A week on from the Remix Summit in Sydney, we’re still thinking about this idea from Festival Director Kris Nelson’s keynote, and his question: What can a festival do for a city that nothing else can?

Drawing on his experiences in Sydney, London and Dublin, Kris explored the power of artists and festivals to change how we experience the places we live, from reimagining iconic public spaces to creating new ways for people to gather, reflect and see their city differently.

For Kris, that starts with trust: giving artists the freedom and permission to take risks, ask difficult questions and help us see our cities in new ways.

Read some highlights from his address below...

"Give your artists real permission, and they will not waste it. That’s the power of possibility. That’s the future I want to make for Sydney."

"Culture is an essential service. Just like transportation, health, education. Culture is delivery service for story and meaning. Culture is our gathering place."

Kris Nelson speaking at the Remix Summit Sydney, August 2026

"A festival's job isn't to entertain a city. It's to be the custodian of its imagination. 

"My invitation to you today, in a conference full of ideas about placemaking and culture is to stop thinking about festivals and culture as something that happens in a city. Start thinking about how festivals change what happens to a city."

Wansolmoana Lunar Assembly, Sydney Festival 2026

"Every site-specific work is a small act of re-zoning: not by council, but by feeling."

"Keep trusting artists. Not just to entertain us — to ask the hard questions before the rest of us are ready to ask them out loud."

Efectos Especiales, Sydney Festival 2026 

So what next, Sydney? 

"First: keep trusting artists. Not just to entertain us – to ask the hard questions before the rest of us are ready to ask them out loud. Trust isn't a slogan you put on a strategic plan. It's a practice. It’s faith. You do it project by project, decision by decision.

What could that look like if a brand devoted to exploration and innovation backed artists to be brave? Or if a corporation with a CSR policy to be good civic players supported artists to be truth-tellers and lead the way? 

Second: trust needs somewhere to happen. Sydney’s iconography is already right – the Opera House, the Harbour, the Bridge. Our Indigenous histories, our geography, our incredible multi-culturalism – all of these give us the raw materials no other city has. To those permission holders and venue operators and bureaucrats in the room: cut the red tape, make way. Be an enabler for culture from the grassroots to the monumental to happen. 

Third: celebrate our audiences. Sydney is full of buzzers. People who are curious, who are switched on, who love a great night out and a deep-dive into a great story. Keep nourishing them and connecting them to culture all across the city. Keep looking for ways to provide them with that essential service. 

We're not in the business of entertainment. We're in the business of what a city remembers about itself." 

Vigil: Belong, 2026. 


 Find out more about the 2026 REMIX summit here.