Since 2017, Sydney Festival’s artwork has focused on the faces of the Festival: the fans, the artists, the people behind the scenes and the people in the seats at the shows.

For the 2017 brochure we invited Festival fans to send in a self-portrait for the chance to be on the cover; for 2018 we asked Festival fans to get creative with a cover photo that used the Festival’s colours in an unusual, interesting, crafty and creative way. And the 2019 brochure also featured a mix of avid Festival fans, volunteers, artists and creators, all shot by photographer Richard Hedger. 

And for 2020 our artwork once again pays tribute to the fans, creators and behind-the-scenes faces of the Festival, shot by Richard Hedger in a double exposure that references the multitude of reactions and emotions Festival shows can inspire in audiences.

Read on below to meet super volunteer Naindeep, playwright Patricia, Auslan interpreter Hayley, actor Aaron and Festival fans Jamie, Marihuzka, Griffin and Frankie: the Faces of Sydney Festival 2020.

Faces of Sydney Festival 2020

AARON

Actor Aaron stars in Black Cockatoo at Sydney Festival 2020 and is also one of our cover stars. So apart from Ensemble Theatre production Black Cockatoo, directed by Sydney Festival Director Wesley Enoch and telling the story of the first Australian cricket team to tour England (a group of Indigenous men from country Victoria), what’s Aaron’s other top pick from the 2020 program? “Umm it’d have to be Bran Nue Dae! Facts.”

CHERYL

Festival donor Cheryl has been attending Sydney Festival shows every January for over 15 years, with performances by the Nederlands Dans Theater and 2019 show Deer Woman standing out as the most breathtaking and confronting, respectively. “I usually keep January as free from any commitments as possible, so I can fit in as many shows as appeal to me. It’s part of the joy of Sydney Festival – challenging yourself to experience a wide range of emotions!” Cheryl says.

FRANKIE

Four-year-old Festival fan Frankie has been attending Sydney Festival shows for half her life (her parents even got married at the Spiegeltent during the Festival). 2018 circus show Model Citizens and interactive art installation Jurassic Plastic stand out as her top picks from two years of Festival fun.

GRIFFIN

Year 7 student Griffin has been going to Sydney Festival events since he was a baby, but his all-time favourite was the spontaneous David Bowie Tribute Night outside the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent in 2016. “It was uplifting, I enjoyed celebrating this amazing legend and wished I’d had the chance to see him live,” Griffin says.

HAYLEY

Auslan interpreter Haley specialises in interpreting for the d/Deaf Aboriginal community. In 2019, she interpreted for – and loved – Blak Out program shows Biladurang by Joel Bray, The Weekend by Henrietta Baird and Man With The Iron Neck. “Every time I saw [Man With The Iron Neck], I’d get goosebumps as it was nice to see a positive ending,” Haley says. “[And] in Biladurang, I was so nervous when I arrived, but by the end I felt so good, like the rest of the audience, blending in drinking wine, chatting and rocking the night away.”