Parrtjima - this annual festival in the desert will blow your mind

Each April, Parrtjima turns the landscape around Alice Springs (Mparntwe) into a virtual canvas with large-scale light installations that adorn the ancient slopes of the MacDonnell Ranges.

This annual 10-night celebration of Aboriginal art and culture also features performances, talks, films, a meandering six-metre-high puppet, and the Buy Blak Market, as well as nightly projections against the 300-million-year-old MacDonnell Ranges. The next Parrtjima: A Festival in Light runs from 4 to 13 April 2025 and will feature the first open-air performance by Darwin Symphony Orchestra. It will be the milestone 10th edition of the festival, so expect an extra-special celebration. The theme of the upcoming festival is Timelessness, a nod to the enduring connection Aboriginal people have to culture, art and stories that span thousands of years. Here’s everything you need to know before you see it with your own eyes.

See nightly projections against the 300-million-year-old MacDonnell Ranges. (Image: Parrtjima)

What is Parrtjima?

Since its debut in 2016, visitors from across Australia have been drawn to this celebration of Aboriginal culture, which lights up the night sky above Alice Springs Desert Park (ASDP).

Witness empowering cultural performances. (Image: Parrtjima)

Each year the event celebrates the ways in which local artists experiment with styles and mediums. Artworks are curated from submissions from the area’s Aboriginal art centres and independent artists and assessed for cultural appropriateness by the Parrtjima Festival Reference Group, a network of senior Arrernte Elders. The creative team then incorporates the approved artworks into the festival’s program; the paintings are turned into large-scale illuminated installations that light up the desert.

The giant Arelhe Urrperle Erth Puppet wanders around the festival. (Image: Parrtjima)

Parrtjima (pronounced Par-Chee-ma) means ‘lighting up’ and conveys two meanings: physically illuminating an object with light and ‘lighting up’ as in to shed light and understanding on a subject. The festival is delivered by Northern Territory Major Events Company and produced by creative experience design studio Grumpy Sailor.

Engaging talks and performances are all part of the festival.

What’s the significance of Parrtjima?

Parrtjima Curator Rhoda Roberts AO says the festival offers visitors a unique opportunity to listen, learn and interconnect.

“This is a real opportunity to listen to and learn from some of Australia’s top First Nations voices, and that’s what the spirit of Parrtjima is all about. Listening, learning and interconnecting to better understand each other.”

Ms Roberts says that to this day the most wonderful things still happen out of interconnectedness.

“Interconnectedness blankets the wisdom of generations. At Parrtjima, we are reminded by our hosts, the Arrernte people, that culture is everything to experience and absorb.”

Parrtjima Curator Rhoda Roberts AO, speaks of the importance of the festival. (Image: Parrtjima)

What to expect at Parrtjima

The MacDonnell Ranges are usually majestic enough but imagine them brought to life with a spectacular light show that reflects the colours and movement of the planting seasons and kwatye (water).

MacDonnell Ranges lights up during the Parrtjima festival. (Image: Parrtjima)

The crowd favourite, Grounded, is a giant, seamless canvas of animated artworks by Central and Western Desert region artists brought to life using the latest technology. It is like a magical carpet spreading across the desert floor that echoes the sand ceremonies enacted seasonally in Aboriginal culture.

Grounded, is a giant, seamless canvas of animated artworks. (Image: Parrtjima)

One of the newest additions to the program is a large-scale light and art installation called Tjoritja Cockatoos, where you can hear the chatter of black cockatoos as Vanessa Inkamala’s art, in the style of the Hermannsburg School of watercolour, is brought to life through animation and sound.

Vanessa Inkamala’s art is brought to life through animation and sound in Tjoritja Cockatoos. (Image: Parrtjima)

Each year, the festival showcases live music by Aboriginal musicians, free films, performance art, and stories told and shared in and around Todd Mall in central Alice Springs and the Desert Park at the base of the West MacDonnell Ranges.

Arelhe Urrperle is a six-metre-high Erth puppet at Parrtjima. (Image: Steven Woodburn)

Children play with the props as part of the Arelhe Urrperle installation. (Image: Parrtjima)

Cultural workshops have also been hosted across the festival, allowing visitors to learn how to make a spear, discover the secrets of the ancient Arrernte language, or create their own artworks and sculptures.

Get up close to the light installations. (Image: Parrtjima)

How to travel to Alice Springs to see Parrtjima

Alice Springs is only a few hours’ flying time from most Australian capital cities. Qantas and Jetstar run daily direct flights from all capital cities (except Perth). Virgin also flies from most capital cities to Alice Springs.

The Stuart Highway is the main road link to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. From Alice Springs to Uluru it is 450 kilometres and Alice Springs to Darwin is 1,500 kilometres.

Gather around for a night filled with art, music and entertainment. (Image: Parrtjima)

Book a bed or pitch a tent in Alice Springs. From motel rooms, campgrounds and B&Bs to hotels and award-winning resorts, there is plenty of accommodation available to suit your budget and taste.

While the festival is free, you will need to register for entry to Parrtjima – A Festival in Light. Registration opens on November 15, 2024 with costed tickets for a special closing weekend performance by Darwin Symphony Orchestra — the first orchestral performance in Parrtjima’s decade-long history also released the same day.