Anime Festival brings anime and Japanese culture to you!

This 2-day family-friendly event celebrates everything anime, featuring manga, cosplay, gaming, art and merchandise. Plus, appearances from international guests, including musical performers and voice actors behind the characters from popular titles such as My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Fate/Grand Order and Demon Slayer.

Get involved with community activities and make new friends; come dressed as your favourite anime character; enter our cosplay competitions; attend premiere screenings; shop our extensive Artist Alley and Merchandise booths; play the latest games; sit in on a special guest Q&A panel, and collect event exclusives you can’t find anywhere else.

Where: International Convention Centre Sydney
14 Darling Drive, Sydney

When: Saturday 7 March from 10am to 6pm
Sunday 8 March from 10am to 6pm

Cost: Weekend pass: $55.00
Saturday pass: $42.50
Sunday pass: $37.50
VIP weekend pass: $290.00
Children 10 and under (accompanied by a paying adult): Free
You can book tickets through the website

Announcing the next Movies in the Park.

Bring your partner, your kids, your neighbours, your friends and your dog for a great community evening in Joynton Park.

Hosted by Grace City Church, Waterloo.

Come early to get a spot, bring a picnic rug or chairs, there will be food trucks. The movie will start after the sun goes down.

Where: Joynton Park
Victoria Park Parade, Zetland
Opposite East Village

When: Saturday 7 March from 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Saturday 28 March from 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Cost: Free

This major site-specific installation looks at the similarly shaped symbols of the maraong manaóuwi (emu footprint) and the English broad arrow as a way of understanding history and cultural relations.

The emu footprint has long been inscribed by Aboriginal people as a design on sandstone outcrops and platforms, such as the engraving of the ‘emu in the sky’ constellation in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, in Sydney’s north. Conversely, the board arrow is a symbol of imperial ownership and represents the convict labour force that was responsible for the expansion of Sydney and, in turn, the dispersal of Aboriginal peoples from their homelands.

untitled (maraong manaóuwi) comprises more than 2500 maraong manaóuwi/broad arrow designs created with red and white gravel sourced from Wiradjuri Country, covering the entire 2500 square metres of the Hyde Parks Barracks courtyard.

Visitors will be able to walk on top of the work, a process that intentionally results in the work’s slow destruction.

This performative act questions memory, our individual roles in history, and the protection and preservation of cultural sites. The temporary project will undoubtedly leave a permanent mark on the cultural memory of Sydney.

Attend a workshop, talk or performance:

Late nights at the barracks: understanding the voice

Talks with Jonathan Jones and special guests

Make your mark

Performance and workshop with Sharron Lindh

Storytelling and workshop with Shannon Foster

Special closing event: Emu Dance

About the artist

Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones is one of the most celebrated contemporary Indigenous artists working today. His work has been exhibited in more than 60 major Australian and international art museums, galleries, festivals and biennales. Jonathan has won numerous large-scale public art commissions and his work has been extensively collected by both major public institutions and leading private collections.

Where: Hyde Park Barracks
Queens Square, Macquarie Street, Sydney

When: Every day, 10am to 5pm
Monday 2 March to Sunday 15 March

Cost: Free

Discover the technologies that are changing your city in this free talk for curious people.

What is a smart city and what does it look like? Waste bins that empty themselves? Street lighting that only comes on when needed? Apps that let us know where we’ll find a park for our car? Or better, public transport that is more in tune with demand?

Join Johanna Pitman, who led the smart cities accelerator program CityConnect, to explore these world-changing technologies.

In just 1 hour you’ll get a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of emerging technology in city life, including:

how it’s already improving people’s lives in thousands of cities worldwide by reducing energy consumption, improving water management and cutting traffic congestion and pollution.

how we can continue to create liveable environments in growing urban centres where people and businesses can both thrive.

streamlining communications between you and the people who run your city.

risks of surveillance, diminished privacy and cyber-crime.

Also find out where and how you can experience smart cities technology right here in the City of Sydney area.

You don’t need any technical knowledge to enjoy this free event and there will be opportunities for discussion and questions.

Johanna Pitman Johanna led BlueChilli’s CityConnect smart cities accelerator program. The program co-created solutions to address challenges faced by the world’s urban communities. Before that she was Deputy CEO for the Committee for Sydney, an independent think-tank advocating for global best practice in city-making.

Johanna has a deep understanding of urban issues and economic development. She is passionate about connecting the right players to create smart cities that are prosperous, inclusive and liveable for all.

Speaker provided by Spark Festival.

Where: Darling Square Library
Levels 1 and 2, The Exchange, 1 Little Pier Street, Haymarket NSW 2000
Level 1, the Ideas lab

When: Tuesday 3 March from 6pm to 7pm

Cost: Free
You can book tickets through the website

The MindBodySpirit Festival is Australia’s largest health, wellbeing and natural therapies event and is now free to attend! Learn from over 200 exhibitors, attend free inspirational seminars, book yourself a psychic reading, try some body pampering, watch the free stage performances, join a free meditation session and taste some delicious health foods!

See, try and buy unique products and gifts including jewellery, cosmetics, music, books, clothing, crystals, educational courses, body treatments and more!

Where: International Convention Centre Sydney
14 Darling Drive, Sydney NSW 2000
Hall 2

When: Every day, 10am to 7pm
Thursday 12 March to Sunday 15 March

Cost: Free