Darwin Festival

This August, ditch the cold and head to the NT for 18 days of arts and cultural events, including a headline show from musical genius Tim Minchin.

There are set to be more than 150 performances during Darwin Festival, including live music from Jaguar Jonze, Alex the Astronaut, Confidence Man, Elsy Wameyo, Tropical Fuck Storm and Ngaiire. Plus, British indie-pop singer Arlo Parks is making Darwin the first stop on her debut Australian tour.

The festival is a huge celebration of First Nations talent – including the National Indigenous Fashion Awards; the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAAs), the richest art prize pool in Australia; the 16th Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair; and the National Indigenous Music Awards, celebrating some of the biggest names in Australian music.

There’s also Melbourne artist Mitch Jones’s gruesomely funny circus show Autocannibal; an evocative new dance work, Wanga, by the NT Dance Company; and didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton and violinist Véronique Serret performing a powerful show called Heartland. If you’re there on opening night, Bunggul is an homage to Gurrumul’s album Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), with performances by Yolngu dancers, songmen and the Darwin Symphony Orchestra.