Family Friendly Guide to New Annual

Managing the mental load of what to see and do at New Annual with the fam

Attn: families of Newcastle! Keeping the crew entertained is about to get a whole lot easier with New Annual just around the corner. To reduce your mental load just that little bit, we’ve put together a curated suggestion of ways you can experience this ten-day festival of art, music and ideas, whether you’ve got toddlers, tweens or the in-laws in tow. Take a break from the ordinary and dive into the weird, wonderful and colourful.

1. Immerse in the opening night festival – Fri 26 Sep from 5pm (FREE)
Forget Friday night witching hour; take it to the streets (Laman St Cooks Hill, to be exact!) for a family-friendly party atmosphere. Grab an easy bite from a food truck, get hands-on with creative kids workshops and snap a selfie with some deep-sea divers of yesteryear with some seriously cool roving puppet characters. Stick around to see the Hunter School of Performing Arts Marching Band at 6.50pm and be home before bedtime!

2. Spend the weekend strolling the city and discovering free art installations (FREE)
Start at The Station with the kitschiest and cutest mini putt-putt course you ever did see, and unleash the competitiveness between your crew. Then head to Camp Shortland for a spot of quiet time and sensory stability with a starfish sound immersion, before over-stimulating again inside a mesmerising lost-world shipping container, decked out with more jewels than a shipwreck’s treasure trove. Nap times? No problemo! Perfect to explore at your own pace between 10:00am and 5:00pm from Sat 27 Sep right up until Sun 5 October. Dip in and out as you please – use this handy reference guide!

3. Newcastle Baths, but not as you know them
Sunsets at the baths come with salty air and soulful tunes during New Annual, with the free SOAK: Live at the Baths music series across five evenings. Any of the curated lineups will be sure to impress with their crazy-good talents, so while you might be unfamiliar with the names we guarantee you’ll be googling them like crazy afterwards and telling anyone who’ll listen how amazing they were. Forget 10pm set times and long line ups at the bar - this is the easiest, breeziest and most family-friendly way to catch world-class live music. We won’t play favourites, but we will let you in on the hot ticket that 5:30pm Sun 28 Sep show will blow you away.

For kids aged 10 and up, bring the theatre to them in an unexpected setting. Inspired by local stories, the stage is set at the baths themselves – in and amongst the swimmers and sunbathers. If you’ve got a pair of headphones on, you’ll be in on the secret, as the actors blend into their surroundings and dive deep into a moving site-specific performance. It’s a powerful and unique experience, best suited to older kids who can follow along with layered storytelling. Tickets range from $18 - $25, with daytime weekday and weekend dates available – tickets and more info are here.  

Oh and while you’re at the baths, be sure to discover the special open-air photography exhibition amid the cozzies and concrete too!

4. A big, brave and beautifully soul-touching piece of live performance - Wed 1 Oct 7pm and Thurs 2 Oct, 2pm and 7pm (ticketed, $18 - $25)
If you feel like you just go through the same routine day in and day out, then maybe it’s time to feel something new. Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer will deliver you feelings in spades. Find meaning, feel the depths of your heart strings being pulled and be called to connection. I’ll just leave this quote here and suggest you ask no further questions and just book your ticket:

"An ingenious and beguiling blend of live action, puppetry, animation, music and film to tell a story of love, loss and quiet heroism" - The Guardian, UK

This is the kind of show that you definitely don’t need to bring a kid along with you to see. But if you do, just make sure they’re ok with mature themes. Tickets and more info here.

5. Discover miniature worlds to invite curious minds of every age – Newcastle Museum, daily (ticketed $5 - $10)
Model Newcastle: Big Stories, Little things is the brand-new exhibition from Newcastle Museum with multi-generational appeal. With dollhouses, tug-boats and trains for kids to get hands-on with, to maritime marvels and marionettes to admire, expect to find 500sqm of things to see, do and explore. Perfect to keep up your sleeve for a rainy day, though we suspect you might get requests to return again and again, especially if there are train-lovers in your midst! Be sure to check out the rest of the free exhibitions at the museum while you’re there too.

6. The show-stopping finale, Global Gathering – Sat 4 Oct, from 2pm til 9pm (FREE)
Beaumont St Hamilton is a melting pot of culture and community, so it’s no surprise it’s the host location for this vibrant street festival. Expect drums, rhythm, food and colourful celebration, with world music, MasterChef demonstrations, makers workshops and more. It’ll have your hips swaying, toes tapping and senses fired up. No matter what time you arrive and which family members you’ve got coming, there will be something stunning to admire and absorb. Full program and details here.

Top tips for super planners

• Be sure to follow @newannual on socials to get all the updates and reminders of what’s on
• Check out the PDF schedule here, with a colour-coded calendar view you can share, save or print to make planning a breeze! FREE events are noted, as are the various genres of art, music, theatre, performance and workshop, depending on what your crew are currently into. Perfect for popping into the group chat too!
• Spreadsheets not your thing? Head to the family-friendly filtered events page on our website and continue sorting by date, venue or whether it’s a free event to find your ideal activity.
• Master the map: follow the art trail and prepare to be delighted! Whether you manage just one or all seven sites, this is one to screenshot and whip out the next time you’re heading into the city.
• Help another mum out and share this blog with them  ✌
• Document your experiences and share online. Tag us @newannual and use the hashtags #newannual and #visitnewcastle for your chance to be reshared on our channels to inspire others!

However you plan it, New Annual is your ticket to break routine, discover something new, and make memories with your favourite people.