Welcome to the Melbourne Arts Precinct
Come explore the Melbourne Arts Precinct over The Weekend. Whether you’re arriving by train, tram, bike or on foot, there’s so much to discover once you’re here.
Stretching from Fed Square across the river through Southbank and beyond, the arts precinct is home to more than 30 leading arts organisations and one of the highest concentrations of cultural activity anywhere in the world. This year’s program offers rare access to the architecture, collections and ideas shaping this transforming part of the city.
(All programs featured in this itinerary are listed at the bottom of this page.)
Start your Weekend by heading to the Koorie Heritage Trust to explore the design thinking behind this award-winning First Peoples cultural centre and discover stories of Country through art, design and architecture.
At Buxton Contemporary, discover Poetry Goes No Further Than Language, an exhibition revisiting 1980s Chinese conceptual art paired with a new commission by Darcey Bella Arnold. Nearby, the Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre, home of The Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet School, for a rare glimpse at the spaces, processes and people that support ballet beyond the stage.
Grab a coffee at Broadbean Organic Grocer before your Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation Tour and hear about this city-shaping project, which is building the The Fox: NGV Contemporary, new urban garden Laak Boorndap and upgrading the Arts Centre Melbourne Theatres Building. For an even deeper dive, join a talk at Arts Centre Melbourne exploring the refurbishment of the Ian Potter State Theatre, and what this means for the future of this treasured and iconic venue.
Pop into Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) to experience its striking corten steel architecture and current exhibition, or head across to the Melbourne Recital Centre to experience the building’s remarkable acoustics and architecture. You might even get the chance to perform on the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall stage as part of Choir 3006.
Across the river at Fed Square, head underground on a behind-the-scenes tour to explore the site’s layered history, including spaces usually hidden from view, then drop into Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio and experience one of the world’s most significant collections of electronic musical instruments.
Step inside ACMI’s Blackmagic Design Media Preservation Lab for a rare behind-the-scenes look at how analogue film, digital media and complex games are carefully preserved, followed by a screening that brings these works back to life.
Exploring a different part of the precinct, gently wind your way along Birrarung Marr and into the Botanic Gardens to Latrobe’s Cottage, the home of Victoria’s first Lieutenant-Governor. Then head into the Shrine of Remembrance for Stories in Stone and Landscape, or waltz through the doors of Government House to experience one of Victoria’s great nineteenth-century landmarks.
Wind up your Weekend with the screening of Modern Melbourne: John Denton at ACMI, a documentary series that features the expansive career of John Denton, one of Australia’s most influential architects.
Stay on for dinner or drinks in the precinct, catch a performance, or continue discovering the many galleries, gardens and public artworks woven through this extraordinary cultural landscape.
Get to know the Arts Precinct
To further explore Melbourne’s arts precinct, take a self-guided walk created by Lovell Chen and explore the arts precinct from a different perspective. With six stops you are invited to experience less-familiar views of the city and the institutions feeding its cultural life–from a secluded grass terrace at the Arts Centre Melbourne granting unencumbered 180 degree views to the bunkered performers’ entrance of a burrowed concert hall.
Or take yourself on your own adventure with Stroll the City—Designing Culture: Melbourne Arts Precinct. In this latest edition of Stroll the City, Open House Melbourne’s Executive Director and architect Tania Davidge takes you on a dive into the evolution and development of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. Hear from special guests about the architectural characteristics that have shaped this pocket of our city, and the significant project underway which will transform this iconic cultural precinct.
Take the time to explore the Melbourne Arts Precinct this Weekend!
Read more about the Melbourne Arts Precinct
