After budget cuts and security delays, Tel Aviv’s white night festival returns

The beloved cultural celebration makes its comeback on August 28 with dozens of performances and free events across Israel’s cultural capital.

Picture this: Rothschild Boulevard transforms into an open-air concert hall, centuries-old Jaffa alleyways pulse with music, and families spread blankets under the stars to watch films. After being canceled in 2024 due to budget constraints and postponed from its original June 2025 date because of security concerns, Tel Aviv’s beloved White Night festival is making its highly anticipated return on Thursday, August 28.

The annual cultural celebration, which transforms Israel’s cultural capital into an all-night arts playground, will feature dozens of performances, exhibitions, tours, and activities across multiple neighborhoods from evening until dawn.

Why this matters now

Since 2003, when UNESCO declared Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus architecture a World Heritage Site, white night has been the annual celebration of “The White City.” The event originally launched in Paris in 2001, with Tel Aviv importing the concept to commemorate its UNESCO recognition.

After disruptions in recent years – COVID cancellations, budget cuts in 2024, and the June 2025 postponement due to security concerns – this year’s festival represents both a return to tradition and an adaptation to current realities. Municipal organizers have emphasized that this year’s celebration carries additional meaning as “a moment of connection, unity and hope in the heart of a complex reality.”

The format remains the same: hundreds of music, cinema, theater, dance, installation, exhibition, and party events in a single night, plus special municipal ordinances allowing restaurants to stay open all night, with free or reduced-price admission to museums and cultural institutions.

Must-see highlights

Hatikva neighborhood celebrates 90 years

The historic southeast Tel Aviv neighborhood is marking nine decades with an evening of community culture. Local cafes and restaurants will participate with special tastings, while an open dancing evening will take place in Gan Hatikva Park. The celebrations will blend authentic street culture with professional performances, featuring acclaimed singer Shlomi Saranga among the performers.

Cinematheque under the stars

Tel Aviv Cinematheque will host outdoor film screenings in their courtyard, featuring Israeli cinema classics. The outdoor screenings are free with no advance registration required, offering families and film lovers a chance to watch movies under the open sky in one of the city’s premier cultural venues.

Cultural district transformations

Bialik Square: Cultural activities and nighttime tours of nearby historic sites will transform this literary and cultural hub into an evening destination.

Habima Square: Light installations and street performances will animate the area around the national theater, with outdoor entertainment continuing late into the night.

Rothschild Boulevard: The iconic tree-lined avenue will host various cultural activities, maintaining its status as one of white night’s central arteries.

Beyond the main events

The festival extends far beyond its marquee attractions. Dozens of additional street performances, late-night dancing at Gordon Beach, bustling port parties, and artistic installations in Jaffa and developing neighborhoods create a citywide cultural happening.

The municipality has emphasized that most events remain free or are offered at symbolic prices, staying true to white night’s mission of making culture accessible to all residents and visitors.

Getting there and navigating the night

White night typically attracts hundreds of thousands of participants, creating significant crowds throughout central Tel Aviv. The municipality strongly recommends using public transportation, with extended service planned for the Red Line light rail and additional bus routes connecting major venues.

Expect street closures around major cultural sites and popular venues. Multiple municipal parking facilities will remain open, including at exhibition grounds and various locations throughout the city.

A tradition restored

After years of “will it happen or won’t it,” White Night 2025 feels less like a scheduled event and more like a cultural resurrection. The festival that once drew such massive crowds it occasionally overwhelmed the city’s infrastructure returns in a leaner, perhaps more authentic form.

There’s something poetic about a celebration that refuses to die, even when budgets disappear and rockets fall. Tel Aviv has always been a city that improvises, adapts, and keeps the party going no matter what. This year’s White Night embodies that spirit perfectly – not the polished mega-production of flush times, but something scrappier and more essential.

The magic of White Night was never really about the scale anyway. It was about the moment when rigid boundaries dissolve – between high and low culture, between neighborhoods, between strangers sharing a blanket on Rothschild Boulevard at 2 AM. It was about a city briefly becoming what it always promised to be: a place where anything could happen.

When dawn breaks over the Mediterranean on August 29 and the last DJ finally unplugs, White Night 2025 will have proven something important: that some traditions are too vital to stay buried, and some cities too alive to let their cultural heartbeat skip more than a few beats.

Complete event schedules and detailed venue information are available on the Tel Aviv Municipality website. All events are subject to change based on security considerations.

Essential info

Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025

Time: Evening through dawn

Cost: Most events free or at symbolic prices

Scale: Dozens of events across multiple neighborhoods

Information: Full details available on Tel Aviv Municipality website

Maariv contributed to this report.