Sydney Festival has recently published its Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2026 – 2028, a plan created in collaboration with Reconciliation Australia to provide structure and accountability as we develop our reconciliation commitments and use our sphere of influence to improve outcomes for First Nations Australians. 

We recognise that Sydney's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and contemporary cultures lie deep within the city's identity and are key to an enlightened and progressive festival. 

This isn't our first RAP – we've been crafting and implementing these plans since 2013 – but there are plenty of important "firsts" within it. For example we've formed our first RAP Working Group with members from each department across the organisation, tasked with ensuring the goals of the RAP are implemented, tracked and assessed.

Sydney Festival RAP launch picnic, April 2026

We also hosted our first RAP launch event, a picnic and cultural tour on Gadigal Land in the Botanic Gardens. Our RAP launch picnic, though casual in tone, was a moment of deep significance for its attendees, which included staff, stakeholders, community members and supporters. Its purpose was to motivate and involve the Sydney Festival community in realisation of the goals of the RAP, to be united by our mutual respect, awareness and hope, and acknowledge that responsibility for the RAP's execution lies with all of us.

We were welcomed to Country by proud Koori woman Binowee Bayles, and heard speeches from our Festival Director Kris Nelson, Head of Reconciliation Australia (and Sydney Festival Board Member) Karen Mundine, our Board Chair Kate Dundas, and Sydney Festival's Head of First Nations Programming, proud Butchulla man Aidan Rowlingson. A delicious morning tea was provided by Indigenous catering company Kallico, a fascinating cultural tour was led by Lachlan Moore from the Botanic Gardens team, and buckets of warm sunshine were graciously provided by Mother Nature. 

You can view all snaps from the picnic here. 

Big smiles and beautiful speeches at Sydney Festival RAP launch picnic, 2026. 

Launch events and public committments to RAP plans are not about virtue signalling. They help to foster commitment and accountability to the goals we as an organisation have promised to work towards, and the values we have promised to uphold. Highlighted here are two steps of many outlined our Innovate RAP which are underway.

You can read the RAP in full below, to understand what we've committed to and why it matters. 

"The launch of our RAP is an important milestone, but it is only one step. What matters now is how we continue to carry this work forward with honesty, accountability and care. This is a shared commitment, and one that belongs to all of us."

– Aidan Rowlingson, Head of First Nations Programming