This year's DRIFT Arts Festival is a ten-day cultural celebration spanning multiple places and spaces Peninsula-wide.
The inaugural year in 2022 saw thousands of people join in the moveable cultural feast, with thousands more expected to enjoy this year's programming. The festival catches the end of Victorian school holidays, and then stretches into the end of April – for an extended Easter break.
Presented by The Mornington Peninsula Shire, the ten-days is jam packed with sights and acts ranging from family friendly to 18+ audiences, so you're bound to find a DRIFT that suits you.
Find your DRIFT from April 21 – 30, with pre-festival shows starting from April 20.
What you can expect
Highlight acts include Karen From Finance, Comedy Fest's Neighbourhood Sessions, The Smith Street Band and Bernie Dieter's DRIFT Arts Festival Spectacular just to name a few, with plenty of other local and national acts in the line up. Venues range from neighbourhood bars, to the Big Top at the DRIFT Festival Hub.
Other live music acts include Adalita, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Firetail, Kyle Lionhart, Spud Thompson, Mudhoney, These New South Whales and too many more to list. You can browse all music acts and other categories of the line up on via their website.
For the visual arts lovers, there are exhibitions, installations and workshops like Briars By Night, How We Rise, Stencilled Stories and artist run gallery, Lander Se, some running for the duration of the festival.
The DRIFT Festival Hub is a new addition to the festival landscape in 2023, with a central hub set up in Rosebud, spanning four venues. The Hub gives festival goers the opportunity to refuel with local food trucks and drink vendors; the Soundshell, Memorial Hall, Village Green and Artist's Bar playing host to many of the top acts.
There are no shortage of family friendly events to attended too: think wonder-filled installations like Luminosity, award-winning interactive performance Children Are Stinky, Creative Sea Creatures Workshop and The Last Lighthouse Keeper puppet show.
This year, we've partnered with DRIFT to curate some of the best places to eat, drink and play while you explore – find our picks alongside a comprehensive directory from the local tourism team (coming soon) here.
Festival organisers describe this year's program as "nurturing and celebrating our shared identity as well as our differences. It honours our creative community while also bringing fresh new talent into our region to inspire creative and artistic practices and broaden our perspectives".
You'll find both free and ticketed items throughout the entire festival, with many of the headliners already beginning to sell out. Explore the full DRIFT program here.
DRIFT is an inclusive and widely accessible event, please check individual programmed items for accessibility information and audience suitability.
The Ninch is a proud Promotional Partner of DRIFT Arts festival.
