Music for Curious Ears
Wagga Weekender is no ordinary music festival. It’s a bold player on the cultural calendar – made for curious ears and open hearts and built to surprise.
We had our first edition in April 2026, bringing together a genre-smashing lineup of artists from across the country. Think Persian classical meets electro-acoustic experiments, First Nations-led composition alongside jazz fusion and live-looping saxophones. It’s a mix designed to intrigue, inspire and mess with your expectations in the best possible way.
Staged across Wagga Wagga’s buzzing Civic precinct and capped off with a showstopper in nearby Ganmain, this is a boutique festival with serious intent and a playful spirit. It’s shifting perceptions of what regional arts can be and delivering the kind of world-class program you’d expect to find in a capital city, minus the pretence and the price tag.
Festival passes, single-event tickets and a Super Saturday deal mean you can make the weekend your own. Stay for a night or settle in for the full ride – either way, it won’t cost a fortune, but it will deliver the goods. And with its riverside walks, lively food scene and stunning Autumn glow, Wagga gives the music a spectacular backdrop.
Wagga Weekender is rooted in community, driven by curiosity, and unapologetically regional. It’s curated with care, packed with edge, and it’s about to shake things up.
You don’t need to know the lineup. You just need to listen.
Festival Director
Hello.
My name is Ian, and I created the Wagga Weekender Music Festival. The festival was born from a seemingly simple idea: regional audiences have adventurous tastes in music.
I don’t live regionally. But I used to run an organisation called Music in the Regions, which toured classical music in regional NSW. This experience taught me two things. Firstly, there is real appetite for interesting music, not just the classics, outside of the inner city. Secondly, Wagga (and Ganmain!) are interesting, cultural towns where there is a critical mass of collaborators and audiences who want to try something new.
From this came our first Festival in April 2026. I’m so pleased that it proved the case and we have been funded to come back in April 2027.
I can’t wait to see you 9 - 11 April 2027.
Ian.
