6 Mar 2025

Neon Playground, Sydney’s largest Asian-Australian cultural arts festival returns to Haymarket from 15 March

Neon Playground returns with version 2.0 taking over Haymarket from Saturday, 15 March to Sunday, 6 April 2025, offering three weeks of neon light installations, live entertainment, creative and cultural events, art exhibitions, comedy and food. With light installations featuring artworks from an exceptional lineup of Asian-Australian artists, Chinatown and Haymarket will be awash with a vibrant creative program, in a merging of traditional and contemporary culture that is uniquely Chinatown.

Neon Playground 2.0 will kick off on Saturday, 15 March with a Chinatown Block Party in the middle of Dixon Street, featuring live music and performances from 5-10pm. Korean-Australian rap group 1300 will headline the diverse mix of acts including Hong Kong-Australian rapper Tommy Gunn, Taiwanese-Australian pop-singer tiffi, CRIMSON dance crew and more. 

Haymarket Alliance president Brad Chan said: "This year's festival celebrates the vibrant culture, creativity and resilience of Sydney's Asian-Australian community. We are proud to bring together incredible artists, performers, businesses and community groups to make Neon Playground 2.0 a truly immersive experience that will light up Chinatown in ways you've never seen before."

The centerpiece of the festival is the installation of 14 towering light sculptures, standing 4-5 metres tall, showcasing original works by a roster of established and emerging Asian-Australian artists including Chris Yee, Kentaro Yoshida, Pei Kwang, Andrew Yee, and Samuel Kim. These luminous artworks - produced in collaboration with world-renowned creative production company Mandylights - will light up the streets of Chinatown, including Dixon Street, home to Sydney’s rich Chinese-Australian and Asian-Australian communities. 

Artist Chris Yee said: “Haymarket and Chinatown have a special place in my heart. It’s where I love to hang out and to be part of a festival that honours and celebrates the evolving Asian-Australian identity, as well as Asian-Australian creatives, is incredible. For artists and visitors, there’s truly nothing quite like it in Sydney.”

The towers of light will feature 80 lightbox illustrations; use 1km of neon; and integrate over 100,000 individual LEDs into the artworks. Two illuminated towers, with more than 85 lanterns attached to each, will be spray painted on location by Korean-Australian muralist Sophi Odling and Western Sydney muralist and illustrator Christina Huynh from 10-14 March, giving visitors to the festival a live view of their artworks coming to life. 

In addition to the lighting towers, the festival will feature creative programming across Chinatown involving arts, cultural and community organisations. Key events include:

• As tragedy as farce – A neon art exhibition by Chinese-Australian artist Chunxiao Qu at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Produced in partnership with Haymarket Alliance for Neon Playground 2.0, as tragedy as farce marks Chunxiao Qu’s debut solo presentation in Sydney (March 15 – April 27).

• Fading Glow – A group art exhibition at Blank Gallery that pays tribute to the many icons of Hong Kong, including its renowned neon signs (March 13 – April 7).

• Chris Nguyen: It's Pronounced Nguyen – A stand-up comedy show hosted by Chinatown Comedy Club at the Covent Garden Hotel, a hilarious take on modern-day Asian identity (March 19).

• Chinatown Idol – A family-friendly karaoke competition at Dynasty Karaoke where contestants will sing for the title of Chinatown’s karaoke idol (April 4).

• Subtitle Cinema Club – Classic Hong Kong and Asian film screenings at the former Marigold Chinese Restaurant with snacks provided by local grocer Thai Kee IGA (March 20, 27, April 3).

• Sydney LNY Art Market – An arts and craft market featuring 20 Asian-Australian artists at Haymarket HQ (April 5).

• Panel Discussions – Engaging conversations on Asian-Australian representation, Chinatown’s future, and contemporary Asian cultures in Australian design (March 18, 25, April 1).

• Chinatown Street Food and Stories - A walking tour hosted by Local Sauce Tours offering a blend of history, culture, street food samples from local restaurants and insights into the impact of Chinese-Australians on the community, with a guide to the best spots to eat in Chinatown (March 19, 26, April 2).

Chinatown and Haymarket retailers will join in the festivities with exclusive offers and giveaways from restaurants and shops including Sweet Lu, Banchō and Covent Garden Hotel to name a few. Retailers at Market City Shopping Centre, Darling Square and Sussex Centre will all join forces for special precinct-only offers. Offers include:

• Specialty neon cocktails at Banchō, Sweet Lu, Old Town Hong Kong and Covent Garden Hotel
• Kura Kura Japanese - free Asahi beer when you spend $20 or more
• Spice World Hot Pot - free lamb belly/beef brisket dish when you dine (one per table)
• Haymarket Fried Skewer - complimentary dishes with minimum spend including:
  • Spend over $38 on skewers, add $1 for a fruit ice jelly or a bottle of drink
  • Spend over $48 on skewers, get a free fruit ice jelly or a rice cake skewer
  • Spend over $58 on skewers, get a potato tower or a special Sichuan spicy potato pasta for free
• Good Luck Hot Pot - complimentary lemon tea when you dine
• Super Emoji - buy one drink, get the second half price on select drinks

Neon Playground 2.0 is proudly funded by the NSW Government in association with the City of Sydney. 

The Minister for Transport and Roads, John Graham said: “The NSW Government is excited to support Neon Playground as it lights up the streets of Chinatown with art, music and food. Chinatown has long been a treasured food and cultural hub for Sydney, and it’s fantastic to see the current generation of business owners banding together to elevate the experience of visitors and locals."

"The NSW Government is working to bring Sydney back to life. One of the ways we’re doing that is by backing locals like the Haymarket Alliance, to find new ways to boost their local precincts.”

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said: “Haymarket is one of Sydney’s most iconic urban villages. It has long been recognised as a focal point for Asian food, cultures, and communities both locally and internationally. But the last few years have been really challenging for this important precinct, which is why it’s so important we all pull together and breathe new life into Chinatown.”

“Neon Playground 2.0 will showcase the very best of Chinatown with an immersive celebration of art, light, music and, most importantly, of community.” 

The festival is also supported by community sponsors Darling Square Community Bank, Market City, Thai Kee IGA, Darling Square, and Haymarket Chamber of Commerce. Neon Playground 2.0 is organised by the Haymarket Alliance.

For more information on the festival and a full schedule of events, please visit the official website neonplaygroundsyd.com.au or follow @NeonPlayground.
 

-ENDS-

For further information and interviews please contact 

The Cru - Georgie Baldock | 0418 790 467 | georgie@thecru.agency

About Haymarket Alliance

The Haymarket Alliance is a not-for-profit community organisation that was established to represent the broad spectrum of community, businesses and groups within the Haymarket precinct to bolster the local economy.

Members include Haymarket HQ, Haymarket Chamber of Commerce, Community Bank Darling Square, Soul of Chinatown and Revelism. Some of these core organisations delivered the inaugural Neon Playground Festival in 2022 as an informal collaboration. Members of the Alliance have also co-delivered the City of Sydney’s 2023, 2024 and 2025 Lunar New Year Festival Dixon Street activation.

Following the success of the original Neon Playground, the Alliance was formally established in 2023, and funded by Investment NSW as part of the Uptown Accelerator Program. The Alliance developed a consumer facing presence via ‘Visit Haymarket’, which is a social media-led platform dedicated to telling the stories of this fascinating precinct and promoting businesses across the district. The Alliance has also received funding support under Round One of the NSW Government's Community Improvement District Pilot Program.