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Sydney Festivals, Australia

Jaques Protis

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Sydney is home to a number of major and minor festivals and calendar events each year:

* The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a huge festival organised by and for the queer community. It includes sports, cultural and arts events that run throughout February, culminating in a huge Mardi Gras parade in Darlinghurst on the first Saturday of March each year. The festival began as a street protest, and has grown into a huge celebration. http://www.mardigras.org.au/

* The Sydney Festival is an arts festival held in January each year. It aims to be international in reach, inviting acclaimed international artists to exhibit their work or perform in Sydney. A number of free outdoor events are held alongside the festival including the hugely popular Jazz in the Domain and Symphony in the Domain concerts held in the Domain in the city. http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/

* The Barcardi Latino Festival in Darling Harbour is held in early January as part of the Sydney Festival, and contains a week of Latin dancing and music.

* The Biennale of Sydney is a contemporary arts and multimedia festival held in winter in even numbered years. http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/

* The Royal Easter Show is the major agricultural show in New South Wales, and is held in the two weeks before Easter each year at Sydney Olympic Park in the Outer West. Farmers from all over the state come to show their prize produce. But it isn't just an agricultural show, a huge number of amusement ride operators set up for the Show as well, together with vendors of the worst kind of child baiting junk food: fairy floss and deep dried hot dogs (known as "dagwood dogs" or "pluto pups"). http://www.eastershow.com.au/

* The Sydney Fringe Festival runs from mid-January to mid-February each year, and features fringe art in the form of film, TV, performance and sport. http://www.loud.net.au/projects/fringeTV/main.htm

* The Sydney Film Festival is held in June each year and shows over 200 movies in 16 days, including an enormous number of Australian movies, most of which will premiere at the festival. http://www.sydneyfilmfestival.org/

* The Big Day Out, an Australia-wide rock/alternative music festival with a side of dance, plays to up to 60 000 Sydneysiders at a time for one or two days in late January (normally on the January 26th public holiday). Past acts have included Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Chemical Brothers and Marilyn Manson from overseas, and Powderfinger, Regurgitator and Gerling from Australia. It normally sells out about a fortnight in advance. http://www.bigdayout.com/

* The Homebake festival is a rock/alternative/dance festival featuring only Australian acts. It is held in the Domain in the city each year in December. http://www.homebake.com.au/