Melbourne’s Festival
Melbourne Festival is one of Australia’s premier arts events. Heralded for its global
reach and its importance to Australian and internationally recognised artists, the
Festival’s program focuses on the contemporary trends in all art-forms and typically
brings together over 600 artists to Melbourne each October.
The Festival has a diverse history that has consistently evolved to reflect and
stimulate the Australian arts scene, while providing audiences with direct exposure
to internationally acclaimed artists whose work would otherwise not be seen in
Australia. It also provides a platform for Australian work that is strengthened
creatively by the context of a major international festival. As such it occupies a
prominent position within Australia’s artistic and cultural events calendar.
Melbourne Festival significantly contributes to the culture of Melbourne, Victoria
and Australia. It presents a range of free and low cost events, as well as paid
performances, for the benefit of a wide and diverse audience.
With a successful reputation and a twenty five year track record, Melbourne
Festival is well placed in the future to build stakeholder and corporate support,
broaden and increase its audiences, expand its artistic program and grow its box
office.
The Festival organisation is led jointly by the Executive Director and Artistic
Director, each of whom reports directly to the Melbourne Festival Board of
Directors. There are 25 full-time permanent staff working across the departments,
with up to 80 additional staff contracted across various supporting roles
throughout the year.
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