Arts Minister Troy Grant's previously-announced Wednesday-night program Culture Up Late launches tonight – Wednesday January 11 – with a program of events taking place at the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum, Carriageworks, the Powerhouse Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the State Library of NSW, and Sydney Opera House.
Every Wednesday through January and February you'll be able to head to these venues after work for access to exhibitions and a range of special programs and offers.
Art Gallery of NSW will continue its existing Wednesday-night late-night program, Art After Hours (they're also running the Nude at Night program on Thursday and Friday nights in January).
The MCA, meanwhile, have moved their weekly Lights on Later series from Thursdays to Wednesdays.
The Australian Museum will offer 2-for-1 entry on Wednesday nights, giving you access to their regular exhibits and current exhibitions (including Spiders: Alive and Deadly) as well as the chance to experience Lynette Wallworth’s immersive virtual reality work Collisions, which takes you to remote central Australia and invites you into the landscape and memories of Martu elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan. Collisions is only viewable to the public on Wednesday nights, as part of the Culture Up Late program.
Head to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo for after-hours access to their current exhibition Egyptian Mummies; and to its sister venue Sydney Observatory for twilight tours and night-time star gazing.
Carriageworks hasn't announced a permanent program for Wednesday nights at this stage, but they have dance and performance works on Wednesday nights throughout January as part of Sydney Festival.
Likewise, the State Library of NSW is currently only offering extended hours for their existing exhibitions – which include the Grand Garden Designs photographic exhibition and May Gibbs: Celebrating 100 Years.
Sydney Opera House is spruiking its summer late-night alt-cabaret offering, Club Swizzle, as well as its Western boardwalk pop-up Summer Playground.
Culture Up Late is an initiative of the recently formed Arts & Culture Advisory Committee. They're yet to decide whether the program will extend past summer/February.
Find out more about how the Culture Up Late initiative came about – and take Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture challenge: do at least one cultural or art event/activity a week throughout 2017.