Opportunities

Big creative ideas for our major events and festivals

Project Status: In progress

We’re seeking ideas that demonstrate creative excellence, innovation and accessibility while appealing to a global audience. 

We’re inviting visual artists, curators, collectives, producers, architects, animators, set designers, visual effects designers or anyone with a big idea that meets our creative brief to tell us more.

About our major events and festivals

The City of Sydney strives to build on Sydney’s status of producing cutting-edge, dynamic and extraordinary events. We aim to push the boundaries of innovation, leave a lasting impact on people, reduce environmental impacts and strengthen Sydney’s position as a global event powerhouse.

Our major events and festivals include the following.

Creative brief

You can submit a creative idea for one or all of the major events and festivals.

Proposals must be similar in scale, timing and impact of these major events and festivals. They must be adaptable and able to be experienced by both a live and broadcast audience where applicable.

The events should be visible and accessible to a large-scale audience across the relevant precinct and reflect the traditions and objectives of the event for which it is designed.

Your idea can range from a small individual effect as part of an event, to a larger concept related to an entire event program.

All proposals should align with the City of Sydney’s commitment to sustainability.

Proposals specific to Sydney New Year’s Eve must:

  • reflect engagement and integration with the fireworks
  • focus on the Sydney Harbour exclusion zone and the airspace immediately above
  • activate between 8pm on 31 December and 12am on 1 January
  • be clearly visible to a live audience between 300m to 1km away
  • be positioned in a way that can feature in the broadcast with camera positions at the Sydney Opera House
  • have global appeal and meet major international event standards.

You can attend an optional briefing session in-person or online to learn more:

Thursday 28 September, 2:15pm to 3:15pm
Town Hall House
456 Kent Street, Sydney

Email [email protected] to register.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:

  • Proposed creative concept: including reference images, presentation of concept, calibre and experience of collaborating artists, curatorial vision and detail.
  • Relevant experience and technical ability to produce the concept, including experience in carrying out services of a similar scale and nature.
  • Feasibility and risk of the project.

Timeline

  • Submissions open: Thursday 14 September
  • Briefing session: Thursday 28 September
  • Submissions close: Thursday 26 October at 11am
  • Respondents notified with next steps: January 2024

How to apply

Your application should be lodged electronically at tenderlink.com/cityofsydney by Thursday 26 October at 11am.

Apply now

We recommend you allow up to one hour to upload your application.

Once complete, you will receive an email noting the time and date your application was completed.

Next steps

We may shortlist applicants to workshop and develop their idea with City of Sydney representatives. This may include participating in a procurement process to present their idea.