Arts and cultural festivals

Each capital city has a festival. Major festivals are:

Sydney Festival (January)

Each year the Sydney Festival offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms including dance, theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large scale free outdoor events. For three weeks in January the Festival hosts around 80 events involving upwards of 500 artists from Australia and abroad. In any given year, it makes use of most of the main theatres across the breadth of the city and also has a commitment to the presentation of quality, large-scale outdoor events such as the iconic Domain Series.

National Multicultural Festival, Canberra (February)

The National Multicultural Festival is held over two weeks and features the very best in local, national and international music, dance, food and creative arts. Festival favourites include the Food and Dance Spectacular, the Greek Glendi, Carnivale, the International Concert and the Pacific Islander Showcase. The Festival Fringe complements the mainstream Festival, and provides a full-on week of zany entertainment.

Perth International Arts Festival (February)

The Perth International Arts Festival is the oldest annual international multi-arts festival in the southern hemisphere and is Western Australia's premier cultural event. The first Perth Festival was in 1953 and it now offers the people of Western Australia some of the best international and contemporary drama, theatre, music, film, visual arts, street arts, literature, comedy and free community events. Some other events on the program include the Contemporary Culture program and the Perth Visual Arts Festival. As well as these, there are other satellite festivals surrounding the main festival which itself offers more than 30 Australian premieres. Part of the Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF), the Western Australian Indigenous Arts Showcase (WAIAS) involved over 90 Indigenous singers and songwriters, musicians, actors and comedians from all over Australia's largest state.

Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts (March)

The Adelaide Festival of Arts has created a strong tradition of innovation since 1960 inspiring celebration and presenting diverse art from across Australia and around the world. Held in the warm South Australian autumn in every 'even' year, this is a large-scale multi-arts event of extraordinary richness and diversity.

Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania (March)

Tasmania 's flagship celebration of island arts and culture, Ten Days on the Island, boasts a multitude of events in 50 locations across the island. Events and activities range across all types of music, dance, visual arts, theatre, literature, food and film. Individual artists and companies come from all corners of the globe, and a number of local artists also take part.

Brisbane Festival (July)

Brisbane Festival is Brisbane 's foremost international multi-arts festival, offering an outstanding program of theatre, dance, music, opera, multimedia, and free community events for the residents of Brisbane and its visitors. Held every two years, it endeavours to include the entire community in its program of activities by having intellectual rigour, international artistic credibility and an extremely broad grass-roots support base. Consequently, Brisbane Festival is about a lot more than just putting on shows, it encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater community across our great city, country and the globe.