Art & Culture

Australia's contemporary architecture shows all the richness and complexity of a truly multicultural society in its ability to take the best of architecture and design from the wider world and adapt it to meet the special needs of the Australian environment - with a result that is distinctly Australian.        
                             
Focal point of the national capital, Canberra's Parliament House is a striking, spectacular, modern building that showcases Australian materials, design and workmanship throughout its construction.

A modern architectural marvel and the best-known landmark in urban Australia, the Sydney Opera House is a dramatic, dazzling building that captures the spirit of Sydney with its bold waterside position. Australia's largest museum, the Melbourne Museum is a storehouse of ideas wrapped in a 150 metre long, three-storey glass wall that mirrors the Royal Exhibition Building, a Victorian landmark.

The brilliant stadiums and facilities constructed for the 2000 Olympics have proved a showcase for Australia's finest contemporary architects and revitalised a neglected part of Sydney's waterfront. Recently laying claim as Melbourne's city hub, Federation Square offers the visitor galleries and museums, cafes and the Melbourne Visitor Information Centre.

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Every city in Australia boasts a major art gallery. Along with an appreciation for the visual arts of Europe and Asia - seen in the major touring exhibitions - Australia has a world-class tradition of its own in the art of its Aboriginal people, which has undergone a renaissance in the last 30 years.
                                       
The nation's premier public art collection, the National Gallery of Australia, contains works by Rodin, Picasso, Pollock and Warhol, but its underlying strength is its superb Australian collection. The National Gallery of Victoria, partly housed at Federation Square, has one of the finest Australian art collections in the world, including the modern masters of Aboriginal art and contemporary works, and European old masters. A distinctive and vibrant centre for the promotion of contemporary art and visual culture, the Museum of Contemporary Art is Australia's premier gallery for modern art, set on the shores of Sydney Harbour.

Housed in Australia's former Federal Parliament building, the National Portrait Gallery contains a permanent display of Australian portraits, as well as changing exhibitions from The Art Gallery of Western Australia has superb collections of Aboriginal art, Australian and international paintings, sculptures, crafts, decorative arts, prints and drawings. The painting of Australia's central desert Aboriginal people is among the most dynamic and distinctive strands of contemporary art, seen at its finest in the Alice Springs Aboriginal Art and Cultural Centre.

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Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Paul Hogan, Geoffrey Rush - Australian actors have been beating a path to Hollywood ever since Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn bared his manly chest in the 1935 epic Captain Blood. At the root of their success is a powerful, vibrant Australian theatrical tradition that has produced many talented writers and directors as well as performers. 
                                       
One of the most original and highly regarded companies in Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company's staple is cutting-edge contemporary drama with an occasional trip down memory lane. At the forefront of contemporary drama, the Melbourne Theatre Company has achieved an enviable reputation as one of the standard-bearers for innovative work and for the professionalism of its productions.

Propelled by the power of amateur enthusiasm, the Darwin Theatre Company champions the cause of Northern Territory mainstream theatre, with productions that range from Shakespeare to Les Miserables. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival draws together the very best performers from Australian and international comedy for a month-long celebration that will have you rolling in the aisles.

Brisbane's finest, the Sit Down Comedy Club is the place to go in the Sunshine State for the biggest laughs in town. The largest independent arts festival in Australia, the biennial Adelaide Fringe Festival is an energetic, multi-faceted event that exposes audiences to fresh ideas, imagination, risk and spontaneity. The Canberra Theatre Centre is the city's premier performing arts venue, used by the local opera company, theatrical troupes and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and the main theatre for touring companies.

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Open the arts pages of any Australian capital city newspaper and you will find evidence of a society with a lively appreciation for dance and classical and contemporary music. Thanks to spirited and knowledgeable audiences that turn out in force, Australians have a diverse diet of both music and dance.   
           
Under the brilliant direction of the acclaimed choreographer Graeme Murphy, the Sydney Dance Company has achieved an international reputation for its innovative productions. The Australian Ballet is the largest ballet company in Australia, employing more than 70 dancers and giving some 200 performances each year. The company has a classical as well as contemporary repertoire.

Late January brings hundreds of musicians and thousands of country music fans to Tamworth, New South Wales, for the annual Tamworth Country Music Festival and some 2,500 events.  This two day festival is a vivid celebration of Celtic culture in song, dance, folklore, history and revelry, held each May in the New South Wales town of Glen Innes.

Sydney's independent music festival brings the megastars of Australian rock and the throb of guitars, drums and electronic synthesisers to the normally sedate lawns of the Domain each December. Bangarra Dance Theatre is based at the Wharf, a converted finger wharf at Sydney's Walsh Bay. The company performs extensively around Australia and tours overseas. The Australian Chamber Orchestra is a national orchestra with an outstanding international reputation for artistic excellence. It is a vibrant ensemble of some of the finest young musicians in Australia.

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Australians are a nation of festival-goers, always keen to celebrate the nation's comedy and arts, food and wine, music and culture, sport and heritage.
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra each boast major arts festivals which spotlight the best in dance, jazz, theatre, opera and more.

Discover our unique sense of humour at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival or experience Canberra's National Folk Festival. Indulge yourself with our food and wine at festivals in our Barossa or Hunter wine regions. Let music sooth your ears at our annual blues or jazz events, or set your feet tapping at the Carlton Country Music Festival in Tamworth. Let your hair down at one of the biggest and brightest events - the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, or discover our indigenous heritage at the Festival of the Bogong Moth.

If that sounds unusual, try taking part in the annual Stroud International Brick Throwing Contest or the Northern Territory's Beer Can Regatta. Floriade is Canberra's colourful spring festival, when the parks and gardens surrounding the lake explode with the colourful rhythms of many thousands of massed tulips, commencing in mid-September. An all-January celebration of culture when the whole city gets into party mode, the Festival of Sydney encompasses opera, fireworks, ferry races, street theatre, art and free open-air concerts.

The largest independent arts festival in the country, the Adelaide Fringe Festival is a showcase for young, irreverent and emerging talent in the performing arts and comedy, held in even-numbered years. Held in January each year in a lyrical part of Tasmania, the Tamar Valley Folk Festival is a three day celebration to the tunes of fiddles, flutes, hand drums and dulcimers.

A New Year festival set against Queensland's majestic Sunshine Coast hinterland, the Woodford Folk Festival is an excursion into the worlds of music, storytelling, film, theatre and Aboriginal life. Blues at Bridgetown is a three day festival of Australian blues music held in one of Western Australia's loveliest villages, with non-stop music and enthusiastic audience participation. A major contemporary arts festival, the Biennale of Sydney brings a galaxy of performing arts superstars to the city and provides an international showcase for groundbreaking Australian work.

Source: Tourism Australia 2006

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