March events in Sydney

If the end of Sydney Observatory’s summer music series has left a hole in your Friday schedule, the 2026 Biennale of Sydney is here to fill it. From 6pm every Friday night for the next couple of months, the Biennale’s Art After Dark program will transform White Bay Power Station into a boundary-blending live music venue – with an impressive line-up of acts set to light up the cavernous industrial space (along with bars serving local pours and food stalls serving up your Friday night feed).Curated by Naarm/ Melbourne-based outfit Liquid Architecture, the first three events will feature the likes of Tujiko Noriko, Mara Schwerdtfeger, Ruhail Qaisar, Marcus Whale, Liam Keenan and Allara Briggs-Pattison. Next up, the Inner West Council will present three more nights of live music, with Body Type, Yes Boone and BOY SODA bringing home-grown talent to the historic Rozelle site. The final three nights, curated by Vivid Sydney, will include ambient techno trio Purelink, French-Senegalese singer-songwriter anaiis, and the festival’s closing night party on Friday, June 12, which promises to be a multi-stage celebration of global music (with extended hours until 11pm). Beyond the Friday night fun (and the art, obvs), the three-month festival will also operate Memory Lane Food Markets every Saturday, Africa Day celebrations, six new performance commissions, guided tours of White Bay’s historic spaces, Family Days, youth and education programs, and access initiatives. Art After Dark will...

Get a glass of wine, crawl under the blankets and settle in on the beach for another season of movies in bed at Barangaroo. Yep, Mov'in Bed is back! This fun twist on the classic outdoor cinema has been running since 2016 – and from 2023, it's been bringing in 280 tonnes of white sand to transform Barangaroo into a pop-up beach, offering film buffs the chance to see new releases and beloved classics on the big screen. Located in Barangaroo's Harbour Park, it's close to the new Metro station, which means that snuggling under the stars in this beautiful harbourside spot has never been easier.  Hate sitting on grass for hours? Mov'in Bed has 150 queen- and king-sized beds, perfect for two or three people to share. Tickets start at just $12 for sand positions (BYO blanket), with queen-size bed experiences from $45 per person and VIP packages from $75 per person including sparkling wine, butler service, unlimited gourmet popcorn and premium viewing. The season kicks off with romance in Regretting You, followed by action-packed thrills like Tron: Ares, dramas including Twinless and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey and blockbusters such as Now You See Me Now You Don’t and Fantastic Four. From mid-December, the program goes full festive mode with Christmas favourites like Home Alone, Love Actually, Die Hard, Elf and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Find out what's screening and book your tickets here.  

The Biennale of Sydney returns for its 25th edition from March 14 to June 14, 2026 – and, as always, it’s completely free. Titled Rememory, this year’s festival is curated by internationally renowned artistic director Hoor Al Qasimi. Inspired by the writing of Toni Morrison, the theme explores how memory and history shape who we are. Through powerful artworks from Australia and around the world, artists reflect on their roots to connect with communities by telling their stories. At its heart, Rememory shines a light on voices that haven’t always been heard. It highlights First Nations stories, diverse diasporas and the layered histories that have shaped Australia.  As Australia’s largest contemporary art event, the Biennale stretches across five major venues: White Bay Power Station, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery. Extra talks, performances and events will pop up across Greater Sydney, with a big opening night concert, Lights On, kicking things off at White Bay Power Station on March 13. This year's festival features 83 collaborations from artists across 37 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Lebanon, Argentina and Ethiopia. Expect large-scale installations, immersive works and site-specific pieces from both international and Australian artists. A major highlight is the Ngurrara Canvas II at the Art Gallery of NSW – an 80-square-metre...

It seems that across time, the pursuit of creative expression has often been, in itself, an act of rebellion and self-sacrifice. Writers and artists rarely live lives of stability or wealth, and yet, in humanity’s most uncertain and desperate moments, it is to poetry, theatre and art that we turn to make sense of the world. The relentless act of writing, of shaping and sharing one’s perspective on life, still carries a quiet defiance, even in a technological age where everyone has a keyboard and an opinion. It is perhaps for this reason that My Brilliant Career continues to resonate today. Since its publication in 1901, the novel has been adapted across multiple forms, including film and stage, with a television adaptation currently in development by Netflix. Now, it’s on at Sydney Theatre Company’s Roslyn Packer Theatre. What is the premise of My Brilliant Career? This award-winning iteration of My Brilliant Career, which debuted at Melbourne Theatre Company in 2024, is a musical theatre adaptation with a book by Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant, music by Mathew Frank, and lyrics by Bryant. It follows Sybylla Melvyn (Kala Gare, SIX the musical), a fiercely independent young woman growing up in rural Australia in the 1800s. Chafing against the limitations placed on her as a woman – particularly the expectation that she should marry for security – Sybylla dreams instead of becoming a writer and forging a life of her own making. As she navigates family hardship, social...

Make your next Sunday session sparkle with a brunch that screams summer. Taking place on the rooftop of the gorgeously decked out Woolly Bay Hotel, Ovata Sundays promises a whole heap of bubbles and banging tunes.  While you’d be hard pressed to find a decent all-inclusive brunch in Sydney for less than $100, let alone less than $80 – Ovata Sundays delivers on value and good vibes. For just $75, you’ll score a dedicated spritz menu (including a citrusy number and a classic Hugo spritz), Ovata sparkling wine (including the newly launched Ovata by Oakridge Sparkling Rosé) and fresh canapés for an hour and a half – all while a DJ is mixing it up on the decks from 3pm to 5pm.  For nibbling on, there will be pork san choy bow, wagyu sandos, citrus-cured salmon bites and jamon croquettes – don’t mind if we do. If you’re feeling a bit more peckish there are other deliciously paired items you can add-on like South Coast rock oysters and tempura Yamba prawns. Plus, if you like what you’re drinking, you can score special deals on glasses and bottles of Ovata by Oakridge wine on the day.  Rather a mid-week bevvy? Arturo’s is putting on spritz specials from 4.30pm to 5.30pm on Wednesdays to Sundays. Get the crew together for Ovata Sundays on Arturo’s Rooftop from February 15 to April 19 (excluding March 29). Seatings are $75pp – bookable on the hour from midday – and you can lock yours in here.

If you've ever wondered what would happen if a kid's drawing of their wildest dream utopia suddenly came off the page and into real life, you're in luck, because that's pretty much what's happening right now beneath the Art Gallery of NSW.  Artist and professional disruptor Mike Hewson has taken over the weird subterranean world of The Tank with his one-of-a-kind new exhibition, Mike Hewson: The Key's Under the Mat, where for the first time ever, all the main lights in the normally pitch-dark Tank will be switched on, revealing a weird wonderland of interactive art pieces and play equipment that have to be seen to be believed. We're talking: A steam room with stained glass windows that you can actually sit in, a functioning sauna with bespoke church pews, five actual operating public barbeques that you can cook on, rushing water to play in (seriously, bring your swimmers), a working laundry,  and a free-to-use recording studio, plus a whole plethora of bright and delightful surprises that are all about getting community together, to do cool stuff, for free. Basically, break your imagination and delete all adult expectations. This is unlike anything we've ever seen.  Kids who aren't afraid of some risk are also one of Hewson's big targets with this show (although parents, rest easy, the floor is specially made out of recycled soft rubber that's rated for use in public playgrounds), with the space also home to a wild children's playground. Intrepid kidlets can test their...

If your idea of a perfect Sydney afternoon involves a swim, a Spritz and front-row harbour views, we’ve got you. After a v successful launch season last summer, Pier One’s pop-up pool is back: this time with a Amalfi-coded makeover.  Live until the end of April, this sun-soaked floating pontoon invites guests to swim, drink and socialise right on the water. Open daily from 11am to 4pm, the pastel pink installation has transformed the hotel’s waterfront into a breezy harbour-side hangout with big beach club energy. Set just steps from Pier Bar (which, btw, serves an excellent happy hour), the netted pontoon pool serves up shark-safe harbour swims, with loungers waiting for post-dip cocktails and Euro-inspired snacks. Access to the pool is included with food and drink purchases from the bar – the perfect excuse to linger over a long lunch by the water. With gorgeous views across the harbour to Walsh Bay, last year’s pool was pretty enough, but this year they’ve seriously levelled up. The space has been styled in partnership with Australian outdoor lifestyle brand Business & Pleasure Co., whose retro-inspired umbrellas and loungers give the pontoon a luxe, hyper femme coastal aesthetic. Pier Bar’s coastal-inspired menu can be ordered to your lounger, so there’s really no need to change out of your bikini all afternoon. Our top pick from the menu? The bay bug ‘Big Mac’ sliders are a playful upmarket take on the Maccas icon, and bloody delicious after a day spent in and out of...

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of our fave places to hang out year-round – and this December it welcomes a banging new exhibition from Melbourne-born artist Ron Mueck. Ron Mueck: Encounter is the artist’s largest exhibition ever in Australia, bringing together a stunning selection of his hyperreal human sculptures from around the globe.  The life-like and scaled up sculptures aim to challenge perceptions by offering a profound and observational look at the human experience. Grounded in realism, the captivating figures tenderly embody themes such as birth, death, alienation and togetherness.  After making his start in children’s television, Mueck trained under Jim Henson (The Muppets) in puppeteering and model making where he made a name for himself on major projects including Sesame Street and the film Labyrinth. Soon after he relocated to London to run his own animatronic studio, before finding his way to figurative sculptures in the late ‘90s and revitalising the medium.  Ron Mueck: Encounter runs daily from December 6 to April 12, 10am–5pm, and until 10pm on Wednesday nights, as part of the Sydney International Art Series, a government initiative that teams up with Destination NSW to bring the world’s most prolific artists exclusively to Sydney. Tickets are $35 for adults on weekdays, $37 on weekends and public holidays, with two-for-one Art After Hours deals on Wednesday evenings, or $45 flexi tickets (which are un-dated single entry tickets). You can book...

Newcastle is a ripping place to visit year-round – home to my favourite sandwich shop, incredible ocean baths and pumping surf – but if I had to pick a month, it would be in April, during the city’s annual food and wine festival. When the ocean’s still warm, the mornings are fresh, and the city comes together to eat, drink and celebrate the best the region has to offer for Newcastle Food Month. It’s around a 2.5-hour drive from Sydney to Newy (including stops), meaning you could do the trip in a day, but that’s no fun. Enter Crystalbrook Kingsley – Newy’s first five-star hotel, conveniently located on King Street – with just the package for you. During April, the heritage-listed hotel is offering a ‘Foodie Sleepover’ – designed for food lovers, couples, or anyone looking for some rest and relaxation – complete with delicious cheese, cocktails and other treats. Here’s what’s included: 15 per cent off the best available rate on overnight accommodation for two at Crystalbrook Kingsley Two Earp Distilling Co x Crystalbrook Kingsley cocktails on arrival (yes, please) A cellar door wine tasting experience for two in the city with the award-winning First Creek Wines A delicious local cheese package featuring treats from Binnorie Dairy, Baked Uprising and Pukara Estate. Enjoy it in your room (and in your robe) – or take it to go for a picnic in the afternoon sun A bottle of First Creek vino If it’s been a while since you last visited Newcastle, or you’re just in need of a...

Every Friday from 5pm, Chinatown transforms into a vibrant night market selling Asian street food, desserts and gifts. After a month-long closure, the popular night fest is back, now in a temporary new location – next to Paddy’s Market Light Rail stop. RELATED READ: These are the best Chinese restaurants in Sydney. Chinatown Night Market attracts a wide mix of visitors, from tourists and homesick international students to the post-work crowd, who you’ll find wisely padding their stomachs with cumin lamb skewers before hitting the next bar. During peak times, it can get a bit squishy, but the hustle and bustle is also what makes it fun. A number of Chinatown stalwarts run stalls each week, and you'll find everything from yum cha favourites like har gow and mango pancakes to fluffy roti canai. As tempting as those options might be, ration stomach space for the takoyaki – a Japanese savoury doughnut‑hole snack filled with seafood – or dragon beard candy and potato chips on a stick. You’ll also find stalls selling clothes and sunglasses, jewellery and phone cases. On some weeks, there’s even a Scientology stall offering “free stress tests” to the curious. There are no artisanal goods, but more mass-produced, imported products à la Paddy’s Markets downstream. Find out more here. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED READS: These are the best things to do in Sydney this weekend Read more about...