Creation Stations Call Out

Creation Stations are a famously fabulous feature of Cairns Children's Festival. Every year, we invite artists, inventors, tinkerers, and creative thinkers to develop and facilitate an activity that encourages children to explore, play, discover and create.

In 2026, we continue with our regular Tanks Arts Centre Creation Stations on Sunday, but are also introducing Creation Stations to the Cairns Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) on Saturday. The new addition at CPAC gives artists a larger space to facilitate activities, and we are searching for extra creative ideas to activate these spaces.

Objective 1: Facilitation

Your activity should be largely self-managed, requiring only minimal assistance from venue personnel. Depending on the nature of your activity, you may wish to engage additional support personnel to ensure your station operates at its full potential. The experience should be intuitive, children and families should be able to step in and start participating with little direction. The joy lies in exploration, imagination, and discovery - your task is to lay the bread crumbs!

Objective 2: Innovation and Creativity

Cairns Children’s Festival celebrates fresh and imaginative experiences for young audiences. Your Creation Station should have a strong visual presence that captures attention and sparks curiosity. Can you transport children to magical, imaginary worlds? Could your space evolve through children’s interaction and creativity? Might it produce sound, music, or movement? Think playful, unexpected, and inspiring.

Objective 3: Accessibility and Sustainability

Your Creation Station should utilise readily available, family-friendly materials that inspire children to recreate aspects of the experience at home. Your station should be designed to accommodate high levels of participation and encourage children and their families to stay, explore, and engage with the space. As Council is unable to store materials post-event, please consider the lifecycle of your work: can elements be reused, repurposed, recycled, or reinstalled elsewhere?

Objective 4: Responsiveness to Site

Tanks Arts Centre

Your Creation Station should respond sensitively to the natural outdoor surroundings of the Tanks Arts Centre and Cairns Botanic Gardens*. Activities must be installed and dismantled without impacting the environment. Pegging or staking into the ground is not permitted due to irrigation systems.

*Creation Stations located within the Botanic Gardens cannot include plants, soil, or leaf matter to prevent the introduction of external biological risks to our beautiful garden stock.

Cairns Performing Arts Centre

Your Creation Station should be thoughtfully designed to activate both the indoor foyer and outdoor terrace areas of CPAC. The activity must be self-contained, safe, and considerate of the venue’s high foot traffic and shared public use. Installations should avoid obstructing entryways, emergency exits, or accessible pathways, and all materials must be suitable for the environment. The Creation Station should enhance the overall atmosphere of the venue, encouraging families to explore and engage.

Objective 5: Cairns Celebrates 150 Years (C150)

Your Creation Station should acknowledge one or all of the themes.

Recognising Cairns’ Past: Honouring the stories, traditions, and achievements that built the foundations of the city - from First Nations histories to pioneering industries and iconic moments.

Celebrating Cairns Today: Showcasing the vibrant, diverse and creative spirit of modern Cairns - its people, schools, communities, businesses and natural beauty.

Looking Forward to the Next 150 Years: Imagining the future we want to create - through innovation, sustainability, inclusion, and bold community vision.

Tanks applications & Site Info

CPAC applications & Site Info