It’s been a challenging year for many in Sydney, with cost-of-living pressures and soaring rents forcing a rethink of how people engage with the city and its culture. In short: more people spending more time on the couch, less time out and about.

With that in mind, Sydney Festival 2025 has to be a “robust deal,” says its Artistic Director, Olivia Ansell.

“Cost of living is impacting our community. We’ve got the lowest economic growth since the late 90s, and to ensure that this doesn’t impact our arts and culture sector, and who can afford to attend, we are offering $49 tickets to celebrate our 49th year.”

At that price point, Ansell hopes that even the most couch-bound of us will be tempted into experiencing some of the festival’s 130+ events, 19 world premieres, and 15 Australian premieres. If that doesn’t do it, perhaps the 17 nights of free live music and 44 free events will.

Ansell’s third and final year as Artistic Director (she moves to Canada early next year to helm Toronto’s Luminato Festival) is about “shining a light on the artists...