The final weekend of New Annual 2023 is set to be jam-packed with events celebrating a wide range of culture.
Twenty artists will turn Wheeler Place into an urban canvas on September 30 as part of the Easel'd Live Paint Jam. Museum Park will also be taken over by up to 70 local drummers, who will feature in Dancenorth's production, NOISE on September 29 and 30.
Ngiarrenbumba Burrai (Our Country) also continues in Museum Park with tool making, weaving, dance, native food and language workshops and special performances, while diverse traditions, food, art forms and cultural expressions by people from all over the world will be celebrated in Global Gathering at Museum Park on September 30, emceed by Yumi Stynes.
"[Global Gathering] is a new event for us, bringing together all the diverse communities that we can connect with across Newcastle and I just think it's really important, they bring such unique voices," New Annual senior producer and curator Adrian Burnett said.
Wheeler Place will host Shaun Parker's Found Objects across the weekend, an outdoor, family dance theatre work using everyday objects. Following each performance there will be a 20-minute workshop giving the audience the opportunity to connect with the performers.
Ngiarrenbumba Burrai (Our Country) curator Luke Russell said New Annual had been a great celebration of First Nations culture.
"We have been involved with New Annual since it started," he said. "This year has been the biggest numbers-wise.
"It's great to share our genuine knowledge, not the post-colonial version of it, but our actual, traditional knowledge is becoming more prevalent, which is really important to showcase exactly how our people lived, what we did and what we were able to achieve."
Mr Burnett said the entire festival had been a huge success and looked forward to a big few final days across Wheeler Place and Museum Park.
"It has been really awesome this year," he said. "It's positive to see so many people out in the street and it's going to be hopefully be an awesome weekend.
"We've got great programming, great artists, it's all free.
"I think whatever time you dip in and out, there's going to be something for everyone."
Councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said she hoped to see a lot of families out enjoying the festivities across the final days of the festival.
"I think we've been blessed with good weather, school holidays," she said.
"I think we'll see big numbers in here this weekend."
