Sydney CBD and Surrounds
Vivid Sydney transforms the CBD and Surrounds with its Music, Minds and Food programming.
Hunter St
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
Vivid Music can be heard across Sydney's most iconic live music venues, including the Oxford Art Factory, City Recital Hall and Metro Theatre, alongside Tumbalong Nights and Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House. The party pushes into Sydney’s inner west with arts precinct Carriageworks’s programming of global stars such as Lil’ Kim and UK R&B star Ella Mai, plus powerhouse dance acts Alison Wonderland, Porter Robinson and more.
For the first time, Vivid Music heads to White Bay Power Station, in collaboration with the Biennale of Sydney as part of their Art After Dark series.
Vivid Minds’s thought-provoking events and talks centre in Sydney’s CBD. Headlining series Creative Trailblazers span the State Theatre, Sydney Town Hall and City Recital Hall. Midweek Minds takes over the State Library of NSW on 3 and 10 June, while Dungeons & Damper: Inside the D20 takes place at the UTS Data Centre.
Meanwhile, Vivid Food’s culinary journey covers acclaimed restaurants and bars across Sydney’s CBD & Surrounds, as well as innovative dining events in unlikely spaces, including the Long Table Dinner at The Strand Arcade, An Evening at Parliament House and Dream Feast at The Mint.
Surry Hills comes alive too, with dining series Our Shared Future and A Taste of HQ: Street Eats Edition, a free-to-enter street festival of food, art and music.
Music Events
Anaiis | Art After Dark
With special guest RIAH.Resisting easy categorisation, experimental R&B French-Senegalese musician anaiis offers a night of sonic grace and introspection...
Xaviersobased
New York City's xaviersobased arrives at Sydney's Metro Theatre, just as his "brilliantly chaotic" (NME) debut album Xavier shifts the DIY rapper-producer...
Chanel Beads
Mysterious and alluring, New York's Chanel Beads plays Australia for the first time, bringing his dreamy swirl of spectral electronica, indie-pop and post-punk...
Purelink | Art After Dark
With special guest Phondupe.Acclaimed Brooklyn ambient techno trio Purelink transform the industrial White Bay Power Station into a world of experimental...
RUBII
One of the UK's breakout alt-R&B stars of the 2020s heads to Vivid Sydney, set to transfix Oxford Art Factory with her soulful sounds.Raised in Birmingham...
Biennale of Sydney Art After Dark: Last Light
A free party sending off Biennale of Sydney's Art After Dark, with innovative, left-of-centre music spanning genre and the globe across two stages at...
Daniel Avery (Live)
English producer and composer Daniel Avery has spent more than a decade reshaping what dance music can be.Touring his most ambitious album to date, Tremor...
Kae Tempest
A vital voice in contemporary music and literature, English rapper and poet Kae Tempest will return to Sydney this June for a special night.The show follows...
Saint Levant
All shows sold out.Heartthrob Saint Levant brings his trilingual love songs to Sydney for the first time, serenading audiences at City Recital Hall.First...
Soft Centre: Gabber Eleganza, Violent Magic Orchestra
Soft Centre returns to Vivid Sydney on June 5th with a full-scale takeover of the City Recital Hall. A night of Hardcore hyperbole, tracing the ritualised...
Minds Events
Designing What Matters: How Creativity Shapes a Life
Exclusive to Vivid Sydney, American designer Debbie Millman unpacks the life-shifting insights into creativity, success and connection she’s unearthed...
State Library Unplugged
Tune out of the noise and recharge with State Library Unplugged, a relaxing night of acoustic music, vinyl DJs, soundscapes, talks, games and crafts.Celebrating...
Zane Lowe: In Conversation
Music industry tastemaker and broadcaster Zane Lowe dives deep into the sound of now, in a Vivid Sydney exclusive conversation with triple j Mornings host...
Roxane Gay: In Conversation
Join prolific American author and cultural critic Roxane Gay at City Recital Hall for an exclusive conversation with Whadjuk Noongar journalist, author...
Chloé Zhao: In Conversation
Join Academy Award–winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao for her first appearance in Australia, following the global acclaim of Hamnet starring Paul Mescal and...
Jerry Saltz: In Conversation
Insightful, outspoken and refreshingly unpretentious Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz brings his trademark irreverence and razor-sharp wit...
Midweek Minds: Legally Bonded
How do artists own their own work and voice, under the forces of algorithmic recommendations, AI-generated content and the shifting terms of fair use...
Dungeons & Damper: Inside the D20
Inspired by tabletop roleplaying games, and informed by First Nations lore and cultural ideology, this immersive, free adventure at the UTS Data Arena...
Sean Baker: In Conversation
Join Sean Baker, the multi-Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Best Picture winner Anora for an exclusive conversation with Alexei Toliopoulos at Sydney...
A Sexual History of the Internet
Deemed “the internet’s sexual historian” by the LA Times, US artist and technologist Mindy Seu brings her acclaimed participatory lecture-performance...
Food Events
Regional Dinner Series: Hunter Valley with Troy Rhoades-Brown & Nicholas Hill
Celebrating the Hunter Valley, Muse Restaurant chef Troy Rhoades-Brown teams up with Porcine Bisto co-owner and chef Nik Hill, as part of Vivid Food’s...
Our Shared Future
Join OzHarvest for a dinner series at Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney, featuring seven of NSW’s most exciting chefs in one-night-only collaborations with...
A Taste of HQ: Street Eats Edition
A Taste of HQ: Street Eats Edition takes over Surry Hills's Foster and Hunt streets for a free-to-enter alfresco day-to-night festival of live music, roaming...
Regional Dinner Series: The Tweed with Christine Manfield & Sander Nooij
Culinary trailblazer Christine Manfield joins Sander Nooij, the Dutch-born head chef and co-owner of two-hatted plant-forward restaurant Yellow, celebrating...
Our Shared Future: Lauren Eldridge
Join pastry chef Lauren Eldridge and OzHarvest for a four-course dinner at Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney, all made using up to 95% beautiful, fresh and rescued...
Cult & Classic | A NSW Food & Wine Party
A massive NSW food and wine party transforms The Wine Bar at The International into the CBD's ultimate urban cellar door this June long weekend. Presented...
Our Shared Future: Racha Abou Alchamat
Join Racha’s Syrian Kitchen founder Racha Abou Alchamat and OzHarvest for a four-course dinner at Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney, all made using up to 95...
Regional Dinner Series: The Tweed with Ben Devlin & Lennox Hastie
Named on the revered global 2025 Best Chef List, Ben Devlin is the executive chef and co-owner of Pipit Restaurant in Pottsville on the Tweed. For...
An Evening at Parliament House, Dining with History
Australia's oldest Parliament opens its doors for a feast, celebrating NSW's political history, renowned food and wine culture and ongoing First Nations...
Regional Dinner Series: Riverina with Luke Piccolo & Giovanni Pilu
Luke Piccolo, chef-owner of the Riverina region’s Limone Dining, brings produce direct from his own Piccolo Family Farm for two collaborative dinners...
