What’s On: Horizon

*Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhalepapa, 2020*

Horizon

Friday 2 to Sunday 11 May

Kabi Kabi and Jinibara Country, Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast’s leading contemporary arts festival, Horizon, returns in 2025 with a brand-new date, a bright new identity and a bold program of captivating events.

The 10-day festival will include more than 50 entertaining and evocative events programmed across locations and venues that span the Sunshine Coast’s hinterland, coastline, skyline and urban streetscape. Now in its ninth year, Horizon is evolving into a nationally recognised contemporary arts festival that celebrates and connects with art, people and places in Kabi Kabi and Jinibara Country on the Sunshine Coast.

The 2025 program collaborates with artists, producers, organisations, businesses, communities and Traditional Owners to present live music in unexpected places, crowd-sourced dance works, art and technology, exhibitions and installations, family events, food experiences and more.

Among this year’s highlights are Patricia Piccinini’s eye-catching Skywhales Across Australia, soaring through South-East Queensland skies for the first time; the Australian premiere of dance theatre work BERSERK in a double-bill with the Queensland premiere of Phantom Femme Fatale; and new work by acclaimed artist Vernon Ah Kee.

*Electro House Wife. Image Credit Cristina Bevilacqua at the Photo Corner*.

Grounding the program is the 2025 theme of ‘Radical Hope’, an idea Creative Director Megan Rowland said is rooted in the belief that change emerges from community-driven efforts:

“Radical Hope is the idea that hope is not merely an optimistic sentiment but a verb – an act of defiance or rebellion, a call to actively create and participate in change,” Megan said. “We’re all grappling with uncertainty and instability – be that political, environmental, social or economic – and the arts play a critical role in uniting people, activating new ways of thinking, imagining new futures and creating positive change for people and our planet.”

“Horizon’s program is curated to offer many ways to enter into this idea of Radical Hope,” Rowland said. “Some work is edgier, more experimental and designed to challenge people a little bit; other work is grounded in gathering and fun, and then there’s work around cultural understanding and First Nations knowledge.”

*BOH! Sub_Culture. Image Credit Cynthia Lee*

Horizon begins with a fun, free, family-friendly Opening Night Street Party at this year’s festival precinct on Maroochydore’s bustling Ocean Street. Every afternoon, the precinct is home to live music, performances by local artists, food and drink, and an Urban Gallery weaving through shopfronts and streets, which is free and suitable for all ages.

By night, snap up tickets to world-class performances including C.W. Stoneking, Full Flower Moon Band, the outrageously fun Queer PowerPoint, and The Ironing Maidens heating things up in Electro House Wife.

Yauar Warai Wandi – Sing, Dance, Gather is an evolution of the festival’s signature Dawn Awakening event and will bring together a record number of traditional dance groups on the banks of Coolum’s Stumers Creek. Sunshine Coast’s stunning locations and unique venues are also the backdrop to experimental and engaging events across every genre: from the food-focused Supper Club Mapleton – Catching a Whiff and the fashion-forward Confashional, to the feelgood public art project, The Daily Muse, and the crowd-sourced dance project, Us And All Of This.

Award-winning arts collective The Farm brings two productions to Horizon – Social Muscle Club at Solbar and Hold Me Closer Tony Danza at Nambour’s Old Ambo – while interactive performance mavens Counterpilot bring the AI-powered performance piece, Pigeon Fool, to the Festival Precinct.

For ticketing and further information, visit the Horizon website