Enlighten Festival is back! Showcasing creative designs, talented minds, diverse street eats, and illuminations around the capital from 28 February to 10 March, it’s one of Canberra’s biggest and most celebrated events. Want to make the most of the festival but don’t know where to start? Here’s our guide to five events and experiences you won’t want to miss.
Enlighten Food Park
Uniting some of Canberra and Sydney’s best food trucks, Enlighten Food Park offers a vibrant multicultural culinary experience. Set amongst the festival’s stunning illuminations, enjoy a mix of pizza, burgers, dumplings, BBQ meats, fried chicken, gozleme, tacos and doughnuts from vendors such as Antico Woodfire Pizza, Burgerhead, Hoy Pinoy and Dessert Dealer. Also don’t forget to head to The Blacklight Dessert Lab for a glowing wonderland of sweet treats.
Available during the festival period, 5-11pm.
Enlighten: Beyond
Expanding the illuminations and exciting experiences outside of the National Triangle, explore Canberra with Enlighten: Beyond. Partnering with local businesses, art organisations and institutions, join an exclusive 90-minute guided Enlighten tour of The National Zoo and Aquarium, discover Glebe Park as it transforms into an enchanted woodland at night, or interact with light and colour at the Canberra Theatre’s Saltbush performance.
Available during the festival period.
Questacon Mystery Mosaics
Interact in a digital mosaic building mystery using the fun of science, technology and history at Questacon during Enlighten. Inspired by the CURIOSITY: Building Breakthroughs in LEGO Bricks exhibition, Mystery Mosaics uses iPads to allow users to experience the magic of building with digital projections to build a mosaic and slowly reveal the mystery image on the Questacon building in real-time.
iPad stations will be located outside Questacon between 8pm – 10pm on Friday 28 February, Saturday 1 March, and Friday 7 to Sunday 9 March.
Meliora Illumination
Apart of Enlighten Illuminations, Meliora, meaning ‘better things’ in Latin, is an abstract art installation that represents how the global community has the power to come together in times of need. A space to reflect and immerse yourself in the unique structure, Meliora shows interwoven curves, connecting and converging in the centre, creating a vaulted moment of negative space for the audience to traverse through and under. Created to be viewed at night, it is illuminated by a dynamic internal light scape that is choreographed to an accompanying bespoke soundscape.
Accessible from 5pm but guests are encouraged to visit after dark for the full experience.
Enlighten Festival Degustation Dinner
Join Parliament House for an exclusive Enlighten-themed degustation dinner on Friday 7 March. Led by award-winning chef David Learmonth, enjoy a six-course culinary journey featuring local produce and an optional local wine pairing. Hosted in the Members and Guests Dining Room, begin the evening with an Enlighten-inspired cocktail on the terrace before you feed your senses.
Friday 7 March, 6:30pm. $190pp for dinner only, $240 with wine pairing.
To view the full Festival Program, visit Enlighten.
