Vivid 2025: What To Do And See At This Year’s Festival Of Lights

As the days shorten and the air cools, Vivid returns to the streets of Sydney for another year. Now in its 15th year, the lighting up of Sydney for three weeks in May and June has become a staple of the city scene.

Each year when the festival of creativity and technology comes to Sydney, the sheer amount of events and installations can be overwhelming to navigate. That’s why today, we’ll be giving you some recommendations on what to see and do at this year’s incarnation of Vivid.

Light displays

Vivid is most famous for its light installations, which help to draw 2-3 million people to the city of Sydney each year. However, this year’s program is host to a massive change: the entire VIVID Light Walk is set to be completely free.

Certain parts of the Light Walk required tickets to enter in previous years, but the entire 9-kilometre walk can be done without paying a cent this year. However, it’s important to note that the paid Botanic Gardens LIGHTSCAPE event won’t be returning for 2025, nor will the drone show citing safety concerns after last year.

This year’s Light Walk features installations from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, and even across the harbour at Milson’s Point for those looking to go the distance. At the end (or beginning, depending where you start), the Opera House is lit up by the artwork of late queer artist David McDiarmid to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his passing.

The full suite of light installations on display is available here.

Music throughout the city

There’s a huge amount of live music to catch at this year’s Vivid, too. We’ve already highlighted what’s available at the Opera House’s flagship event for the festival, but there’re even more incredible concerts and musical events happening across the city in this three-week period.

Carriageworks have released their own live music program to celebrate with the festival of lights, which includes incredible international acts like American jazz extraordinaire Kamasi Washington and Black Star, the iconic hip-hop duo composed of Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and Talib Kweli.

Furthermore, Carriageworks is hosting a special event titled Echoes of the Block, a live and local celebration and collaboration of Blak hip hop across four days which is completely free to book.

Elsewhere in the city, Darling Harbour is host to the Tumbalong Nights program which features a huge number of performers taking to the stage to provide music and good times for free. Performers for this program include PASIFIX, Dobet Gnahore + Immy Owusu, MonoNeon + Manfredo Lament and many more, all taking place at the Tumbalong Park stage.

Plus, head to the Vivid Fire Kitchen to see the Lolo Lovina Caravan that’ll see bands of all cultures playing every night from 6-11pm while you grab a bite at Vivid’s best food spot.

Talks and other experiences

Elsewhere in Vivid’s lineup are a variety of talks and other experiences that showcase the diversity of the festival this year.

The legendary Martha Stewart is set to appear at the ICC on Wednesday May 28th with Ben Law, while actors and real-life partners Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally are set for the same location on June 14th. Other talks include Beyond the Summit with Jimmy Chin, The Australian Dream? with Tim Ross and Why We Sleep by Professor Matthew Walker.

For a more interactive experience, head to Luna Park Sydney for Stranger Things: The Experience that incorporates live actors and special effects that garnered acclaim after sold-out runs in the US and Europe.

Film buffs can also expect some unique experiences this year, alongside the SFFTV that screens free movies at lunchtime in collaboration with the Sydney Film Festival. Haus of Horror is offering screenings of Edward Scissorhands and Poltergeist in a historical burial ground in Town Hall, and Golden Age Cinema and Bar is hosting four films by Antoinetta Angelidi.

For more information about every aspect of the Vivid Program, visit https://www.vividsydney.com/.