New Annual’s Festival Director on the 2026 Highlights You Shouldn’t Miss

If you haven’t been to Newcastle in a while, this is the perfect time. New Annual returns to the coastal city next month for 10 days of art, music and ideas. Now in its sixth year, the festival runs from September 25 to October 4, turning the city’s natural and built environment into stages for more than 30 events and over 400 artists.

Festival director Tory Loudon describes this year’s theme as “salt and steel”: the coastline on one side, the city’s industrial heartbeat on the other.

“New Annual could only belong to Newcastle,” Loudon says. “Everything in the festival is shaped here, by its coastline, communities and character. We wanted to create experiences that couldn’t happen anywhere else.”

She’s also keen for people not to overthink it. “I really want people to understand that it’s not too arty or elitist – it’s designed to be fun.”

Ahead of the festival, Broadsheet chatted with Loudon to get her top event picks.

Petite Suite by Brand X

For three nights, the Oriental Hotel transforms into a mini artist residency, with performances hidden behind closed doors. The concept is simple: seven hotel rooms, seven works of performance art, all connected to the idea of a hotel in some way. Festivalgoers are treated as guests, greeted by a “hotel manager” before entering rooms and being immersed in diverse, unexpected worlds.

“It’s a bit like a lucky dip,” Loudon says. “You don’t know what you’re going to get behind the door.”

Sea Stories: Roslyn Oades and Collaborators

Sea Stories is Loudon’s pick for early risers. From 5.10am, Dixon Park Beach becomes the backdrop for Roslyn Oades’s communal art installation, described as an “audio love letter to the ocean”. Participants are given headphones to listen to a soundscape built from locals talking about what the ocean means to them. It’s timed so that the first light breaks over the water as it plays.

“I like the fact that we’ve curated Sea Stories to start your day,” Loudon says. “It’s a very beautiful, meditative morning.”

Soak: Live at the Baths

Soak is New Annual’s free open-air sunset concert series. Loudon recommends pairing it with Sea Stories as two ends of the same day. “You can top and tail it – start your morning and end your evening at the same stretch of coast.”

The series returns to Newcastle Ocean Baths, curated this year by Urthboy, with Hermitude, Claire O’Brien and Kobie Dee among the acts. Arrive early, bring a picnic, and watch the sun go down along the coastline.

Night Flowers: Damien Frost

Night Flowers welcomes back London-based photographer Damien Frost, a University of Newcastle alumnus and a founding member of the local arts organisation This Is Not Art. Frost’s original Night Flowers series, shot over a decade in London, captured the city’s queer nightlife. He now brings his signature portraits back to Australia, created over five weeks photographing Newcastle’s own queer and alternative communities.

“It’s going to be really spectacular,” Loudon says.

Twisted: Night Flowers Party

A physical embodiment of Damien Frost's Night Flowers exhibition, Loudon describes Twisted as a “one-night extravaganza” and her top pick for anyone after a big night out.

Held at Bartholomew’s, a bar with 1920s charm set inside a former Methodist theatre, the night is billed as a celebration of creativity and self-expression, filled with performance art and DJs. Dress-ups, costumes and alter egos are highly encouraged, while the art and music are immersive and the dance floor kicks on late into the night.

New Annual runs from September 25 to October 4 across Newcastle. Find more information and get your tickets at newannual.com.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the City of Newcastle.