Next Wave is a biennial festival and artist development organisation, presenting genre-busting new work by the next wave of Australian artists.

Next Wave is Australia’s leading festival for young emerging artists and arts workers. Established in 1984, Next Wave has remained at the forefront of presenting a broad range of contemporary art practices to a national audience. The most recent Next Wave Festival ran in May 2010.

Next Wave is an innovative organisation that stands alone in its dedication to supporting young artists. With a consistently changing audience and artist make-up, the Next Wave Festival remains responsive to critical issues in contemporary culture. It is one of the few organisations in Australia that gives young people the opportunity to critique their culture, giving their ideas a public face and audible voice.

Next Wave’s vision is of a world where all young people are empowered to express themselves and engage with creative activities. Our plan is to empower young artists aged 16 to 30, art-workers and audiences to develop ideas and create works that engage, change and shape the culture around them through a development and festival cycle.

Our Statement of Purpose

Next Wave challenges our understanding of what art can be. Through our development programs and biennial Festival, Next Wave assists emerging artists to realise extraordinary new work that invites us to see the world and ourselves in unexpected ways.

Our programs support young artists to take creative risks, establish critically-engaged professional practices and launch their work into a wider artistic and public domain.

Next Wave commissions and presents genre-busting projects both within and outside conventional artistic spaces. Our projects transform familiar sites, and activate new audiences.

Next Wave also ignites a broader debate about art and its role in contemporary society.