Well, we made it, we’ve launched, we’re out and proud! Now, bring on January.

It’s just so nice to be able to finally talk about what we’re doing. The buzz around the 2010 program is already positive, as is the feedback we’re getting about the new look of the brochure and the yellow balloon. Now we just have to make sure that every moment of Sydney Festival 2010 lives up to your expectations.

As this is my first opportunity to share my excitement about what’s to come, I thought I might point you in the direction of some new initiatives we hope you’ll like. 

You’ll notice a concentration of Festival performances in and around Sydney’s Inner West between the Seymour Centre, CarriageWorks, the Enmore Theatre and the University of Sydney campus. We wanted to give local audiences a relaxed Festival hub encompassing international and Australian music, dance, comedy and theatre - many of these are part of our 2010 About An Hour series of $30 shows. Don’t miss the three Lynette Walworth installations, free at CarriageWorks. Lynette’s works are profoundly moving experiences for a single viewer at a time, an oasis of quiet in the chaos of Festival time.

Another exciting new stream for 2010 is a public discussion program built around the ideas 'architecture' of the Festival. Called The Scope, it connects the Festival’s themes and artists with the things we’re thinking and talking about in everyday life, like happiness, or the environment, or our relationship with Asia. Full program details will be on our website on December 14.

The 2010 Sydney Festival music program is a feast with dozens of delicious treats starting with hot new independent bands and much loved Australian and International artists - and for the main course, those big names everyone expects from Sydney Festival. Our 2010 theatre program is a wild three week-long ride, starting spectacularly with Hamlet from Berlin’s Schaubühne, in which a grotesquely botched funeral for Hamlet’s father sets the tone of black humour, and finishing with Headlong Theatre’s dazzling, sinister and highly acclaimed Six Characters in Search of an Author. 

So don't be shy, have a look through the website and start planning your Festival. And don't forget to come along to Festival First Night!

Lindy Hume
Festival Director