Mayoral Column – Celebrating our vibrant City

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

In the Autumn edition of Our Place which landed in letterboxes across the City recently, I reflect on the incredible vibrancy and creativity of the Penrith community. It’s so great to see the City alive with performances, celebrations, art and music!

You won’t want to miss the inaugural Penrith After Dark event on Saturday 2 May. From 5pm to 10pm, Penrith CBD promises to come alive for a very special evening of outdoor dining, live entertainment and late-night fun at this newest community event.

Meet up with family and friends and enjoy the best of Penrith's eateries at our open-air event in Memory Park, High Street and Woodriff Street. You’ll also be supporting our fantastic local businesses and artists.

Next week, we also have the Sydney Comedy Festival back in town. On 21 April the ever-popular Sydney Comedy Festival Gala will kick off a month of local and international performances at The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.

To add to the vibrancy and creativity, the 25th Biennale of Sydney is underway at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery – one of only 5 venues in NSW exhibiting this prestigious, international art event.

Contemporary artworks by international and Australian artists are on display until 14 June, with the Biennale expected to attract at least 50,000 visitors to Penrith.

Having world class venues like The Joan and Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery makes events like these possible.

They are guided by Penrith City Council’s award-winning We Create Penrith: Cultural Strategy and Action Plan 2024-28. This important work is grounded in community feedback and has also delivered new library collections, colourful murals and multicultural events and contributed to the growing popularity of the Real Festival.

Penrith After Dark delivers on OPEN: Penrith and St Marys 24-Hour Economy Strategy 2025-2029. Curated by Council, the event is funded through the Permit Plug Play Pilot program, a NSW Government initiative to support street activations and events in our city centres.

For more information visit penrith.city/penrithafterdark, thejoan.com.au and penrithregionalgallery.com.au.

Cr Todd Carney
Mayor of Penrith

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Wednesday, 15 April 2026.