It’s official! Vivid is back for another year, returning to Sydney in 2024. This year the event will run from the 24th May to the 15th June.

What is Vivid Sydney?

Vivid is a creative festival that has been run annually since 2009, with the exception of two years during COVID lockdowns. Last year 3.48 million people attended the festival, which offers:

  • Art and light displays across the Sydney CBD

  • Food experiences and culinary delights

  • Music events featuring a wide variety of genres

  • Idea workshops, designed to stimulate ideas and provoke ideation

This year there are more than 145 different activities and events to attend across the three week event.

Where is it held?

The event is held primarily in the Sydney CBD. Events are held in locations including:

  • Barangaroo

  • Circular Quay

  • Darling Harbour

  • Sydney Opera House

  • University of Technology Sydney

  • Walsh Bay

  • Carriageworks

Is Vivid Sydney free to attend?

Before attending a Vivid event, be sure to check the event website as some events are paid or require prior registration.

The Vivid Sydney team have worked hard to ensure that even the paid events you might want to attend remain “cost-effective”.

What are the highlight Vivid events?

If you’re heading to Sydney for Vivid, make sure you check out:

  • The 40km Global Rainbow art installation, a stretch of rainbow lasers coming out of Sydney Tower

  •  Lighting of the Sails: Echo by Julia Gutman, 2023 Archibald Prize winner at the Sydney Opera House

  • Eat at Vivid Fire Kitchen, this year serving up food at a new location on The Goods Line, a partly elevated walkway that goes from Central Station to Darling Harbour

  • Lightscape, at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

What is the theme for Vivid 2024?

This year the artistic direction is focussed on humanity - human race, humankind and human nature.

The event organisers are encouraging those involved to explore what makes us human, and how together we can make a better world. We connect via story, art, music, food and this is reflected by the types of experiences available at Vivid this year.

For more information about Vivid, visit the website.