Ready for a refresh to get you through the second half of the year? ArtsHub has pulled together the quintessential Arts Calendar and Summit Calendar to help give you that edge and that charge to see the year out.
Plan ahead to:
August
CONFERENCE: APAX 2025, Darwin (NT)
Australian Performing Arts Exchange (APAX) – the national market and professional development – heads to Darwin, Larrakia Country for its 2025 meeting. In collaboration with Darwin Festival and Darwin Entertainment Centre, APAX offers a week filled with conversations, discussions, networking opportunities, performance and cultural experiences, all set against the backdrop of Darwin’s most iconic locations.
Applications for the arts market will open in March 2025. Further application timelines will be published in early 2025. Registrations open in May 2025 with program announcements to follow.
Details: 11-15 August, Darwin; in-person.
CONFERENCE: Arts Engagement Conference 2025, Melbourne (Vic)
The third annual community arts engagement conference will be held in Melbourne this year, presented by the Salvation Army. Described as, ‘the must-attend event for missional creatives who want to reach out through the arts to build healthy, caring and sustainable communities,’ its keynote speakers include Australian pastor, photographer, author, content creator, and YouTuber and Director of YouVersion Australia.
Dave Adamson and 3X Australian Poetry Slam National Finalist and artist Will Small, who weaves together spoken word poetry, short cinematic films, immersive soundscapes and live storytelling to help people experience a deep sense of interconnectedness and collective strength.
Details: 14-16 August, Treacy Conference Centre; in-person.
CONFERENCE: Celebrate Reading Conference 2025, Perth (WA)
The Literature Centre has announced that its Celebrate Reading Conference will return this year, as an ongoing biennial event. It will be presented at the State Library of Western Australia. Stay tuned for details.
Details: 23-24 August, at The State Library of WA; in-person.
September
CONFERENCE: BIGSOUND, Brisbane (Qld)
BIGSOUND is the southern hemisphere’s biggest music industry gathering where some of the world’s most influential tastemakers and music lovers come together, this year in Brisbane. By day, industry’s leading players gather at BIGSOUND conference to grapple with the big issues facing the sector. A list of speakers has been announced.
Details: 2-5 September, Bribane.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: The 12th International Conference on Arts and Humanities, (Bangkok) Thailand
ICOAH 2025 brings together scholars, artists and change-makers from across the globe to engage in transformative dialogue on the intersections of arts, humanities and global challenges. With a remarkable legacy of over 11 years, the conference has connected more than 12,500 participants from over 150 countries and collaborated with more than 45 universities.
ICOAH 2025’s theme ‘Cornerstones of Belonging: Building Sustainable Communities’ aims to address the critical question of how arts and humanities can contribute to creating inclusive, resilient and thriving societies, delving into notions of belonging and identity, the role of arts in healing and resilience, and sustainable practices rooted in cultural heritage and environmental stewardship.
Details: 4-5 September, Ambassador Hotel Bangkok, Thailand; in-person.
WEAVING SYMPOSIUM: Kurdinthi, National First Nations Weaving Symposium, Tarntanya, Adelaide
Presented by Ku Arts and JamFactory, Kurdinthi is is a weekend of gathering, connection, cultural exchange and conversation in Tarntaya, Adelaide. Over three days, Kurdinthi will bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander weavers from across the country.
The event will also include a series of public programs across Adelaide’s West End, including a symposium, interactive workshops, film screenings and exhibitions at the JamFactory, Aunty Ellen Trevorrow: Weaving Through Time and Robert Wuldi: Weaving the Machine, as well as the National First Nations Weaving Salon Exhibition presented by Ku Arts.
Details: 5-7 September
TALKS: Sydney Contemporary, Sydney (NSW).
Sydney Contemporary is set to return to Carriageworks in September with a full program of talks on topics of the day influencing the art market and contemporary practice.
Details: 11-14 September, Carriageworks; in-person.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: ResArtis Conference, São Paulo (Brazil)
For the first time in its 32-year history, Res Artis will host its annual conference in Latin America. Titled ‘Other Springs: Blooms from the Global South’, the 2025 event will be hosted by long-standing Res Artis Member Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) and held in São Paulo, Brazil.
The conference marks the 20th anniversary of the Residência ArtÃstica FAAP – São Paulo arts residency and will coincide with the 36th Bienal de São Paulo and France in Brazil Season, which celebrates 200 years of diplomatic relations.
Details: 19-23 September, São Paulo, Brazil; in-person.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Eighteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, Zaragoza (Spain)
The Inclusive Museum Research Network (part of the Association of Art Museum Curators – AAMC) is brought together by a shared concern for the future role of the Museum and how it can become more inclusive and sustainable.
The conference offers a selection of panels, keynotes, workshops and breakout opportunities under the wordy theme this year – ‘Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums: Engines of Innovation and Social Participation’.
Details: 15-17 September, University of San Jorge, Zaragoza, Spain; in-person and online.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Design Research Society Learn X Design Conference, Aveiro (Portugal)
The 2025 Design Research Society (DRS) Special Interest Group (EdSIG) Learn X Design conference will be held at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and is hosted by the Lab OIKOS – Design Ecosystemic Spaces of Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture (ID+) of the University of Aveiro.
It takes a look at the field of design education and its need to pivot in today’s increasingly interconnected world, demanding unified and collaborative approaches to tackle emerging challenges and opportunities.
Details: 22-24 September, in-person.
TALKS: Curious, Sydney Opera House
Curious is a new talks offering at the Sydney Opera House in partnership with Nuix and the University of Sydney. The day of talks is described as a place where culture, creativity and ideas collide. ‘It’s for minds that never stop asking questions about the world and ourselves,’ describe the organisers. Check out the topics from AI to gender and politics to journalism.
Details: 28 September.
October
MUSIC CONFERENCE: SWS Sydney 2025
South by Southwest Sydney® (SXSW Sydney) has today revealed its Music Festival program, with 62 new international and domestic artists and a host of new speakers joining the lineup, along with the reveal of the first Music conference sessions. They will explore the trends, technologies and challenges reshaping the global music landscape, and dive into AI’s impact, superfans’ power and strategies for entering new markets. The conference will offer insights for artists and industry professionals to navigate the evolving music ecosystem. Expect thought-provoking discussions on music ownership, export strategies and the creator economy, along with workshops designed to foster personal growth and overcome creative roadblocks.
Details: 13-19 October, Sydney
November
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: 27th ICOM Conference, United Arab Emirates
Every three years, ICOM hosts its General Conference, and this year it will be presented in Dubai. The theme for the 27th edition is The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities, encapsulates the dynamic ever-changing landscape that communities and museums worldwide navigate through today, with three interconnected sub-themes that will invite in-depth discussions into the safeguarding of intangible heritage, youth power, and the rise of new technologies.
Details: 11-17 November; Dubai, in-person.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: CIMAM 2025, Turin (Italy)
CIMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collection of Modern Art, has announced it will hold its 57th Annual Conference in Turin, Italy. This marks CIMAM’s return to Italy after almost 50 years, with its last Italian edition held in Bologna and Prato in 1976.
Suhanya Raffel, CIMAM President and Director of M+ in Hong Kong, said: ‘In Turin, we would like to propose a dynamic and very open and participative exercise consisting of exploring together the difficulties of enduring game-changing hardships while breeding new paradigms in our field.
‘A case study-based conference oriented towards providing us with a collectively made toolkit to counteract the multitude of challenges that too often leave us feeling overwhelmed and disempowered in our daily tasks as art professionals.’ Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher, wrote: “Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing”.’
Details: 28-30 November, Turin; in-person.
Read: The Unconformity returns for 2025
December
CONFERENCE: AAANZ 2025 Conference, Perth
Hosted by The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The Berndt Museum, and the Uuniversity of Western Australia School of Design, and supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies, the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) annual conference embraces the theme Unruly Objects.
Thinking beyond simply the agency of objects, discussions will turn specifically to their disruptive and ungovernable aspects, and how that impacts how we work in the gallery sector, and the conversations we develop around such objects. Program and speakers to be announced in September.
Details: 3-5 December, Perth, WA
Presented by The Literature Centre, the Celebrate Reading Conference will return in 2025 – the first since its reframe as a biennial event. Funding has been secured from Copyright Agency for this event, but details are yet to be announced. Stay tuned.
And other conferences … Save the date
SAVE THE DATE: National Visual Art Education Conference 2026, Canberra
The National Visual Art Education Conference (NVAEC) brings together teachers, artists, cultural practitioners and thought-leaders to inspire and energise best-practice teaching and learning in the visual arts.
NVAEC 26 is presented in conjunction with After the Rain, the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial. NVAEC 26 includes keynote addresses from Tony Albert, After the Rain artists, and international guests, plus workshops, gallery experiences, performances, social gatherings and Teachers’ Voice presentations.
International speakers include Raven Chacon is a composer, performer and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation and Candice Hopkins, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, Taghkanic, NY.
Details: 19-21 January, 2026, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
What did we miss? Email editor@creativehubsgroup.com.au with updates and inclusions.
