Images: Adelaide Festival Centre
One of Adelaide’s best-known cultural festivals is preparing to farewell the city after two decades, with OzAsia Festival announcing its 20th anniversary will also be its final edition.
Running from Friday October 9 to Sunday November 1, the 2026 festival will celebrate 20 years of Asian and Asian Australian art, music, literature and culture — and this time, the entire program will be free.
The farewell includes free concerts from Australian rock favourites Regurgitator and Japanese Australian electronic duo Lastlings, alongside visual art, live performances and the return of OzAsia’s popular Weekend of Words.
The festival’s much-loved Moon Lanterns will also take over Elder Park for an extended four-week season, remaining on display throughout Lucky Dumpling Market.
Hong Kong Dragon Lantern.
Presented by OzAsia Festival and Gluttony, Lucky Dumpling Market will bring 25 food vendors to Elder Park, with street food spanning Vietnam, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, India and Cambodia.
There will also be live music, DJs and cultural performances on the OzAsia Festival Stage, plus an expanded program of free activities for kids.
Adelaide Festival Centre CEO Kate Gould said the final festival would be an opportunity to recognise the enormous contribution OzAsia has made over the past two decades.
“We congratulate the OzAsia Festival team for 20 extraordinary years and look forward to celebrating this milestone anniversary with our community this October,” Kate said.
While OzAsia Festival will come to an end after 2026, Asian and Asian Australian artists and stories will continue to feature at Adelaide Festival Centre through year-round programming.
Lucky Dumpling Market will also continue, returning to Elder Park as an annual event from 2027.
Across Adelaide Festival Centre, this year’s visual arts program will include Damien Shen’s Entombed in Joy inside the Adelaide Railway Station Historic Phone Booths.
At Artspace, Jake Yang’s Fire Horse will evolve and transform throughout the festival, while Festival Theatre’s Galleries will host Naina Sen’s large-scale video work SHUNDORI, exploring contemporary South Asian identity.
The popular Weekend of Words will return for one last OzAsia Festival edition, curated by award-winning writer and comedian Sami Shah.
Its 2026 line-up includes Antoinette Lattouf, Benjamin Law, Durkhanai Ayubi, Michael Hing and Yumi Stynes, with further conversations and events forming part of the free program.
The milestone year will also recognise the people who have helped shape OzAsia since its beginning, including current Festival Director Joon-Yee Kwok, former artistic directors Annette Shun Wah, Joseph Mitchell and Jacinta Thompson, and festival founder Douglas Gautier AM.
Since its creation, OzAsia Festival has become one of Adelaide Festival Centre’s major annual events celebrating contemporary Asian and Asian Australian culture, bringing artists, writers, musicians and performers from Australia and across the region to Adelaide.
Its final program will now give audiences one last chance to experience the festival, this time without the cost of admission.
OzAsia Festival 2026
When: Friday October 9 to Sunday November 1, 2026
Where: Adelaide Festival Centre and Elder Park
Cost: Free
