Wide Open Space (WOS) is a music, arts and culture festival in Central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It has taken place annually from 2009 to 2018, and then in 2021. It features well-known national acts as well as emerging artists from the region,[1] It takes place over three days at the Ross River Resort in the McDonnell Ranges, around east of Alice Springs.[2] Around 1500 people attend the festival each time.[3] [4]
The festival is known for its unusual programming, such as pairing a local choir, Alice Sings, with the famous Australian rock band Regurgitator to perform their song "Song Formally Known As" in 2018,[5] while in 2017 jazz/funk band Hiatus Kaiyote invited Kardajala Kirri-darra (Sandhill Women) to sing with them.[6]
Vice suggested in 2015 that WOS was perhaps "Australia’s best-kept festival secret", calling the location "breathtaking" and the festival an "honest, real and bullshit-free Central Desert experience".[7]
Its artistic director Scott Large sees the festival as a "community-generated event that wanted to promote and foster local talent" which helps keep Indigenous languages alive.[8]