(City of Newcastle)
Newy 87.8 FM – Live music will return to Newcastle Ocean Baths as part of New Annual 2026, with City of Newcastle revealing a sneak peek of its flagship arts festival's program.
The sixth edition of the festival will run from 25 September to 4 October.
SOAK, the free sunset sessions that transformed the Ocean Baths into a live music venue in 2025, will return with a four-night program featuring local and globally renowned artists.
"We were blown away by the response to SOAK last year," Festival Director Tory Loudon said, noting record-breaking attendances at the 2025 festival.
Newcastle nightspot Bartholomew's will also be transformed for one night into an immersive art party venue inspired by former Newcastle artist Damien Frost, whose photographic series Night Flowers has documented London's alternative queer nightlife over the past 14 years.
Frost will present a collection of those images at Watt Space Gallery, alongside new portraits of Newcastle's queer and alternative communities captured for New Annual. The exhibition will be complemented by the TWISTED: Night Flowers Party at Bartholomew's.
Entry to the SOAK sessions and the Night Flowers exhibition will be free, with tickets for TWISTED on sale from Thursday 4 June.
Member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp said the NSW Government was proud to support New Annual in its sixth year. The full 2026 program will be announced in coming months.
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