Bondi Pavilion Unveils 2026 Season

Producers at Waverley Council will unveil Bondi Pavilion’s 2026 Artistic Program on 3 December, presenting a year-round offering of theatre, music, visual art, comedy, youth initiatives, and community events.

More than 30 programs will be presented across summer, autumn, winter, and spring, including exhibitions, performances, festivals, workshops, and returning public programs such as the Bondi Festival. The season will span large-scale outdoor events, family programming, contemporary performance, and First Nations work.

Bondi Pavilion’s Artistic Director Chris Bendall said, “I'm delighted to be launching our 2026 Artistic Program at Bondi Pavilion. With events for and by everyone from the very, very young to the young at heart, audiences can expect to savour a season of cabaret, comedy, theatre, dance, music, author talks and visual arts. Over the past year, we've celebrated the natural environment across our program. In 2026, we're adjusting our lens to interrogate, and celebrate, human nature in all our rich diversity. We've assembled an outstanding array of artists, who are all set to delight, challenge and inspire audiences at our iconic home where culture meets the sea.”

Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh added, “It is my great pleasure to unveil an extraordinary program of arts and culture offerings at our iconic Bondi Pavilion. At Waverley Council we are fully committed to uplifting the arts and fostering local creativity as much as possible, and we warmly invite you all to enjoy the smorgasbord of talent we've collated for 2026. Just a stone's throw from the extraordinary, picturesque Bondi Beach, there truly is something for everybody.”

2026 Artistic Program

The summer season will open in January with Legs On The Wall’s outdoor performance Waverider, presented in partnership with Sydney Festival. Erth Visual and Physical Theatre’s Deep Sea Divers will follow, appearing throughout the Pavilion and surrounding areas alongside hands-on workshops for young audiences. February will feature programs by Noongar artist Bumpy and First Nations drag performer Miss Ellaneous (Ben Graetz), including The Kanana Tour and TINA: A Tropical Love Story.

Visual artist Lauren Brincat will present the exhibition Curtain Call, while the group exhibition Good Together will showcase work by Waverley artists exploring human and environmental themes. Autumn will include One Fell Swoop Circus with In Common, as well as the International Women’s Day music event Amplify: Featuring The Buoys, curated by Lily Richardson.

From March through May, the Pavilion will present theatre, comedy, and family programming including re:group performance collective’s AUTO-TUNE, Gillian Cosgriff’s Life, Oh Life, Luke Kennedy’s photographic exhibition Broken Glass and Blue Bottles, Dummies Corp’s Splash Test Dummies, and a concert by Emma Memma.

Winter will feature the annual Jazz at the Pav series, including performances by Freyja Garbett, Sandy Evans, and Lisathe. ARIA Award–winning songwriter Alex Lloyd will perform selections from his catalogue and new material from Echoes of Home. The season also will include world premieres by Annalouise Paul (Self Portrait) and Jonny Pasvolsky (The CAN Principle).

From July to August, Bondi Festival will return with performances, comedy, and the beachfront Ferris wheel. Bondi WAVE, Waverley’s youth music program, will continue, alongside the 40th anniversary of the Waverley Art Prize and the arrival of ARTEXPRESS, showcasing outstanding HSC Visual Arts works. Additional winter programming will include Sarah Austin’s sensory work for babies An Uncertain Time and A Dance Makers Collective’s All In.

Spring will include Tupua Tigafua’s dance work Shel We, Jessica Wilson’s interactive project I See You Like This, and Anisa Nandaula’s new work No Small Talk. Throughout October and November, the Pavilion will present The Listies in This Show is a Joke!, the choral work 100 Women 100 Stories, and the inaugural Bondi Writers’ Festival, which will bring authors and speakers to the venue for conversations and events.

Year-round offerings will include film screenings of West End theatre productions, free lunchtime concerts in the High Tide Room, public conversations presented by the Talks & Ideas series, artist talks in the Art Gallery, and the 25th anniversary of the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award.

The full 2026 Artistic Program and ticket information will be available from 3 December at 6 p.m.