Darwin Festival 2020

1041 Territory Fm and Darwin Festival is proud to announce that this year’s event will be a celebration of the best of Territory life, arts and culture. DF20 Homegrown shines a spotlight on the incredible local talent we have in the Top End in a program of music, dance, theatre, comedy, visual art and interactive experiences. And what better venue to showcase Darwin artists than at the hub of Darwin Festival activity – Festival Park.
From 6 – 16 August Civic Park will be transformed into a dry season wonderland of delicious food, refreshing drinks and incredible entertainment – all under the stars. The Festival program is set to be unveiled on Thursday 9 July, and while there will be many of the features that Festival fans know and love, things will also be done a little differently.
Iconic venue, The Lighthouse, will take a year off and instead there’ll be a new outdoor stage hosting great music. Some well-loved events, like Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and the National Indigenous Music Awards, will move online, while other events, including City of Darwin Teddy Bears’ Picnic, will find a new home in 2020.
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride planning this year’s event”, Artistic Director Felix Preval acknowledges. “Back in March when we’re usually signing off our program, we were staring down the barrel of cancelling the whole thing, like many live events have had to. Since then we’ve gone from planning an online-only, lockdown version of the program, to a super socially-distanced festival for just a few people, to our final version – an ecletic mix of online activity and live performances.
We’re most excited that we’ll be able to meet up in Festival Park, have a drink, enjoy some delicious food (yes, your favourites, including Hanuman, will be there) and experience the incredible creativity of our homegrown artists. It’s set to be one fabulous party celebrating everything that’s great about life in the Territory. Where else would you want to be during our tropical winter, than at Darwin Festival?”
Acting CEO James Gough added, “Things seem to be constantly changing, but rest assured we are working with the Department of Health to make this Festival the best experience it can be as restrictions ease in the Territory. There’s no better way to celebrate things getting more back to normal than with Darwin Festival.”
The 2020 program is yet to be unveiled but one project has already begun in schools across the city. Fly Me Up to Where You Are is a hands-on public art project from New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh that invites students to create one of 5,000 unique dream flags inpired by their hopes and dreams for the future. The flags made in schools this year will form part of a stunning installation at the 2021 Darwin Festival. This project, made possible by the support of INPEX, is a celebration of young people in the Northern Territory and Darwin schools are jumping at the chance to be involved, with more than 1,000 students already registered to take part.
DF20 Homegrown runs from 6 –16 August with the full program released online on Thursday 9 July. You can pick up a calendar guide to Darwin Festival’s 2020 events in NT News and around the city.
Darwin Festival is proudly supported by the Northern Territory Government and City of Darwin.

ABOUT DARWIN FESTIVAL
Darwin Festival is the flagship major cultural and tourism event of the Northern Territory. Recognised as Australia’s Hottest Winter Arts Festival, Darwin Festival shines brightly on the national events calendar attracting audiences from interstate and around the world each August while still retaining its strong Darwin community origin.
A vibrant arts and cultural event with a broad, dynamic and innovative program, the Festival is presented in spectacular outdoor venues that take advantage of Darwin’s blissful dry season weather. The Festival reflects Darwin’s position at the Top End of Australia, its unique Indigenous and multicultural population, and its close proximity to Asia, while at the same time showcasing some of Australia’s finest performers.
In 2019, Darwin Festival presented a third consecutive record-breaking event, with the 2019 Festival the most successful in its 40-year history. More than 148,000 people attended, and new box office records set with 50, 545 tickets sold smashing the previous record of 44,191 tickets sold in 2018. Darwin Festival is an Australian Tourism Awards Finalist having taken top honours for Best Major Festival & Event in the Northern Territory at the 2019 Brolgas, and most recently the Best Live Music Venue (NT) at the 2019 National Live Music Awards.