Sydney Festival

Every summer, right after the dust settles from the Harbour City’s epic NYE fireworks display, Sydney Festival is waiting to take over the city with a great big helping of fresh arts and culture. This is your chance to get in on an almost-month-long program that’s crammed with exciting performances, immersive art installations, phenomenal live musicians, and parties that rock on well into the night.  

Featuring more than 130 experiences and running from January 4–26, highlights of the 2025 festival include a salacious true crime tale staged inside Darlinghurst Courthouse; Sydney Town Hall’s conversion into a Wild West pioneer town; the world premiere of a wacky unauthorised opera about the magical duo Siegfried and Roy; and intimate contemporary gigs in regal spaces like the ACO on the Pier and the City Recital Hall.

You also have the chance to explore some sizeable new statement-making art installations – like Colour Maze, a vibrant installation unravelling across the wharf at the heart of the festival hub that invites the entire family to walk inside; and What We Leave Behind from Cave Urban, which invites you to share messages of hope for our environmental future that are woven into a unique bamboo structure on Tallawoladah Lawn.

As with last year, the festival hub takes the form of ‘The Thirsty Mile’ – a full-swing festive takeover across both of the historic piers that make up the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct and the eight national performing arts companies that call them home (long gone are the days when Sydney Festival would take over Hyde Park). At the heart of this pop-up is the festival bar where you can kick on throughout the month, plus there’s 12 nights of free live music to satiate you. 

You’ll see indoor and outdoor spaces across The Thirsty Mile enveloped by the bold and brilliant ‘Tongpop’ aesthetic of Visual Artist in Residence Telly Tuita. This Tongan-born and Western Sydney-raised artist is influenced by his Polynesian diasporic experience, nostalgic pop-culture references and memories of his homeland in Tonga. 

The program also spills far and wide away from the festival epicentre, including family circus spectacles in Darling Harbour, Australian debuts from fresh USA musicians in the City Recital Hall, cool new theatre shows at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, and subversive art taking over public spaces with The Bankstown Biennale.

So, where should you get started? Jump in with our round up of 13 top shows to check out at Sydney Festival 2025.