Here’s our top 6 Family Friendly Events at this year’s RISING which will be on from June 1st to June 16th 2024.
RISING is for everyone. From visual art, performance and public art installations to live music and parties, we have all kinds of experiences for you to enjoy whatever you’re into.
1. The Blak Finite - Fed Square - Sat 1st to 16th June - FREE
The Blak Infinite is a site for sharing First Peoples connections to the cosmos, political constellations and futures.
Immersive nighttime projections by Tarryn Love (Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong) will light up each evening in the square, sharing stories of Sky Country and the cosmos, and transporting you into celestial knowledge. Tony Albert's (Girramay, Yidinyji and Kuku Yalanji) large-scale artwork BEAM ME UP The Art of Abduction immerses us in themes of alienation, belonging, and place through colourful installations and a children's program.
2. The Rivers Sing - Melbourne - Sunset - Sat 1st to 16th June - FREE
In 2021, The Rivers Sing wound its way down the Birrarung and Maribyrnong rivers over six weeks. Created by Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer and soprano Deborah Cheetham, with artists Byron J Scullin and Thomas Supple, it was a large-scale audio work that sang out across the rivers, welcoming in the evening at each stop.
The large-scale audio artwork laps at the city’s riverbanks. RISING reprises its nightly call to the city.
3. Beings - Universal Beings - ACMI - Sat 1st to 16th June - TICKETED
Climb down the ACMI stairs to find a procession of fantastical beings. Go up close and wave hello. The more you move, the stranger and more excited their responses become. Jump dance and play to bring the artworks to life. Threy’re digital chameleons who morph between textures from kaleidoscopic fur to molten lava into water molecules and miscellaneous consistencies.
Meet curious characters hatched from code and the human imagination.
4. Melbourne Out Loud - MELBOURNE OUT LOUD - Victoria Gallery, State Library Victoria - FREE
If there was ever a photographer to take Melbourne’s portrait, it was Rennie Ellis. Rennie had an uncanny ability to slip into all kinds of social circles and his photographs are the ultimate story of life on the town.
Melbourne Out Loud is a collection of iconic, unseen and everyday photographs from one of our greatest chroniclers. A celebration of going out, being seen and being yourself. Don't miss this special exhibition at State Library Victoria.
5. Shouse: Communitas - St Paul's Cathedral - Sat 15 June - FREE*
Communitas is a mass-musicking event for all. Led by Melbourne dance-floor mavericks, SHOUSE, it’s a rapturous coming together: many people, many voices, many hands, making spontaneous music. There’s no audience, no auditions. Everyone’s in the band—including you.
Unite with hundreds of music lovers in St Paul’s Cathedral for a communal outpouring of song led by SHOUSE—Melbourne’s worldwide party-starters.
60 minutes * Register to take part
6. First Peoples Melbourne Art Trams 2024 - Melbourne - Wed 12 June - FREE
First Peoples Melbourne Art Trams are re-wrapped and ready to move. This year, tribute trams featuring works from trailblazing artists Destiny Deacon and Ellen José, will roll out alongside a fleet of new pieces. Jarra Karalinar Steel (Boonwurrung/Wemba Wemba) returns to curate the program for the last time. The selections are a movable tapestry of mediums, styles of and ideas—a celebration of the breadth and dynamism of First Peoples expression enriching the city.
A new fleet of First Peoples Melbourne Art Trams crisscross the city with creative visions past and present.
Search for Family Friendly and Free events to find kid friendly events to attend.