Junction Arts Festival Returns to Transform Launceston This Spring
Launceston will once again become a platform for bold art, performance, music and shared experiences as Junction Arts Festival returns from 17–20 September 2026.
Now in its 16th year, Junction Arts Festival invites locals and visitors alike to experience the city in new ways, with a curated program of contemporary art that unfolds across streets, buildings and unexpected places.
Celebrating Tasmanian artists alongside interstate collaborators, the festival brings together immersive installations, live performance, music and participatory experiences that encourage audiences to gather, explore and reconnect.
Junction Chairperson Rebecca Birrell said the 2026 Junction program offered attendees a wide range of ways to welcome the new season.
“"The 2026 Junction Arts Festival program is brimming with art and performance to celebrate the equinox. Our 16th festival will transform Launceston with multi-arts experiences. Co-create a beautiful artistic offering of hope to the city in Duravity. Indulge in a luscious curation of art, food and performance in Making. Immerse yourself in the vibrant hub of community and sound at Princes Square. Amaze yourself with the most fun you will ever have under a steeple in The Baptiste. All will come to light in four exceptional days in Spring.”
Timed to the spring equinox, Junction marks a natural moment of transition, inviting people out of winter and into four days of creativity, connection and shared experiences.
The 2026 program showcases new commissions and contemporary works by Tasmanian artists alongside interstate collaborators, reinforcing Junction's commitment to supporting local creative practice while bringing new ideas and perspectives to the state.
From family-friendly experiences and free public works to late-night performances and live music, the festival offers countless ways to experience Launceston during one of its most vibrant weekends of the year.
Junction Arts Festival drops full 2026 program: a nightclub inside a church, a slinky-powered dance work and dog show glory up for grabs
Junction Arts Festival returns to Launceston from 17–20 September, turning the city into a four-day platform for bold, immersive and unexpected art, performance and music at the spring equinox, and today the full 2026 program has landed.
Now in its 16th year, Junction turns the city itself into the venue. Churches become nightclubs, stables become late-night lounges, and Prince's Square becomes the Festival Hub, home to live music, art and performance, food vans, bars, cosy fires and the Little Devil.
Executive Producer Frith Mabin said
“Junction has become one of the most-loved weekends on Tasmania's cultural calendar because it gives people a completely different way to experience their own city. This year's program is our boldest yet, equal parts joyful, strange and unmissable.”
The Baptist gets a full transformation into a nightclub and cabaret venue for the festival, stained glass lit up in strobe, pews pushed back for the dancefloor. Around the corner, Smiths Lane hosts the Blind Pig Stables, a late-night lounge of low light, quiet corners and intimate performances a few feet from you.
At the Majestic Theatre, screen and stage veteran James Patrick Reed takes on Jack Hibberd's A Stretch of the Imagination, hailed by The Age as “probably the most beautiful Australian play ever written.”
Across 4 days and nights Prince's Square plays host to a full music lineup including Horns of Leroy ft thndo, and acclaimed rock and blues trio Vasco Era alongside Tassie acts The Spooky Eyes, エミエミ (emi emi), Bully Hay and many more. COIL, a mass-participation dance work from Tasdance and Stompin featuring 10 professional dancers, 60 local dance lovers and hundreds of slinkies exploring connection through movement, building to a festival-wide invitation for the audience to join in.
Food and performance collide at Making, a moving feast at Design Tasmania curated by Live Art Curator Emma Porteus and Hubert & Dan's Danielle Lefrancois, drawing on Launceston's UNESCO City of Gastronomy status.
Families are well covered too, with Wonderground bringing a dedicated kids' zone to the Festival Hub, alongside the Great Junction Dog Show, the Snake Handling paper sculpture project by Thrive Group and Pen Licence, a handwriting test administered entirely by kids.
Elsewhere, Emily Sanzaro performs a 7.5-hour Mixtape Marathon travelling backwards through four decades of music, Backyard Bands brings 8-piece funk outfit Funktional to a hidden East Launceston backyard, and the Secret Life of Eels traces the migration of Tasmania's short-finned eel using the world's first eel-skin instruments.
2026 marks the 16th year that Junction Arts Festival has connected people, place and art in transformative and unexpected ways. Running from 17 to 20 September, Junction transforms Launceston into a platform for bold, immersive and unexpected artistic experiences.
A vibrant regional arts festival, Junction presents a curated program that champions Tasmanian artists alongside interstate collaborators, blending art, performance and music across the city. Junction curates distinctive experiences that respond to the unique environment of Launceston and its artists, rather than following a single, repeatable formula.
Positioned at the spring equinox, Junction offers a platform to socialise and reconnect after the winter months, deepening community connection and inviting audiences to engage with art as a shared, transformative experience.
The 2026 Junction Arts Festival runs from 17–20 September. For the full program and festival information, visit https://junctionartsfestival.
The 2026 Junction Arts Festival runs from 17–20 September. For the full program and festival information, visit https://junctionartsfestival.
