Sydney Summer Arts Guide: Festivals, Cultural Trails and Open-Air Events
Sydney’s summer arts season reaches from galleries to parks, waterfront stages and outdoor cinemas. David Hockney: Bigger & Closer makes its Australian debut at Carriageworks on October 22, with 360-degree projections tracing 60 years of the artist’s work. From December 5, the Art Gallery of New South Wales hosts a Sydney-only Takashi Murakami exhibition, alongside screenings and events in its new Sydney Cinémathèque program. Powerhouse Parramatta opens on November 7, giving Western Sydney a major new venue. Its 23-day Opening Festival has 179 events spanning design, music, transport history and a Diwali Day Party. About 65 per cent of the program is free, and under-16s get free admission. From November 21, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia presents Philippe Parreno’s 5 Moons, combining film, sound, robotics and shifting light across multiple floors. Outdoors, visitors can follow sculpture around Walsh Bay’s heritage wharves, see street art in St Peters or visit artists’ studios on the monthly Bundeena Art Trail. Concerts return to the Sydney Opera House forecourt from late November, and Sydney Festival runs across Greater Sydney from January 7 to 25. Moonlight Cinema screens films in Centennial Park from November to March. In January, Westpac OpenAir returns to Mrs Macquaries Point, where its three-storey screen rises from the harbour.
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