Forget cosying up on the couch to beat the chill this winter. There’s a carnival of culture beckoning in Bankstown each weekend until the end of August.
Bring your kids, your parents and all your aunties, uncles, cousins and friends to Sydney’s south-western heartland for soul-warming live music, a feast of flavours and all-ages activities as part of Bankstown Winter Weekends.
The line-up of acclaimed entertainers include Dami Im, the Vegetable Plot, Prophets, Worlds Collide and Lolo Lovina. You can also join Costa Georgiadis on an arboreal adventure, explore the Alley Gallery, swivel your hips in hula-hooping workshops, join a maypole tree dance and have your hands decorated by henna artists. There’s something fun for everyone to enjoy. Here are three highlights:
World Music in the Park
Where: Bankstown Memorial Oval
When: Sat Aug 13, 2-5pm
How much: Free
Australia’s Eurovision sensation and X-Factor alumni Dami Im brings her world-class talent and inimitable glamour to World Music in the Park. This is the Korean-born, Australian singer-songwriter’s first performance since releasing her 2021 album My Reality and becoming a mum in May of this year.
You’ll want to arrive early to score the best vantage points, and so you have plenty of time to unfurl a blanket, enjoy a picnic or sample the street fare from an array of on-site food stalls. Listen to the tropical grooves of 15-piece band Cumbiamuffin at 2pm and the musical melting pot of Worlds Collide at 3pm, before Dami Im takes to the stage at 4pm for what is sure to be a spine-tingling show.
Jungle Jam
Where: Bankstown Arts Centre
When: Sat Aug 20, 11am-5pm
How much: Free (some events require registration)
Saturdays are often a great day to get busy in the garden, but on Saturday, August 20 your patch will forgive you for bee-lining to Bankstown instead. Join Gardening Australia’s living gnome Costa Georgiadis for a tree parade and the Arboreal Natives forum (1-2:30pm, bookings essential), where you’ll discover the significance of trees across cultures – with a particular focus on Western Sydney. Also on the panel is renowned Aboriginal cultural guide and Parks NSW cultural liaison officer Uncle Dean Kelly, eco-artist and writer Louise Fowler-Smith, Vietnamese-born artist My Le Thi and associate professor in urban planning and management at Western Sydney University, Sebastian Pfautsch.
On the music front, MC Jessica Paraha has towering talents lined up for you, with live music and DJ sets a-plenty. Masked melody makers Prophets layer sax improvs over polyrythmic percussion, making movin’ and groovin’ mandatory. With a mission that loosely translates to ‘give peas a chance’, ARIA Award-winners the Vegetable Plot will have the kids singing for their veggies each supper by the end of their headline set.
And don’t miss Enviro-Slam with homegrown heroes Bankstown Poetry Slam. This cross-cultural superpower will have you seeing the world anew through green-tinted glasses. You can also flex your green thumb and get your hands dirty at art and nature workshops, then screen print a tote bag in which to take home your handmade treasures.
Gig in the Garden
Where: Bankstown City Gardens
When: Sat Aug 28, 1-4pm
How much: Free
Stretch out in the sun, slurp up an ice-cream and watch the kids roll down the grassy slopes of the beautiful Bankstown City Gardens at this afternoon event. Much-loved band Lolo Lovina will bring their intoxicating brew of Balkan beats and gypsy swing laced with Spanish flamenco to their caravan stage, which is guaranteed to get the garden party started. Fronted by the charismatic Sarah Bedak, this madcap musical collective amps up the fun factor to ensure that getting up and having a boogie is inevitable.
For more information on the festival, head to the website. Bankstown Winter Weekends is an initiative by the City of Canterbury Bankstown and is funded by the NSW Government.