BEST ARTS EVENT

Underbelly Arts

Give 150 artists 10 days on Cockatoo Island to collaborate and experiment, and see what they come up with. Then showcase their finished works. That’s Underbelly Arts Lab and Festival in a nutshell: a festival dedicated to nurturing local talent and giving the public a little seen glimpse into the creative process of some of Sydney’s finest emerging artists. Biljana Jancic, Splinter Orchestra and Applespiel were among the artists featured this year. Website

Imperial Panda Festival

Imperial Panda is a festival of arts and performance which emerged to fill the void left by the demise of Lanfranchi’s. Their ethos? Non-traditional spaces, new work, experimentation and milk crates. This year, the performers involved – including Eddie Sharp, Brown Council, Zoe Coombs Marr and Claudia O’Doherty – took over Goodgod Small Club and other venues for 2 weeks, taking on comedy, soil erosion and erotic fan fiction. Website

Gallery A.S.

Joseph Allen Shea has a bit of a golden touch. Not only did he successfully establish and run Monster Children gallery and his own publishing house Izrock Pressings, but this year saw him expand his curatorial repertoire into new and challenging projects. Gallery A.S. is one of these – a roaming project space in which Shea picks venues to best suit the art. He put Daniel Askill in a disused Christian Science Church, and Anthony Lister in a sex shop. It’s super exciting and shows as much of Joseph’s own talent as the artists he features. Website

Outpost

Not only is this the festival that brought Banksy to Sydney, its line up features pretty much anyone who’s anyone in Australian street art. While you’d think it’d require more than a little trust to turn Cockatoo Island and its heritage listed buildings over to a bunch of people who get their kicks from drawing on walls, we guess this just shows how far the street art scene has come, and the ability of its members to stick together. The result is a transformation of the historic island as never seen before. Website

Late Night Library

From 9pm on Thursday, Late Night Library reclaims the evening away from boozing and towards late night, adults only literary pursuits. Set in the heart of Surry Hills, there’ve been debates, live music and storytelling with the likes of Campfire Collective, Penguin Plays Rough, Even Books, Women of Letters and FBi’s All the Best. It started off as a trial by the City of Sydney, but due to overwhelming positive feedback, the program is here to stay. Website

Secret Wars

Secret Wars is a global phenomenon, and their mission is to turn live art into a recognised sport. The rules are this: Two artists are given 90 minutes, a blank white wall and black marker and ink with which to ‘battle’ each other. Winner goes on to the next round. Attending a Secret Wars session is rowdy and raucous, with more slanging and dissing than a hip hop battle. Showmanship, as well as talent, scores highly. Website