Vivid Sydney 2024 is celebrating its final two nights on 14 and 15 June 2024 with a showcase of creativity and innovation across its pillars of Light, Music, Ideas and Food.

Over 23 nights, Australia's largest festival has been exploring the theme of ‘Humanity’ at locations and venues including Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, The Rocks, State Library of New South Wales, Walsh Bay, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, University of Technology Sydney, The Goods Line, Machine Hall, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Carriageworks and more.

Upcoming highlights include Ghanaian chef Selassie Atadika's collaboration with Dixson & Sons executive chef Steven Hartert on 14 and 15 June as part of the Vivid Food program; an evening of traditional storytelling through song by Arnhem Land’s Ngulmiya on 14 June at Machine Hall as part of the Vivid Music program; and a screening of the documentary Flee at Golden Age Cinema on 15 June as part of the Vivid Ideas program.

The free Tumbalong Nights program will wrap up on 15 June with performances by 2023's National Indigenous Music Awards Artist of the Year Budjerah and Jem Cassar-Daley, while pitmasters will fire up the grills and offer free demonstrations at the Vivid Fire Kitchen.

Vivid Sydney's popular drone show - 'Love is in the Air' - will take to the skies for its last display on 15 June, with 700 drones forming universal symbols of love across the night sky over Sydney Harbour.

The display can be enjoyed from numerous vantage points across the CBD and harbour foreshore and on screens throughout the festival footprint. Any updates regarding the show, including advice about vantage points reaching capacity or being closed, will be shared on Vivid Sydney's social media channels, its website and on digital screens around the footprint.

If you can’t make it to Vivid Sydney, watch a video of 'Love Is In The Air' here:

For more information go to vividsydney.com.

Vivid Ideas light up Sydney

One of the cornerstones of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest multi-artform festival is Vivid Ideas, which has been sparking curiosity through new ways of exploring ideas, including theatre, installations and engaging discussions.

Vivid Ideas curator Rachel Healy said: “This year we’ve broadened the program to include events that express ideas in less traditional formats. Think performance, walking tours, a one-on-one experience with a stranger, meditations and cryptoscopophilia [the urge to looking into houses while walking past]!"

Highlights included ‘Champions of Change: Mackenzie Arnold and Tony Gustavsson' on 10 June, which was an opportunity to hear from the sporting icons ahead of the CommBank Matildas pursuit for gold to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The sold out 'In Conversation With Amy Poehler' event on 27 May saw the Golden Globe® and Emmy Award® winning actress and comedian step inside the Sydney Opera House to discuss her career and new film Inside Out 2.

New to the program for 2024 has been 'After The Fact', a free deep-dive into current affairs and the daily news cycle featuring a rotating panel of high-profile change-makers, analysts and experts, offering fresh perspectives on the world’s pressing issues.

Vivid Sydney: Behind the scenes

Bringing Vivid Sydney to life wouldn't be possible without the technical and operational teams, events, editorial and content, legal and procurement, research, corporate communications, Ministerial, consumer marketing, publicity, digital and stakeholder engagement staff and volunteers, who work alongside Vivid Sydney curators and producers to enable the festival to bring joy to millions of attendees.

Led by Destination NSW General Manager Events Julie Turpie and Vivid Sydney Festival Director Gill Minervini, the Vivid Sydney team work year-round to plan the program across the pillars of Light, Music, Ideas and Food.

Destination NSW received more than 582 applications for Vivid Sydney 2024 via the Expression of Interest process. Some international installations subsequently spend up to three months travelling by sea to the festival, while it takes more than six months to plan and create the artwork that is projected onto the Sydney Opera House sails.

Installing lights across the city takes six weeks, including three weeks of work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge alone.

Watch a video of Nest being installed below:

Throughout the festival, Destination NSW staff and teams from other government agencies work together at the Government Coordination Centre and Event Control Centre to ensure the event runs smoothly.

Destination NSW also couldn’t bring Australia's largest event to life without the Vivid Sydney Volunteer Program, in collaboration with Casual Hands, which welcomes hundreds of volunteers each year who contribute more than 18,000 hours of customer service.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to making Vivid Sydney so memorable.