Earlier this year, Sydney turned into a city-sized kaleidoscope – with 30 major art installations lighting up the place in the 13th iteration of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest multi-artform festival. This year’s theme for Vivid Sydney was ‘Humanity’, and the lights, artwork, events and awe-inspiring live performances that took over our city for those 23 magical nights were all designed to interrogate the question of what it means to be human. Next winter, Vivid Sydney will come back to the Harbour City, this time with a program inspired by a new theme: ‘Dream’. If you’re a creative (or chef, or equipment supplier, or promoter) keen to get involved with Sydney’s sparkly season, now’s your chance – with expressions of interest open now, and closing later next month (yep, you've gotta get in quick).
Now that the theme for next year’s event has been released, the task of finalising the program will begin – and although much of the event will already have been meticulously planned, the Vivid team are calling on Sydney’s creative minds to bring their ideas to the 2025 event.
Vivid Sydney 2025 will run from Friday, May 23 until Saturday, June 14 – with the Vivid team calling on musicians, artists and creatives to submit their ideas under the festival’s pillars of Light, Music, Ideas and Food. Last year's program saw the sky above Sydney come alive with a dynamic drone show all about love, a flame-powered street kitchen pop up in an urban corner of the city, and venues such as Carriageworks and the Sydney Opera House host world-class artists in a series of boundary-pushing performances.
“Vivid Sydney is more than a light show, it is Sydney’s living legacy that captures imaginations and shares with visitors and locals alike the very best talent from our creative, entertainment and hospitality industries,” says Steve Cox, CEO of Destination NSW.
Although the Dream theme might seem a little abstract, it was chosen by the visionaries behind Vivid because of its universal nature. Vivid Sydney Festival Director Gill Minervini said: “Dreams don’t discriminate – they are borderless, ageless and endless. They can be personal or public. When shared, our dreams can become a movement. They can inspire, motivate, spark excitement and connection. The whole world dreams, it is something we have in common, something that unites us. Our human story is embedded in dreams, they help explain our existence and our past.”
If that’s inspired you, you can submit an expression of interest via the Vivid Sydney website, with light and art form EOIs open until Monday, September 2, and EOIs for ideas, music and food open until Friday, September 27 2024. Opportunities exist for everyone from artists and designers to architects and engineers, so it's worth checking if there's space for you in the program – you can learn more about getting involved over here.
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