Illuminate Adelaide Smashes Attendance Record for Sixth Edition

The sixth edition of Illuminate Adelaide was another smash hit, attracting more than 1.6 million attendees across 19 incredible days and nights of light, art and music.

This year saw more than 100 experiences spread out across the CBD and further featuring immersive dining experiences, street pop-ups, music festivals, art installations and more.

Artists and creatives from Colombia, Poland, the Netherlands, South Africa, Mexico, Japan and Slovakia joined

Australian artists from Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and South Australia in creating some of the most spectacular events, including the famous Adelaide Botanic Garden night walk Night Visions, the Zoo’s family-friendly adventure Universal Kingdom, the wildly popular new and interactive Augmented Games and the much-loved free outdoor program City Lights.

Illuminate Adelaide Co-Founders and Creative Directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi said: "Six years in, Illuminate Adelaide continues to surprise us with the way audiences embrace the opportunity to experience their city differently. This year we welcomed audiences into new spaces, celebrated extraordinary artists from South Australia and around the world, and created a program that invited everyone to be part of it.

"At its heart, Illuminate Adelaide is about creating moments of connection, curiosity and wonder. Seeing people of all ages coming together across the city throughout winter has been incredibly rewarding, and we're enormously grateful to the artists, partners, venues, staff, volunteers and audiences who helped make this year's event so memorable."

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Highlights of this year's festival included the Australian premiere of Augmented Games, which sold out before its first week, the return of Night Visions in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, taking punters on a journey of light, sound and storytelling and Illuminate Adelaide’s free program, City Lights, which took over the entire city for the 19 days.

Unsound Adelaide returned and took over Lion Arts Factory, Hindley Street Music Hall and Ancient World with a program boasting internationally acclaimed experimental artists, while Supersonic transformed Hindley Street Music Hall into a one-night-only celebration of electronic music.

Palmer Hospitality Brand, Communications and Development General Manager, Erica Pennington said: "We love winter in the city, thanks to Illuminate Adelaide! We were lucky enough to be part of both Illuminate Hosts and the City Lights Pitstops program.

"We’ve recorded an increase in bookings as well as an increase in general footfall and walk-ups across the venues. To activate our venues in a fun and inclusive way over winter has been highly beneficial."