8th edition of WAK Festival 2026 unveils calendar
- BT
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
KUCHING, 20 August 2026: WAK Festival 2026 is set to return this October with its biggest and most diverse programme yet, transforming Kuching into a month-long celebration of arts, culture and lifestyle from October 1 to 31, 2026. The 8th edition of WAK Festival was officially unveiled today through its 2026 Calendar Reveal, marking the beginning of the festival journey towards an extraordinary October for Kuching.
With the theme “SHOOTS”, this year’s festival celebrates the growth that follows strong roots —representing fresh ideas, emerging talents, meaningful collaborations and a rejuvenated creative community continuing to shape Sarawak’s cultural landscape. WAK Festival 2026 will feature an impressive 83 unique events and 440 daily event occurrences, presented by 49 collaborators across 62 venues throughout Kuching. The programme spans 14 genres, encompassing arts, music, culture, comedy, theatre, food, film, sports, wellness, lifestyle and more.
“This year marks the 8th edition of WAK Festival, a festival that began here in Kuching in 2017 with a simple but powerful idea: to bring our communities together and give our creative talents a platform to be seen, heard and celebrated. Eight editions later, look at how far it has come,” enthused Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah. “There is quite literally something for everyone. And this is what makes the WAK Festival special. It is not simply an event that people attend. It is a platform that people participate in. It belongs to the community.”
The WAK Festival 2026 Calendar was unveiled earlier today at tHe Spring Shopping Mall in Kuching, which also showcased a number of WAK 2026’s collaborators and partners, including Canon, Front Row, Annie Kolo Mee, Kuching Love Book Association, Hemisphere Wellness, Klimb Zone, Sarawak Society for the Deaf, The Upcycle Collective, Community Mental Health Centre (Mentari Petra Jaya), Borneo Glamping, Senaman Cergas 1Kenyalang 2026 and Grit Event Management.
Also present at today’s event, Deputy Minister for Tourism Sarawak, Datuk Sebastian Ting, Deputy Minister for Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, Datuk Snowdan Lawan, Chairman of Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), Dato Dennis Ngau, Chairman of the Padawan Municipal Council, Tan Kai and the Director of Commission of the City of Kuching North, Ramzi bin Abdillah.
Following the 2025 theme “ROOTS”, which celebrated the heritage and foundations of Sarawak’s creative identity, “SHOOTS” represents the next stage of growth. The theme reflects WAK Festival’s continuing commitment to nurturing emerging talents, encouraging experimentation, creating opportunities for collaboration and giving the creative community a platform to develop new ideas.
The youthful energy of WAK — youthful not merely in age, but in spirit — continues to be one of its defining characteristics. It can be seen in the musicians, artists, comedians, performers, designers, producers, storytellers and young organisers who continue to bring new perspectives and ideas to the festival.
The enduring spirit of WAK Festival is captured in its guiding philosophy: “By the Community, For the Community.” Every artist who performs, every venue that participates, every partner that contributes, every volunteer who helps and every audience member who attends becomes part of the WAK story.
“This October, WAK will spread across 62 venues, turning different corners of Kuching into stages, galleries, gathering places and spaces for discovery. Across these spaces, audiences will experience 14 different genres, from music and comedy to visual arts, performance, culture, food, lifestyle and much more. That diversity is important because WAK has always spurred that creativity should remain exciting and spontaneous,” remarked WAK Festival Director, Donald Tan.
As the Festival Directors noted, the collective ownership of WAK represents one of its greatest achievements. Eight editions into its Kuching journey, WAK Festival continues to evolve, experiment and surprise — with its roots firmly established and its shoots continuing to grow.
This October, Kuching is WAKing up again.
The WAK Festival 2026 Calendar Programme is now available for audiences to explore and plan their October around. Get your copy here: https://wakfestival.com/
