Extending the celebrations beyond the sports stadiums and onto beaches and waterways, Festival 2018 Gold Coast will present a plethora of free city-wide entertainment including music, theatre, circus, dance, ideas and visual arts from more than 1440 artists from 50 countries. Yep, we told you it was big. Broadbeach will be one of the main hubs with two separate areas, Kurrawa Park and Surf Parade (between Victoria and Queensland Avenues), providing audiences with arts experiences and entertainment from 9:00 am until late every single day. The stage, presented by The Star Gold Coast, is dedicated to showcasing Queensland’s rich musical talent and will feature internationally renowned Gold Coast superstar Amy Shark alongside a line-up of local artists including Lastlings, Ella Fence, and Eliza and The Delusionals. Surfers Paradise will be another hub – Yothu Yindi and The Treaty Project will play a Queensland-exclusive performance, with world music legend Susheela Raman, Ghana’s king of hip-hop M.anifest, The Cat Empire and Falls Festival favourite Hot Dub Time Machine amongst the other acts to grace the Surfers Paradise stage.
Local foodies will be delighted to hear that NightQuarter in Helensvale has also unveiled a bold food festival program that will explore food science, permaculture, urban gardening and indigenous tradition. You’ll be able to experience the flavours of the Gold Coast, from Aboriginal kupmurri to botanical cocktails made with local micro herbs, fruit spaghetti made by a Queensland physicist using molecular gastronomy and the famous Australian timber barbecue (intriguing, right?).
If you’re a theatre and dance enthusiast, you’re in for a real treat during Festival 2018, with performances by Australia’s leading contemporary dance companies Force Majeure, Dancenorth and the Gold Coast’s very own The Farm. Acclaimed international theatre makers UK’s Punchdrunk and Jeremy Goldstein (London Artists Projects) will leave you spellbound, while crowd-pleasers Soweto Skeleton Movers will put their spin on street-dance style with the ancient sporting artform, Mallakhamb. Friends, it’s fair to say Festival 2018 Gold Coast is going to be massive, so you might just want to go ahead and submit your annual leave form now because you aren’t going to want to miss a minute of the action. The Weekend Edition Gold Coast will keep you up to date with what’s happening, but if you want to see the line-up in all its mighty-fine glory, check out the Festival 2018 website.
