)
Vivid Sydney, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest multi-artform festival, is calling on visionary artists, performers and thinkers from across the globe to help shape its 2026 program.
Returning from Friday 22 May to Saturday 13 June 2026, Vivid Sydney will once again transform the Harbour City across the pillars of Light, Music, Ideas and Food—inviting audiences to immerse themselves in cutting-edge creativity and bold storytelling.
Preliminary estimates for Vivid Sydney 2025, suggest the event pushed total visitation since the festival’s inception in 2009 beyond 25 million people, with more than $1.3 billion generated in visitor expenditure over its lifetime.
This year’s festival delivered major attendance milestones, including record-breaking hotel occupancy in May.
2025 Festival Highlights:
Four bumper Saturdays in 2025 each attracted crowds nearing 200,000.
Businesses participating in the Vivid Sydney Local Business Program doubled from 2024
Vivid Fire Kitchen drew over 110,000 visitors.
The Vivid Ideas program welcomed close to 25,000 people.
#vividsydney content viewed over 830 million times globally.
The NSW Government, through Destination NSW, is now seeking ideas from creators, producers, thought leaders and innovators to help bring the 2026 festival to life.
EOIs are open for all program pillars:
Vivid Light EOIs close: 28 July 2025
Ideas, Music, Food and Cross-Art Form EOIs close: 26 September 2025
Submissions are welcome from artists, designers, musicians, engineers, architects, chefs, restaurateurs, curators, performers, academic institutions and creative organisations.
To learn more or submit an Expression of Interest, visit https://www.vividsydney.com.
We acknowledge that we live and work on Aboriginal land and recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of First Nations Australians. We also acknowledge all of the traditional owners of the land in NSW, and pay respect to First Nations Elders, past and present.
