Festivals and conferences - News and events

Events | Conferences | Call for entries | Announcements

The Festivals and Conferences news page covers events with a mixture of art forms. For music festivals, see the Performance news page. For writers festivals, see the Language and Literature news page. See also Film and Digital Media festivals.

Events

Millers Point Festival 2008 - Sydney

6 September 2008

The theme for the inaugural Millers Point Festival is culture and heritage. Many guided walks and history talks are planned for the visiting public. There will also be historical buildings open to the public, some with floral displays, exhibitions and choirs, as well as various stalls, specific areas for children's activities and a dog festival. Millers Point.

CoastFest 08 - Lake Macquarie, New South Wales

5-7 September 2008

The festival will include dance, drumming, an Indigenous space, theatre, visual arts and crafts, children's activities, a healing and environmental area, a tavern as well as lots of market stalls, art installations and a variety of workshops and interactive community activities. Point Wolstoncroft Sport and Recreation Camp.

Riverfestival - Brisbane

29 August - 7 September 2008

Riverfestival is an iconic Brisbane event which connects the people of Brisbane to their river and lifestyle and focuses strongly on the environment. Through a diverse programme of forums, dialogues, community and free events, Riverfestival actively seeks ways of expressing how the Brisbane community sees itself and its place in contemporary Australia and how Brisbane connects to the rest of the world. Various locations.

Boonah SPAR Arts Festival - Boonah, Queensland

5-14 September 2008

The Boonah SPAR Arts Festival is a cultural event of the Scenic Rim region with visual, wearable and paddock art, music, food and fiction events. The festival culminates in the celebratory arts spectacular featuring the talents of local artists and the Boonah community. Various locations.

Darebin Music Feast - Darebin, Victoria

6-21 September 2008

The Darebin Music Feast is a festival dedicated to song-writing and community music, in all its diverse forms. It is an exciting, all-inclusive festival that includes hundreds of events and celebrates the musical diversity of one of Melbourne's most thriving musical communities. Various locations.

Albany Wildflower Festival - Albany, Western Australia

24-27 September 2008

Featuring district vases, beautiful orchids and massed displays of wildflowers from the area covering Denmark to Bremer Bay and north to Mount Barker, this festival offers approximately 500 named specimens on display. St Johns Church Hall.

Deni Utemuster - Deniliquin, New South Wales

3-4 October 2008

Deni - Play on the Plains Festival & World Record Ute Muster, a festival that is held on flat, open plains with diverse mix of music from country, rock, blues, acoustics to pop and a parade of utes. Deniliquin.

This Is Not Art - Newcastle, New South Wales

2-6 October 2008

This year's This Is Not Art festival is composed of four festivals, and a series of events combining talents from the across the board and showcasing emerging art and media forms. The festival provides an annual program with a variety of workshops, panels, performances, speakers and exhibitions challenging ideas about making art, making culture and making noise. Various locations.

Geraldton Greenough Sunshine Festival - Geraldton, Western Australia

4-11 October 2008

The Sunshine Festival joins the community together to celebrate cultural differences, showcase talent and enjoy a time of music, art and culture. Various locations.

Sydney Children's Festival - Sydney

27 September - 11 October 2008

The Sydney Children's Festival will feature two massive weeks of performances, over thirty visual, dance, circus and film workshops, free talks, storytelling from children's authors and a mammoth program of free special events. CarriageWorks.

ArtFEST 08 - Shoalhaven, New South Wales

19 September - 12 October 2008

Based on the theme 'Land', the 2008 festival will be featuring a plethora of arts - film, music, sculpture, literary and visual. Various locations.

York Jazz and Soul Festival 2008 - York, Western Australia

18 - 19 October 2008

The artist lineup for York's Jazz and Soul Festival 2008 offers international, national and local legends, masters, maestros and the best emerging jazz talent in Australia across seven stages. Artists include John Scofield, Joe Lovano and Roy Ayers (USA), Erniest Ranglin (Jamaica), James Morrison, Vince Jones, LIOR with strings attached, Elana Stone Band, Julien Wilson Trio and Konrad Paszkudzki (Australia). York, Western Australia.

Awakenings - Horsham, Victoria

17 - 26 October 2008

Awakenings is Australia's only regional disability arts festival. The annual event has grown to a diverse 10 day festival acclaimed nationally and internationally. A festival for everyone, the program includes: performing and visual arts, a breakfast conference, workshops, schools and community performances, a ball, outdoor adventures, a photographic competition, buskers, live performances, stalls, tactile art activities, wheelchair basketball and community fringe events. All levels of experience are welcomed in an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement - from grass roots to professional, disability and mainstream. Horsham.

Go Troppo Arts Festival - Port Douglas, Queensland

17-26 October 2008

Go Troppo Arts Festival is a community event which seeks to include all artists and art forms of the region - music, theatre, writing, film, visual art, sculpture and craft in a celebration about life and art in the Australian tropics. Various locations.

The Footbeat Festival - Blue Mountains, New South Wales

15 - 26 October 2008

The annual Footbeat Festival - formerly The Songlines Festival - now in its 16th year, has grass roots origins within the Blue Mountains community and is intended for the enjoyment of the residents of the Blue Mountains as well as visitors from Greater Sydney. This arts and environment festival will be a celebration of the incredible natural environment that is the Blue Mountains, and the rich artistic and creative community that is inspired by the landscape and its flora and fauna. The events for 2008 include: Music for every taste on a number of stages, a Youth Art Competition and Exhibition , a 48 hour film project and the return of The Field of Dreams as the closing event at Wentworth Falls Lake. Various locations.

Wild West Comedy Festival - Subiaco, Western Australia

5-16 November 2008

Subiaco will be the epicentre for a dozen days of continuous comedy in the wild, wild west! An entertaining mix of stand up, sketch, improvisation, music and film, street performance and family-friendly comedy. Various venues.

The 2008 Adelaide International Guitar Festival - Adelaide

29 November - 7 December 2008

The 2008 Adelaide International Guitar Festival will be held in and around the Adelaide Festival Centre precinct with household names headlining a multitude of genre-specific concerts which will appeal to music lovers of all ages and tastes. The festival kick-starts with a fun-filled night in Elder Park with organisers determined to secure the Guinness World Record for the Biggest Guitar Band, this time to the tune of AC/DC's seminal hit It's A Long Way To The Top. Elder Park, Adelaide.

Woodford Folk Festival - Woodford, Queensland

27 December 2008 - 1 January 2009

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, a children's festival, art and craft workshops and late night cabarets. The festival features Australian performers and a gathering of international guests. Woodford.

2009 SheppARTon Festival: New Horizons - Shepparton, Victoria

5 - 15 March 2009

The SheppARTon Festival, in partnership with the University of Melbourne, is now in its 12th year and has become an iconic event in the Greater Shepparton area. Planning is underway for the 2009 Festival which will be themed New Horizons, featuring a program of film, food, music, performance and art. The Shepparton community is renowned for coming together when times are tough and for welcoming people escaping oppression or conflict. This is reflected in 2008 SheppARTon Festival's New Horizons theme. Shepparton, Victoria

For more festivals see our Australian story on Festivals.

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Conferences

Interactive Urban Art Seminar - Melbourne

18 September 2008

To celebrate the launch of Colony, the new urban art environment for Life.lab at Digital Harbour, this seminar will look at the artwork in detail. Colony features 36 totems surrounding the Life.lab building which are interconnected and express a fictional world. The interactive artwork responds as you walk through the landscape. Patterns of light and sound animate rusted totems in the garden and urban environment surrounding the Life.lab building. Speakers for the seminar are: Troy Innocent, Colony artist; Liz Hughes, Artistic Director, Experimenta; and David Napier, Executive Director, Digital Harbour. Digital Harbour Theatrette.

Open Access and Research Conference 2008 - Brisbane

24-25 September 2008

A conference that will draw on experts from Australia and around the world to speak on a range of topics such as evolving publishing models, repository management, e-Research, policy development, and legal and technical issues. Stamford Plaza.

eResearch Australasia 2008 - Melbourne

29 September - 1 October 2008

This conference will feature speakers and demonstrations from the Australian and international eResearch community. Sebel and Citigate Hotels.

Art at the Heart 2008: Regional Arts Australia National Conference - Alice Springs

3-5 October 2008

Art at the Heart 2008 will provide an opportunity for artistic and cultural exchange, cross-cultural collaboration and best practice approaches to working in the arts. Artists, actors, academics, arts workers, curators, filmmakers, musicians, performers, producers, students, volunteers, writers, all levels of government and the wider community will gather in Alice Springs to discuss, celebrate and experience the arts and cultural achievements of regional Australia.

2008 CBAA Conference - Alice Springs, Northern Territory

13-16 November 2008

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) National Conference brings together a diverse range of broadcasters to develop and strengthen the skills, knowledge and networks of the sector. The 2008 conference theme, Many Voices - Common Ground, acknowledges the sector's diversity in locations, station sizes, programming and community of interests, while recognising the similarities that exist and the need for stations to come together, both literally and conceptually. Alice Springs Convention Centre.

Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment - Brisbane

3-5 December 2008

The Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment, in its fifth year, is a cross-disciplinary conference that brings together researchers from artificial intelligence, audio, cognitive science, cultural studies, drama, HCI, interactive media, media studies, psychology, computer graphics, as well as researchers from other disciplines working on new interactive entertainment specific technologies or providing critical analysis of games and interactive environments. This year's theme is 'Resonating Experiences'. Various venues.

14th Information Online Conference & Exhibition - Sydney

20-22 January 2009

Information Online is a leading conference and exhibition for the online information industry in the Asia Pacific region. Darling Harbour Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Call for entries

There are currently no calls for entries.

Announcements

There are currently no announcements.

For more information see our Australian story on Festivals.

Key online resources

Film festivals

• Flickerfest International Short Film Festival - Sydney (January)
• Short & Sweet - Sydney (January - February)
• Tropfest - National (February)
• Adelaide Film Festival - Adelaide (February - March)
• Sydney Film Festival - Sydney (June)
• Revelation Film Festival - Perth (July)
• Melbourne International Film Festival - Melbourne (July - August)

Digital media

• Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth - Perth (September - November)

Writers festivals

• Perth Writers' Week - (February)
• Sydney Writers' Festival - (May - June)
• Noosa Long Weekend 2007 - (June)
• Canberra Readers and Writers Festival - (June)
• Byron Bay Writers Festival - (July)
• The Age Melbourne Writers Festival - (August - September)
• Brisbane Writers Festival - (September)

Jazz festivals

• Eltham Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival - Victoria (January)
• Illawarra Annual Easterfest Jazz Festival - Wollongong (April)
• Valley Jazz Festival - Brisbane (April)
• Melbourne International Jazz Festival - Melbourne (May)
• Merimbula Jazz Festival - New South Wales (June)
• Dubbo Jazz Festival - New South Wales (August)
• Noosa Jazz Festival - Noosa (August - September)
• Big River Jazz Festival - Rockhampton (September)
• TAC Wangaratta Festival of Jazz - Victoria (November)

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)
• Yungaburra Folk Festival - Queensland (October)
• Woodford Folk Festival - Queensland (December)

Festivals - New South Wales

• Big Day Out - National (January - February)
• Flickerfest - Sydney (January)
• Sydney Film Festival - Sydney (June)
• Mardi Gras Film Festival - Sydney (March)
• Thirroul Seaside & Arts Festival - Thirroul (April)
• Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - Sydney (March)
• Multicultural Sydney Festivals - Sydney (March - May)

Festivals - Victoria

• The Melbourne International Comedy Festival - Melbourne (February - April)
• Melbourne International Film Festival - Melbourne (July - August)
• Apollo Bay Music Festival - Apollo Bay (April)
• Tarra Easter Festival - Yarram (March)

Festivals - South Australia

• Adelaide Festival of the Arts - Adelaide (February - March)
• Adelaide International Film Festival - Adelaide (February - March)
• Adelaide Cabaret Festival - Adelaide (June)

Festivals - other states

• Ten Days on the Island - Tasmania (March - April)
• Hobart Summer Festival - Hobart (December - January)
• Festival of Darwin - Darwin (August)
• National Multicultural Festival, Canberra - Canberra (February)
• National Folk Festival - Canberra (March)
• Perth International Arts Festival - Perth (February - March)

To contact us with your news and events, please email the News Editor, NewsEditor at culture dot gov dot au, including the URL of your website.