Welcome to the Melbourne Arts Precinct

Come explore the Melbourne Arts Precinct over The Weekend! Whether you’re catching the train or tram, biking along the river or driving in, there’s so much to do once you’re here.

The Melbourne Arts Precinct has a rich cultural history and has been an important gathering place for Wurundjeri and visiting Kulin Nations for millennia. Today, the Precinct stretches from Fed Square through to Southbank and beyond and is home to many of Melbourne’s iconic arts and cultural institutions.

Make the most of The Weekend with a head start on Friday. Take the City Image Tour to experience the city through sculpture and art. Guided by an artist, you’ll pass through Melbournes old and new before finishing at the kinetic Federation Bells by Hasell and McLachlan.

If you’re near Birrarung Marr, check out Raise the Roof, a series of portraits presenting the stories of footy fans who have been at risk of or experienced homelessness.

On Saturday, grab a coffee at Protagonist—or try a delicious sticky chai to warm up!—and meet by the curled steel waves of Inge King’s Forward Surge for the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation tour. Walking around the area, you’ll get an overview of the exciting new projects coming up, including the new urban garden Laak Boorndap, upgrades to Arts Centre Melbourne, and the new contemporary art and design gallery, The Fox: NGV Contemporary.

Finishing up at the NGV garden, you can head over to explore the Melbourne Recital Centre. View the beautiful hoop pine timber walls of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, hear about the building’s design from the architects and acousticians, or experience a new side of electronic music with this year’s artist-in-residence Robin Fox.

Next door, explore the Southbank Theatre, home of the Melbourne Theatre Company, which will have open access on Saturday and self-guided backstage tours on Sunday.

Pop into Buxton Contemporary to see the latest exhibition The Veil. Curated by Hannah Presley, the exhibition explores the otherworldly and the spiritual through photography, film, weaving, experimental printmaking and kinetic sculpture.

Head to the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art (ACCA) for a curatorial viewing of the current exhibition, Five Acts of Love. There will also be an Art in Focus tour on Sunday.

Across the river you can explore the Koorie Heritage Trust (KHT)’s Birrarung Building. Join a tour with the architectural team to discover what’s behind the cultural motifs and peek inside the Collection Store.

At ACMI, go behind the scenes and see what goes into preserving analogue, time-based media,and digital and complex software-based games and artefacts. There will also be a documentary on Melbourne’s Underground Rail Loop, and a compilation of home movies inviting you to reflect on nostalgia and the past.

On Sunday, start by the Birrarung at the vaults of Federation Wharf and hear about its past and transformation by Six Degrees Architects, or dive into Fed Square’s history—literally—with an underground behind-the-scenes tour.

There’s also the chance to Get to Know the Greenline Project. Meet at the Greenline Project Hub at Fed Square and walk through Birrarung Marr towards Enterprize Park to hear about urban renewal, ecological restoration and cultural heritage.

Head back to ACMI to wind up your arvo with a screening of Modern Melbourne. This year’s episode features Greg Burgess, highlighting his community-focused approach to design. Stick around for a Q&A with Heritage Council Victoria Chair Professor Philip Goad after the screening.

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.

Pick up a copy of the printed program guide at the Open House Melbourne Info Hub (located in front of the Town Hall) or download your copy here.

Or take yourself on your own adventure with the brand-new 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.

And to top off your Weekend in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, take a small group tour of La Trobe’s Cottage, guided by experts from the National Trust, or waltz through the doors of Government House’s iconic ballroom. Meet some of your favourite ABC personalities at their state-of-the-art ABC Southbank studio or head over to the Shrine of Remembrance and discover the designs that could have been for Victoria’s war memorial.

Listen to Stroll the City: Melbourne Arts Precinct (live from 26 July)

Melbourne Arts Precinct Program

Get all the latest updates on what’s happening at the Melbourne Arts Precinct and Fed Square and enjoy the Weekend!

Self Guided Tour, Live Performance, Talk/Presentation, Exhibition
ABC Southbank

Saturday 26 July

(1) A striking contemporary building with angular, rust-coloured walls glowing in warm light during dusk. The structure features sharp geometric forms and an undercroft leading to a courtyard, evoking a bold, sculptural presence. The surrounding area is open and unpaved, enhancing the building's dramatic silhouette. (2) Three people, including the artist Kim Ah Sam, engage in a discussion while examining a large, abstract woven textile artwork mounted on a dark wall. The piece, titled 'Our journey is our story' 2024 is organic in shape, with colourful, intricate patterns, open spaces and layers of depth. The viewers appear focused and animated, highlighting the nuanced storytelling which features in Ah Sam's work. (3) A diverse group of people interact and observe a wall filled with mixed-media artworks in a gallery space. The wall displays an eclectic grid of drawings, paintings, and text on sourced mining maps, with vibrant colours and abstract forms. The atmosphere is lively and socials.
Site Tour, Exhibition, Open Access
ACCA: Five Acts of Love Curatorial Viewing

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

Film, Building Tour
ACMI Tours and Collection screenings

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

A women wearing a white nightdress crouches in a dark room, illuminated by a beam of light.
Open Access, Exhibition, Film
Buxton Contemporary: The Veil

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July

(1) City Image Tour guide Anthony McInneny, dressed in a blue shirt, joins two female participants at the Flinders Street entrance of the Australian Centre of the Moving Image to begin the walking tour. Each descends the entrance staircase towards Fllinders Street. (2) City Image Tour guide Anthony McInnney, dressed in a blue shirt, assistance a child to make a frottage, or rubbing, with paper and wax crayon, of the embossed and etched surface of the public artwork Nearamnew that is embedded and integrated into the stone paving of Federation Square. We are looking eastward from the Swanston Street end of Fed Square towards the interior of the public square. (3) A view of the 39 upturned bronze cast bells that sit on top of tall, thin aluminium plinths to make the musical instrument sculpture that is Federation Bells, situated in Birrarung Marr. The City Image Tour guide, Anthony McInneny, dressed in a blue shirt, is photographing the sculptural instrument, Federation Bells. (4) Looking westward from the Princess Bridge, down the Yarra River and along the south bank, we can see Hamer Hall, designed by architect Roy Grounds in 1982 and renovated in 2012 by ARM architects, and the Southgate precinct, designed by DCM in 1992. Crossing the Yarra River is the Evan Walker Bridge, designed by architets Cocks Carmichael and Whitford, and in the background on the horizon is the Rialto Towers, that were the tallest building in Melbourne when it opened in 1986. (5) One of the ten stainless steel tube sculptures of figures that make the sculpture The Travellers on the Sandridge Bridge. This figure, The Running Couple, is of a man and a woman holding hands, and they represent refugees who fled to Australia from 1856 to 2005. We are looking up at the Running Couple from the Sandridge Bridge with the city skyline in the background
Walking Tour
City Image Tour

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

Open House Melbourne Event, Talk/Presentation
Designing with Country

Wednesday 23 July

Fed Square facade in the afternoon sun
Building Tour, Walking Tour
Fed Square: Behind-the-Scenes

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

1. Evening shot of Federation Wharf from across the Yarra, skyline of Federation square and the city visible in the background, the bluestone Vaults warm light shining among the city lights
Site Tour
Federation Wharf: From Forgotten Vaults to Riverside Life

Sunday 27 July

Roof top garden of the Greenline Hub
Open Access, Walking Tour
Get to Know the Greenline Project

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

Rows of colourful flowers looking up to large white 19th century building with the Governor's golden standard flying from the tower.
Open Access, Self Guided Tour, Exhibition
Government House

Saturday 26 July

Open Access, Building Tour, Exhibition
Koorie Heritage Trust—Birrarung Building

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

A white painted house with blue open shutters and spring-like garden.
Building Tour
La Trobe’s Cottage

Sunday 27 July

Walking Tour, Self Guided Tour
Stroll the City—Designing Culture: Melbourne Arts Precinct

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

An aerial view from the Yarra River of the Melbourne Arts Precinct, showing the new garden extending from Hamer Hall to the new The Fox: NGV Contemporary
Walking Tour
Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation Tour

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

Empty seats inside the Elisabeth Murdoch hall viewed from the stage. There is a piano on the left hand side with wood paneling on the walls and roof.
Open Access, Building Tour, Self Guided Tour
Melbourne Recital Centre

Saturday 26 July

Open House Melbourne Event, Film
Modern Melbourne Premiere: Greg Burgess

Sunday 27 July

Exhibition, Open Access
Raise the Roof

Friday 25 July, Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

Image (1) Photograph of a modern black building with white piping that creates geometric shapes. It is daytime and the sky is blue, and there are trees and plants and a few cars near the building. There is a large three dimensional black and white sign that says Southbank Theatre, home of Melbourne Theatre Company. Image (2) Photograph of a small group of diverse people standing in a loading dock area. There are road cases, crates and ladders. They are looking at the messages and names that have been written on the walls. Image (3) Photograph of a small tour group of diverse people walking down the stairs inside a theatre auditorium. There are rows of empty seats and the walls are lit with purple, blue and green lights that form the shape of words. Image (4) Photograph of a small tour group of diverse people walking across a large space with black floors. They are backstage and behind them is the rear side of a theatre set. Image (5) Photograph of a small tour group of diverse people including adults and children standing in a corridor and looking into a small room. We cannot see into the room. The sign on the door of the room says Dressing Room and the name of the actor using the room. The door is pink.
Open Access, Building Tour, Talk/Presentation
Southbank Theatre: Home of Melbourne Theatre Company

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July

1) A collage of six black-and-white architectural renderings showcases alternative designs for Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. The concepts include fortress-like structures, a neoclassical monument with a winged statue, a triumphal arch and a towering obelisk. Each reflects unique artistic interpretations of war commemoration and memorial architecture. 2) The 'Designing Remembrance' exhibition space with exposed brick walls and dim lighting features. A large illuminated panel with the title stands in the foreground. Glass display cases contain mannequin dressed in a waistcoat with tools and an open book. Framed architectural drawings and photographs line the walls, showcasing historical memorial designs.
Talk/Presentation, Building Tour, Exhibition
The Shrine Reimagined: Exploring Alternate Visions for Victoria's War Memorial

Saturday 26 July, Sunday 27 July