Flying into its ninth season, Night Owls will return to Darling Quarter from 9-25 January with a host of free family entertainment under the stars.

Featuring live performances, face-painting, giveaways and a huge line-up of Hollywood blockbusters, the 2020 Night Owls film festival is one to mark in the calendar.

Everybody is invited as Darling Quarter comes alive from 5PM each night with face painting by Nat’s Fancy Faces. From 6PM, patrons will be treated to live musical performances from groups such as returning award-winning artists, The Beanies. January 9 will see the festival opened with Lah Lah’s Big Live Band.

Then, from 6:30PM to 6:45PM, Night Owls will play one of a series of exclusive animated shorts produced by creative minds all around the world, ahead of a nightly screening of a feature film at 6:45PM. On selected evenings, an additional ‘after hours’ movie will screen at 8:30PM, making it the perfect option for a date night on a budget.

Guests can choose from 26 movies and are welcome to attend as many times as they like across the 17 days. The programme includes classics such as Over the Hedge, as well as recent releases like Aladdin (2019), Toy Story 4, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Avengers: Endgame and more.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own picnic blankets and pillows, with snacks and drinks available for purchase. The precinct features a wide variety of tantalising food options for every taste, with sushi, pizza, Thai, fish and chips, steak and Brazillian BBQ. Dessert is also covered with Gelatissimo and Guylian. Many of the retailers will be offering exclusive Night Owls meal deals and discounts.

To receive 20% off parking, guests can enter the promo code NIGHTOWL at bookabay.com.au.

Where: 1-25 Harbour St, Sydney
Village Green (North)

When: Every day, 5pm to 11pm
Now until Saturday 25 January 2020

Event is weather dependent. Please check the Darling Quarter Facebook page for updates.

Cost: Free but book tickets via the website

Join others in a friendly environment and learn the basics of tai chi in the beautiful park.

Tai chi can assist and improve many health conditions and improve your quality of life.

It can help with arthritis, joint mobility, diabetes, migraines, balance and posture.

Increase strength and flexibility, and reduce stress.

Where: Dickens Dr, Centennial Park NSW 2021, Australia
Next to the Rose Garden.

When: Tuesdays, 10am to 11.15am
Tuesday 14 January to Tuesday 17 November 2020

Cost: Free but book tickets via the website

Wansolwara: One Salt Water is a series of exhibitions, performances and events from across the Pacific and throughout the Great Ocean.

Wansolwara – a pidgin word from the Solomon Islands meaning ‘one-salt-water’ or ‘one ocean, one people’ – reflects not a single ocean, but rather a connected waterscape that holds distinct and diverse cultures and communities.

Through art, performance and conversation, the project celebrates the depth and diversity of contemporary visual and material culture throughout these regions, placing customary practices alongside contemporary articulations in art, writing and the moving image.

Unfolding across multiple sites over the summer of 2020 Wansolwara: One Salt Water profiles the creativity of the region through multidisciplinary forms. Artists Terry Faleona, Ruha Fifita, Rebecca Ann Hobbs, Shivanjani Lal, Paula Schaafhausen and Vaimaila Urale all present significant bodies of work that trace connections to the Pacific through language, tradition, dance and ceremony.

Commissioned by 4A and UNSW Galleries, artist and curator Léuli Eshrāghi presents O le ūa na fua mai Manuʻa a focus within the exhibition that expands the Pacific from a geographical region to consider networks and exchange facilitated by the Great Ocean.

The project brings fresh international perspectives to current endeavours to embody and awaken Indigenous sensual and spoken languages through works that focus on language, the body, gender, sex, desire and pleasure.

It features works by asinnajaq, Sarah Biscarra Dilley, Sebastián Calfuqueo Aliste, Mariquita Davis, Amrita Hepi, Caroline Monnet, Faye Mullen, Shannon Te Ao, Angela Tiatia and Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu.

Where: 4A - Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
181-187 Hay Street, Haymarket

When: Every day, 11am to 5pm
Friday 17 January to Monday 10 February 2020

Cost: Free but book tickets thru website

It’s a tradition, every year, thousands of Sydneysiders head to The Domain with picnics packed and friends in tow.

Hear our brightest stars, under the balmy summer sky, singing opera’s most famous arias with the magnificent backing of the Opera Australia Orchestra.

Dress up, or not, it’s your night to enjoy the power of the human voice in the kind of communal, cultural celebration Sydney loves best.

Where: The Domain
Art Gallery Road, Sydney

When: Saturday 18 January from 8pm to 9.30pm

Cost: Free

Dusk is a wonderful time to spot animals in Centennial Parklands.

The park is home to a variety of nocturnal creatures, from brushtail possums, microbats, and tawny frogmouths to one of Sydney’s largest colonies of grey-headed flying-foxes.

Join our experienced rangers for a fascinating and surprising spotlight walk to see how the park transforms when the sun goes down.

Adults or families welcome with children aged 5+.

Meeting point: Robertson Road Gates.

Where: Robertson Rd, Centennial Park , Sydney

When: Friday 17 January from 7.30pm to 8.30pm
Friday 7 February from 7.30pm to 8.30pm
Friday 6 March from 7pm to 8pm

Cost: Per person: $20.00. Book tickets via the website