Noisy, the music and culture agency born out of youth nightlife publisher LINES has launched Petting Zoo, a new day festival that signals a major step in its expansion into experiential events.
The move marks a significant diversification in noisy’s business model, strengthening its position as a culture-driven agency with both audience insight and now large-scale event IP.
Noisy represents LINES exclusively, which has grown to become the largest youth nightlife publisher in Australia, alongside Whatslively.
Between the platforms, they have become influential channels for Gen Z music discovery, nightlife behaviour and event demand.
With LINES now working across every major event and festival in Australia, noisy’s progression into an experiential operator is a natural extension of how deeply the business is already embedded in youth culture.
“A chance to show the full range of what we can do”
Harry Wilson, Managing Director of noisy and Co-founder of Petting Zoo, said the festival is both a creative and strategic leap.
“Petting Zoo gives us a chance to show the full range of what we can do. We built noisy on audience insight and cultural credibility, and this festival takes that thinking into a real-world experience at scale. We are also exploring new ways for brands to show up with ideas that go far beyond putting a logo on a stage. This is a moment to prove how creative and original noisy, LINES, and Petting Zoo can be.”
Set to debut Saturday, 10 January 2026, Petting Zoo will transform the University of Sydney car park into a multi-stage, colour-heavy playground designed for how Gen Z consumes festivals.
The precinct will include:
- immersive sound pockets
- unexpected live moments
- curated production
- global and local talent
- exclusive Australian debuts
- a strong focus on emerging house artists
All within minutes of Sydney’s CBD.
A first for Australian festivals: Arrive By ticketing
In a notable innovation, Petting Zoo will debut an Arrive By ticketing model that rewards festival-goers who commit to arriving before a set time.
The approach is designed to maintain energy throughout the whole program, encourage early-day attendance and support artist discovery. Standard Arrive Anytime tickets will also be available.
The launch of Petting Zoo strengthens noisy and LINES’ evolution into a business that blends:
- audience intelligence
- content distribution
- and now, real-world cultural experience
It also gives the agency ownership of the cultural products it has traditionally helped shape from the outside, adding a new commercial dimension to its ecosystem.