How winter festival Now or Never celebrates technology while remaining carbon-neutral

Artistic Director Elise Peyronnet describes Melbourne’s newest major festival – now in its third edition – as 'a festival like no other'.
Four dancers stand poised on a gree-lit stage as a DJ plays at stage front. An audience looks on. This is a sequence from 'Cortex' by the Kianí del Valle Performance Group, which has been programmed alongside cutting edge sound works and DJs at Melbourne Town Hall for Now or Never.

Technology intersects with every aspect of our lives – from the music we listen to and the ways we listen to it, to our most intimate conversations with family and friends. Now in its third year, Now or Never is the City of Melbourne’s most recent addition to a crowded arts and cultural calendar, and is billed as an exploration of art, ideas, sound and technology – with artists’ uses of technology a consistent element across the festival’s many free and ticketed events.

“Now or Never is a festival like no other. It has a very distinct artistic direction and aesthetic compared to other festivals in Australia. Its key purpose is to offer a global platform for local and international artists who use technology in their practice – to showcase cutting-edge creativity, sound, art and future-thinking ideas,” Artistic Director Elise Peyronnet explains.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts