and free community events for the residents of Brisbane and its
visitors. Held every two years, it endeavours to include the entire community
in its program of activities by having intellectual rigour, international
artistic credibility and an extremely broad grass-roots support base.
Consequently, Brisbane Festival is about a lot more than just putting on shows.
It encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater
community across the wonderful city of Brisbane, the country and the globe.
Melbourne International Arts Festival (October)
Stickwork by Patrick Dougherty was held at Fed Square in October 2012 as part of the
Melbourne International Arts Festival. Image by Kathryn Wells.
Melbourne International Arts Festival has a reputation for presenting unique international
and Australian events in the fields of dance, theatre, music, visual arts,
multimedia, and free and outdoor events over 17 days each October. First staged
in 1986 under the direction of composer Gian Carlo Menotti, it became the third
in the Spoleto Festival series – joining Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston, United
States. Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne
International Festival of the Arts in 1990. In 2003, the festival was renamed
Melbourne International Arts Festival.
Independent festivals
Major independent national festivals include:
Chinese New Year (February)
Australian Chinese New Year celebrations, image by Dan Peled for AAP.
Courtesy ABC.
Chinese New Year
is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The new
year begins on the first day of the Chinese calendar, which usually falls in
February, and the festivities continue for 15 days. During Chinese New Year
celebrations, people wear red clothes, give children 'lucky money' in red
envelopes, and set off firecrackers.
Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival, where people hang decorated
lanterns in temples and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of
the full moon. The highlight of the lantern festival is often the dragon dance.
The dragon can be as long as 30 metres and is typically made of silk, paper and
bamboo. In Sydney, more than 500,000 people crowd the streets to celebrate the
Lunar New Year and all things Chinese.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (February–March)
From a protest rally to one of the world's largest gay and lesbian festivals,
the Sydney
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come a long way. In 1978, a group of 1000 people
marched down Oxford Street to mark International Gay Solidarity Day. This
one-off event resulted in violent clashes with police and a determination to do
it all again the following year, and so Mardi Gras was born. The event has
continued to evolve, adding an arts festival in 1983, and it has grown to
attract an audience of hundreds of thousands of participants from all over the
world. The festival forms a huge celebration and reflection on gay and lesbian
life.
WOMADelaide (March)
WOMADelaide. Courtesy of Government of South Australia.
Over three days, WOMADelaide runs six outdoor stages featuring performances and
intimate workshops by around 35 groups from over 20 countries. It also presents
a KidZone, visual arts and street theatre programs, and an amazing Global
Village of 100 arts, crafts, international cuisine, and educational display
stalls and three bars. The magical ambience of WOMADelaide is indescribably
lush. Thousands of people of all ages bliss out as they enjoy the sounds of the
planet while catching up with friends in the sunshine, lazing under the trees,
shopping, eating, drinking and having fun with their family.
National Folk Festival, Canberra (April)
Held over the Easter weekend in Canberra every year, the National Folk
Festival
draws together people from all around Australia and the world. They come to
share in the songs, dances, tunes and verse that have flowed through the ages
from many communities into Australian folk culture. The festival includes over
100 concerts, poetry and storytelling sessions, various dance classes running
all day, a kids program and of course lots of different food options. Camping
is available and many people spend the whole five days and nights at the
festival.
Gubbi Gubbi Dancers, performing at The Dreaming 2014. Courtesy The
Dreaming.
Dreaming Festival, Woodford, Queensland (December–January)
The Dreaming is a vibrant, exciting and valuable destination. Local,
national and international audiences look forward to it as their annual ceremony
time along with the most comprehensive showcase of Indigenous arts from across
the country and around the world. This three day and four night festival has
performing arts venues, bars, ceremony grounds, traditional healing, galleries,
rituals, campfire story circles, a mass of stalls, a workshop avenue and food
outlets. Presented by the Queensland Folk Federation, the program features film
and literature components, performing arts, new media and digital technologies,
food and wine fair, comedy, ceremony, exhibitions, performance artists, physical
theatre, visual arts, craft workshops, a music program, street performers,
musicals and a youth program.
Revelation Perth International Film Festival (July)
The Revelation Perth International Film Festival has always maintained a strong
focus on documentary. The festival's history has seen the screening of a wide
array of contemporary and archival documentaries including Oscar-nominated
pieces, progressive works from the international scene, and works from the
international underground.
Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland (December–January)
Sunrise at the Woodford Folk Festival, no source.
The Woodford Folk Festival is an event of international standing. Held over six
days and six nights, it presents more than 2000 performers and 400 events with
concerts, dances, workshops, forums, street theatre, writers' panels, film
festival, comedy sessions, acoustic jams, social dialogue and debate, an entire
children's festival, art and craft workshops, late night cabarets, and special
events including a spectacular fire event. The festival features the cream of
Australian performers and a gathering of special international guests.
Theme-based festivals
There are major national festivals based on themes such as film, jazz, music,
folk, digital media and writing.
Film festivals
Digital media
Writers' festivals
Jazz festivals
Klezmeritis in performance. Photo courtesy of the Kingston Arts
Centre.
Folk festivals
Other festivals
NSW and ACT festivals
Victorian festivals
Baksheva Dance Company performing for Adelaide Festival of Arts 2014.
Courtesy of Government of South Australia
Other states
Listen, look and play
Each capital city has a festival. Major festivals are:
Sydney Festival (January)
Each year the Sydney
Festival
offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms and including dance,
theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large-scale free outdoor events.
For three weeks in January the festival hosts around 80 events involving upwards
of 500 artists from Australia and abroad. In any given year, it makes use of
most of the main theatres across the breadth of the city and also has a
commitment to the presentation of quality, large-scale outdoor events such as
the iconic Domain Series.
National Multicultural Festival, Canberra (February)
The National Multicultural Festival is held over four days and features the very best in
local, national and international music, dance, food and creative arts.
Festival favourites include the Food and Dance Spectacular, the Greek Glendi,
Carnivale, the International Concert and the Pacific Islander Showcase. The
Festival Fringe complements the mainstream festival, and provides a place for
artists who break traditional barriers to bring their work to a wider
audience.
Red lotus flower floating in the reflection pool in front of Winthrop Hall,
by Korean pop artist Choi Jeong Hwa for Perth International Arts Festival, March
2012. Image by Kathryn Wells.
Perth International Arts Festival (February–March)
The Perth International Arts Festival is the oldest annual international multi-arts festival
in the southern hemisphere and is Western Australia's premier cultural event.
The first Perth Festival was in 1953 and it now offers the people of Western
Australia some of the best international and contemporary drama, theatre, music,
film, visual arts, street arts, literature, comedy and free community events.
Some other events in the festival include the Contemporary Culture program and
the Perth Visual Arts Festival.
As well as these, there are satellite festivals surrounding the main festival
which itself offers more than 30 Australian premieres. The Western Australian
Indigenous Arts Showcase (WAIAS) is part of the Perth International Arts
Festival, and has involved over 90 Indigenous singers and songwriters,
musicians, actors and comedians from all over Australia's largest state.
Adelaide Festival of Arts (March)
The Adelaide Festival of Arts has created a strong tradition
of innovation since 1960, inspiring celebration and presenting diverse art from
across Australia and around the world. Held in the warm South Australian autumn
in every 'even' year, this is a large-scale multi-arts event of extraordinary
richness and diversity.
Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania (March)
Tasmania's flagship celebration of island arts and culture, Ten Days on the
Island,
boasts a multitude of events in 50 locations across the island. Events and
activities range across all types of music, dance, visual arts, theatre,
literature, food and film. Individual artists and companies come from all
corners of the globe, and a number of local artists also take part.
Darwin Festival (August)
Yilila, winners of 2006 NT Indigenous Music Awards. Courtesy of Yilila.
The Darwin Festival
is an expression of the city's uniqueness, celebrating its multicultural
community, youthful energy, tropical climate and great lifestyle. The cultural
program provides a feast of local, national and international performances to
excite, inspire and entertain. It includes opera, cabaret, dance, music, film,
comedy, the visual arts and workshops – incorporating music and dance from
Indigenous, Indonesian and Pacific Island communities. There is also a strong
visual arts component, with traditional land owners guiding visitors through the
many galleries exhibiting Indigenous art.
Brisbane Festival (September)
Brisbane Festival 2010, no source.
Brisbane Festival is Brisbane's foremost international multi-arts
festival, offering an outstanding program of theatre, dance, music, opera,
multimedia, and free community events for the residents of Brisbane and its
visitors. Held every two years, it endeavours to include the entire community
in its program of activities by having intellectual rigour, international
artistic credibility and an extremely broad grass-roots support base.
Consequently, Brisbane Festival is about a lot more than just putting on shows.
It encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater
community across the wonderful city of Brisbane, the country and the globe.
Melbourne International Arts Festival (October)
Stickwork by Patrick Dougherty was held at Fed Square in October 2012 as part of the
Melbourne International Arts Festival. Image by Kathryn Wells.
Melbourne International Arts Festival has a reputation for presenting unique international
and Australian events in the fields of dance, theatre, music, visual arts,
multimedia, and free and outdoor events over 17 days each October. First staged
in 1986 under the direction of composer Gian Carlo Menotti, it became the third
in the Spoleto Festival series – joining Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston, United
States. Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne
International Festival of the Arts in 1990. In 2003, the festival was renamed
Melbourne International Arts Festival.
Independent festivals
Major independent national festivals include:
Chinese New Year (February)
Australian Chinese New Year celebrations, image by Dan Peled for AAP.
Courtesy ABC.
Chinese New Year
is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The new
year begins on the first day of the Chinese calendar, which usually falls in
February, and the festivities continue for 15 days. During Chinese New Year
celebrations, people wear red clothes, give children 'lucky money' in red
envelopes, and set off firecrackers.
Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival, where people hang decorated
lanterns in temples and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of
the full moon. The highlight of the lantern festival is often the dragon dance.
The dragon can be as long as 30 metres and is typically made of silk, paper and
bamboo. In Sydney, more than 500,000 people crowd the streets to celebrate the
Lunar New Year and all things Chinese.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (February–March)
From a protest rally to one of the world's largest gay and lesbian festivals,
the Sydney
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come a long way. In 1978, a group of 1000 people
marched down Oxford Street to mark International Gay Solidarity Day. This
one-off event resulted in violent clashes with police and a determination to do
it all again the following year, and so Mardi Gras was born. The event has
continued to evolve, adding an arts festival in 1983, and it has grown to
attract an audience of hundreds of thousands of participants from all over the
world. The festival forms a huge celebration and reflection on gay and lesbian
life.
WOMADelaide (March)
WOMADelaide. Courtesy of Government of South Australia.
Over three days, WOMADelaide runs six outdoor stages featuring performances and
intimate workshops by around 35 groups from over 20 countries. It also presents
a KidZone, visual arts and street theatre programs, and an amazing Global
Village of 100 arts, crafts, international cuisine, and educational display
stalls and three bars. The magical ambience of WOMADelaide is indescribably
lush. Thousands of people of all ages bliss out as they enjoy the sounds of the
planet while catching up with friends in the sunshine, lazing under the trees,
shopping, eating, drinking and having fun with their family.
National Folk Festival, Canberra (April)
Held over the Easter weekend in Canberra every year, the National Folk
Festival
draws together people from all around Australia and the world. They come to
share in the songs, dances, tunes and verse that have flowed through the ages
from many communities into Australian folk culture. The festival includes over
100 concerts, poetry and storytelling sessions, various dance classes running
all day, a kids program and of course lots of different food options. Camping
is available and many people spend the whole five days and nights at the
festival.
Gubbi Gubbi Dancers, performing at The Dreaming 2014. Courtesy The
Dreaming.
Dreaming Festival, Woodford, Queensland (December–January)
The Dreaming is a vibrant, exciting and valuable destination. Local,
national and international audiences look forward to it as their annual ceremony
time along with the most comprehensive showcase of Indigenous arts from across
the country and around the world. This three day and four night festival has
performing arts venues, bars, ceremony grounds, traditional healing, galleries,
rituals, campfire story circles, a mass of stalls, a workshop avenue and food
outlets. Presented by the Queensland Folk Federation, the program features film
and literature components, performing arts, new media and digital technologies,
food and wine fair, comedy, ceremony, exhibitions, performance artists, physical
theatre, visual arts, craft workshops, a music program, street performers,
musicals and a youth program.
Revelation Perth International Film Festival (July)
The Revelation Perth International Film Festival has always maintained a strong
focus on documentary. The festival's history has seen the screening of a wide
array of contemporary and archival documentaries including Oscar-nominated
pieces, progressive works from the international scene, and works from the
international underground.
Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland (December–January)
Sunrise at the Woodford Folk Festival, no source.
The Woodford Folk Festival is an event of international standing. Held over six
days and six nights, it presents more than 2000 performers and 400 events with
concerts, dances, workshops, forums, street theatre, writers' panels, film
festival, comedy sessions, acoustic jams, social dialogue and debate, an entire
children's festival, art and craft workshops, late night cabarets, and special
events including a spectacular fire event. The festival features the cream of
Australian performers and a gathering of special international guests.
Theme-based festivals
There are major national festivals based on themes such as film, jazz, music,
folk, digital media and writing.
Film festivals
- Flickerfest
International Short Film Festival – Sydney (January) - Short
+ Sweet –
Sydney (January–February) - Sony Tropfest – National (February)
- Mardi
Gras Film Festival – Sydney (February) - Adelaide
Film Festival
– Adelaide (October) - Sydney Film Festival – Sydney (June)
- Revelation International Film Festival – Perth (July)
- Melbourne International Film Festival – Melbourne (July–August)
Digital media
- The NOW now Festival – Blue Mountains, New South Wales (January)
- Totally Huge New Music Festival – Perth (August)
- Liquid Architecture – National (August–September)
- This is Not Art
– Newcastle (October)
Writers' festivals
- Perth
Writers Festival (February–March) - Adelaide Writers’ Week (March)
- Eye of the Storm
– regional Northern Territory (April alternate years) - Sydney Writers' Festival (May)
- Emerging Writers Festival – Melbourne (May–June)
- WordStorm – Darwin (May–June alternate years)
- Noosa
Long Weekend
(July) - Byron
Bay Writers’ Festival (August) - Melbourne Writers Festival (August–September)
- Brisbane Writers Festival (September)
- More writers' festivals
Jazz festivals
- Eltham
Jazz, Food and Wine Festival – Victoria (February) - Illawarra
Annual Easterfest Jazz Festival
– Wollongong (May) - Brisbane International Jazz Festival – (May–June)
- Melbourne
International Jazz Festival (May–June) - Merimbula
Jazz Festival
– New South Wales (June) - Noosa
Jazz Festival
– Queensland (August–September) - Wangaratta
Jazz and Blues – Victoria (November)
Klezmeritis in performance. Photo courtesy of the Kingston Arts
Centre.
Folk festivals
- Cygnet Folk Festival – Tasmania (January)
- Illawarra Folk Festival – New South Wales (January)
- Cobargo Folk Festival – New South Wales (February)
- National
Folk Festival
– Canberra (Easter) - Uranquinty
Folk Festival
– New South Wales (October) - Tablelands Folk Festival – Queensland (October)
- Woodford Folk Festival – Queensland (December)
Other festivals
NSW and ACT festivals
- Big
Day Out - National
Folk Festival - National Multicultural Festival
- Flickerfest
- Sydney Film Festival
- Mardi Gras Film Festival
- Mullum Music Festival
- Thirroul
Seaside and Arts Festival - Sydney
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Victorian festivals
- Melbourne
International Comedy Festival - Moomba Festival, Melbourne
- Melbourne International Film Festival
- Apollo Bay Music Festival
- Tarra
Easter Festival
Baksheva Dance Company performing for Adelaide Festival of Arts 2014.
Courtesy of Government of South Australia
Other states
- Ten
Days on the Island, Tasmania - The
Taste Festival, Hobart - Darwin
Festival - Adelaide Festival of the Arts
- Adelaide International Film Festival
- Adelaide
Cabaret Festival - Perth
International Arts Festival - Revelation Perth International Film Festival
- Noosa
Jazz Festival - Brisbane International Jazz Festival
Listen, look and play
- Watch films from ACMI Collections:
- Melbourne: Festival City – short film, Gordon Lloyd,
Victorian Tourist Development Authority - Moomba Belonged to my Grandfather – short film, Des Wittingslow, Australia, 2004
- Memories – short film, Ivan Pope, Australia, 2004
- Fay’s
Story– short
film, Fay Chapman, Australia, 2004
- Melbourne: Festival City – short film, Gordon Lloyd,
- Explore articles, snippets, images and videos of festivals in Australia
through 2camels.com