Sydney Festival: Australia's Largest and Best Attended Cultural Event

Sydney Festival takes place each January in Sydney, Australia.� An arts festival timed to coincide with the height of Australia's summer season in January, Sydney Festival offers a range of arts and performance events geared to a range of ages and incomes.� Approximately a million and a half people attend the events of Sydney Festival every year.

The festival includes free, outdoor events, such as concerts in The Domain, a public park, that focus on a range of music (classical and jazz events I attended in 2005 also featured musicians on traditional aboriginal instruments) and conclude with a fireworks show.� The festival also presents many national and world premiere performances.� There is also a visual arts component to Sydney Festival and events take place at a range of Sydney's performance and visual arts venues - including the multiple theatres of the Sydney Opera House.� No style of art is overlooked at Sydney Festival - from traditional to modern opera (In 2005 I saw�the�Australian premiere�of the new English-language opera Eternity, which takes as its subject Arthur Stace, a figure well known to Sydneysiders as an alcholic whose turn to religion led him to write the word "eternity" in chalk on the sidewalks of Sydney for 37 years), dance, puppetry, performance art, spoken word, music of all genres, and, of course, theatre.� If film seems left out of Sydney Festival, it is only because the January season is also host to a number of outdoor film events in Sydney, including Flickerfest and several current-release outdoor cinema programs.

To get a sense of the incredible range of entertainment available at Sydney Festival, one need only look at past performers - a list which includes performance groups from China, Spain, Ireland, Russia, The United States and France, as well as the best arts on offer from all over Australia.��In 2006 184 artists participated in Sydney Festival at 25 venues in and around Sydney and Parramatta.

In an effort to make sure Sydney Festival is accessible to everyone, the 2006 festival offered�seven 1 hour events priced at A$25 each, and also a pricing program, Tickets for Nex to Nix, in which an allocation of tickets for same day performances was released for A$25.

If you are planning to travel to Sydney from the northern hemisphere, I always recommend people go in January, both for the change of season, and because of the incredible offerings in Sydney in January, largely thanks to Sydney Festival.� Travellers to Sydney should be aware that many Sydney Festival events do sell out quickly, and you may need to obtain your tickets before arriving in Australia.� The 2007 Sydney Festival, which starts on January 6 and runs through January 26, begins ticket sales on November 3rd.� To date, free events have been unticketed and have not required advanced reservation; however those attending the concerts in The Domain should set out early to get a good spot of grass, and refreshments are available on site.