The Harbour City is experiencing something of a creative heyday this summer, with the Sydney International Art Series bringing monumental exhibitions from some of the world’s most pre-eminent artists to our two largest art galleries, and Sydney Festival popping up in January with over 130+ shows, gigs and visual art installations. Rounding out the line-up with a more child-friendly offering is Hive Festival – a family-friendly creative activation that's popping up in two disparate corners of Sydney this January.
Designed to be an interactive celebration of nature, art and play, the free festival will pop up at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on January 13 and 14, and again at Blacktown Arts Centre on January 19 and 20. Visitors can expect hands-on workshops, storytelling and live performances – with an enormous interactive ‘beehive’ forming the centrepiece. Adding to the collaborative structure is a figurative demonstration of the ethos of the festival – which has been curated with the goal of “inspiring children to contemplate their place and responsibilities within our ecosystem”.
The sensory-stimulating hive – which will be adorned with scratch-and-sniff scents and braille affirmations – has been designed by Noa Haim, the director of Collective Paper Aesthetics, whose artworks facilitate teamwork, intergenerational collaboration and creative thinking. Complementing the multi-sensory structural artwork is the launch of Trains by The Kids – an app-based audio ‘train journey’ which visitors are encouraged to listen to on the train journey connecting the two festival host galleries. Conceived by Hive Festival co-creator Claudia Chidiac, the app has been designed to highlight the similarities between children from across Sydney, and their shared experiences within the city.
You can learn more and plan your visit over here .
