Vivid Sydney: All You Need to Know about Australia’s Festival of Light and Music

We can learn about a country by exploring its attractions, history, or literature. But we can learn more about a country by diving deep into its culture. Cultures are reflections of nations. They comprise many aspects that show us how each nation used to be in the past and what their present day is like. Traditions are vital to any culture, shaping nations alongside languages, religions, art, and more.

Traditions, in particular, are best represented by festivals, the celebrations people of each country organise to honour an event or revive a memory. For the most part, festivals are known for celebrating religious events. Still, they can be related to art, music, literature, or even unique weather, such as India’s Holi, the Hindu festival of colour—a well-known festival that occurs annually in March to welcome a new beginning with the start of spring. Australia, too, has its very own colourful festival, Vivid Sydney. This is a festival of light and music where people celebrate the innovation, beauty, and originality of what is by far the most famous Australian city, Sydney.

In this article, we are taking you on a tour of Sydney’s Festival of Light and Music to show you how spectacular this city is and its potential to become one of the world’s most unique places. We would also like to give you another hallmark of the city besides the famous P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Street, Sydney address (Disney fans, you get us).

So grab yourself a cup of coffee and read on.

Vivid Sydney

Held annually from 26 May to 17 June, Vivid Sydney is Australia’s unique festival of light that celebrates the city’s creativity, beauty, innovation, and development. It features beautiful lighting installations and projections displayed on Sydney’s most popular monuments and landmarks, like the famous Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

This relatively recent festival has had a spectacular impact on Sydney’s residents and visitors. The entire city transforms into a beautiful, colourful dream with a never-ending stream of fun, leisure, and music. The festival itself has become a reason to fly or drive thousands of kilometres to visit Sydney and explore and enjoy the city in one of its best seasons in terms of both culture and weather.

Over the years, Vivid Sydney has grown to become a celebration of the city’s beauty and a means of branding it as an open global city worth visiting and even moving to.

So, what exactly is the story of this Vivid Sydney festival? How did it come into existence?

Story

So the story goes like this: Anthony Bastic, the famous Australian event designer, was inspired to light up Sydney, more precisely its iconic Opera House, the same way as the illuminated buildings that he saw in London in 2007. He believed in Sydney’s originality, creativity, and innovation and wanted to promote it this way.

Bastic is the founder of AGB Events, a corporation that specialises in organising cultural events and remarkably eminent festivals and providing never-to-forget experiences. Back then, he was the CEO of Destination NSW. This is the leading governmental organisation in charge of tourism in New South Wales, one of Australia’s six states. It is located in the southeast part of the country, with Sydney being its capital.

First version

So Bastic decided to create an intelligent light festival for his beloved city, which was later named Vivid Sydney. The festival’s first version came out in 2009. Essential and a team from Destination NSW, including light designers, created beautiful illuminations by projecting the light on the two sides of the Sydney Opera House.

The festival also featured a music event led by British musician Brian Eno. It was held in the Royal Botanic Garden, relatively close to the Opera House. There were also some workshops and talks about technology, which allowed the festival to happen.

That first event was a great success as it turned the city into a pearl dazzling in light.

Expansion

The following years witnessed a series of expansions and add-ons thanks to the success of the first festival and the immensely positive feedback it received. For instance, more events were added. Consequently, more areas to host these events were included, such as the Pyrmont, a suburb in Sydney, and Carriageworks, Sydney’s artistic and cultural zone that happily opened its arms to host the festival’s creative events.

The Rocks, another unique suburb in the city, and some museums, galleries, and exhibitions were also included to host the new workshops, presentations, concerts, and, of course, the alluring light installations that gradually took over the entire city.

In the 2023 version, several food events are coming to the festival for the first time.

Timing

This festival is held annually from late May to mid-June. If you remember carefully, Australia is in the southern hemisphere, meaning its seasons are the opposite of those in the northern hemisphere. In other words, the festival is held in late autumn and early winter.

Do you know what this also means? Yes, it can rain! Given that the entire festival can be ridiculously boiled down to a bunch of long, thick cables, things can get slightly serious if it rains.

That would be true only if the festival’s organizers were amateurs. Yet, we are happy to report that they are not. Thank you very much; they are professionals who do not tolerate any malfunction.

Vivid Sydney is now, as it has always been, a big deal for the city. All the lighting equipment, including cables, is waterproof. They are covered with sturdy, waterproof materials resistant to heavy rains. So, if you are planning to attend the festival any time in the future, all you have to do is bring along an umbrella, maybe a raincoat too, but nothing more than that.

Statistics

The festival and its accompanying events apparently appealed to Sydney’s residents, other Australians living elsewhere in the country, and tourists who came from every corner of the globe to attend. With the festival’s continuous expansion and the novelty factor that is renewed every year, the number of visitors has seen remarkable growth during the past decade.

For instance, over 500,000 visitors attended the festival in 2012. This number grew to 800,000 visitors in 2013. Two years later, the festival attracted 1.7 million visitors. When the festival was extended to 23 nights in 2016, more than 2.3 million people attended. In 2017, the number grew to 2.33 million, making a profit of $143 million!

The year 2019 was a booming success for Vivid Sydney. Around 2.4 million visitors flocked to the city to attend the festival, providing an income of over $150 million. This made Vivid Sydney the biggest festival in the entire world that year. This version was also so special because many lighting installations were entirely green-powered. In other words, the electricity used for the lighting was produced from renewable energy sources.

Pause

As 2019 was exceptionally successful for Vivid Sydney, it seemed like the country and the entire world could not take in any more of that success. So destiny was probably like, “OK, Sydney. I guess you need a break.”

Just a few months after the 2019 Vivid Sydney and toward the end of the year, Australia was unfortunately hit by one of the worst bushfires in its history. Millions and millions of animals were either killed or harmed in this catastrophe.

At the same time, something unsettling was happening in the city of Wuhan in central China. Soon, everyone would start hearing about the coronavirus for the first time. But almost no one would pay much attention since China was too far, too big, and unable to contain the virus. Little did anyone know that the entire world would suddenly shut down and fall into silent despair just a few months later.

However, the world at the time was still optimistic, thinking that the virus could be contained in just two weeks and that everything would be back to normal. But as the following months proved otherwise, all events around the world, from the biggest international sports tournaments to the tiny local school activities, were cancelled. Vivid Sydney of 2020 was also cancelled.

The festival was then rescheduled to take place on 6 August 2021, but the entire state of New South Wales was locked down as more and more people tested positive for the nasty virus. As a result, Vivid Sydney 2021 was also cancelled.

Return

Vivid Sydney returned after a two-year pause and was held for 23 days and nights from 27 May to 18 June 2022. As of 2023, the festival is taking off on 26 May and is expected to last until 17 June.

Since its creation, Destination NSW has been the owner and official manager of the festival. Every year, they work to showcase the city in the best way possible. Given that the 2023 Vivid Sydney is the festival’s 13th version, we can easily guess they have done a pretty good job.

Program

Thanks to the development and expansion over the past decade, the current version of the festival is pretty rich and diverse, full of different artistic events, workshops, talks, concerts, and presentations. 

In fact, festival preparations start one month after the previous one ends. This gives the managing agency a new, better, revised plan for the next event and enough time to execute it.

That means preparations for the 2023 Vivid Sydney must have started sometime in July or August of 2022. In addition to those who already work on the project, many people volunteer to help Vivid Sydney become the best version possible.

In the few versions that preceded the lockdown, Vivid Sydney focused primarily on programming, which made this festival possible and enabled impressive lighting projections and installations. As we mentioned, more workshops and talks were added, and more venues were included. For Vivid Sydney 2023, a new dimension, food, is introduced to the programme.

The festival’s programme has three primary sections, each of which includes several other parts. So, let’s explore those in more detail.

Vivid Light

Vivid Light is the essential and most crucial part of the Vivid programme. It includes light installations and projections of the city’s significant landmarks, primarily the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other landmarks added during the past few years include the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Custom House Sydney, Cadmans Cottage, Taronga Zoo, and Sydney Tower Eye.

Different installations are also on the buildings of Sydney’s famous suburbs, including the Rocks, the Circular Quay, and the Royal Botanic Garden of Sydney. Together, these create what is known as the Vivid Light Walk.

The Vivid Light Walk is an 8.5-kilometre walk where visitors can enjoy some of the festival’s magical installations, featuring 60 light attractions. This long-distance takes around two hours to complete and is totally free of charge. Interestingly, it is a self-guided walk which means visitors will know their way once they start at Circular Quay until they reach the very end at Central Station.

Since it is such a long walk, one must wear comfortable shoes and arrive there as early as possible, for the walk gets more crowded as time goes by. As we mentioned, the walk is free of charge; however, there is a light show called Lightscape held at the Royal Botanic Garden for which visitors must buy a ticket.

Another ticketed light event is the Wild Lights one. It is held at Taronga Zoo and features an illuminated night trail.

Vivid Music

Vivid Music is another famous core dimension of Vivid Sydney. It includes a series of concerts featuring Australian and international singers and musicians. Most of these concerts take place in the Sydney Central Business District. At Sydney Opera House, Vivid Live is hosted, featuring some of the most famous international singers, the number of whom increases yearly.

Vivid Music also includes Tumbalong Nights. These are 12 consecutive nights of live music, basically outdoor concerts and live performances held at Tumbalong Park and are free of charge. 

Vivid Ideas

The Vivid Ideas part of the programme includes many free talks and presentations about innovation, creativity, artificial intelligence, and the future of technology. Ideas Exchange is another part of this part of the programme, which features important and leading thinkers in the fields of business, technology, and art giving talks about the latest trends.

Vivid Idea is an excellent opportunity to connect with top-ranking personalities in these fields. Networking with others interested in the same scope can open new horizons for young people passionate about technology and creativity.

Besides technology talks, there are many discussions and workshops about various other topics, such as health, education, and the environment. Most of these talks and presentations are free, but some are ticketed, especially by high-profile hosts.

Vivid Food

The Destination NSW agency responsible for developing the 2023 version of the festival recently added Vivid Food since food is as fundamental in every culture as music, traditions, and ideas.

Vivid Food comprises a series of culinary events. Many of them feature pop-up restaurants created by some of Australia’s most famous chefs. These restaurants provide unique dishes and irresistible food experiences never available elsewhere.

Additionally, there are food tours where visitors explore distinguished restaurants and markets selling local food products. This part of the programme is another more appealing window into Sydney’s food culture, which the city is so proud of and famous for.

As you may have guessed, Vivid Food is ticketed. Visitors planning to experience it should also make restaurant and tour reservations.

Vivid Sydney is an excellent opportunity to dive into Sydney’s and Australia’s cultures in general. By attending these beautiful light events, enjoying live music, exchanging ideas, and trying new cuisine, one can have a vibrant, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you are considering travelling to Australia on your next vacation, make sure you plan your trip around the time of Vivid Sydney. This festival will not just make your trip extra fantastic; it will also double validate your long, long flight.