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White Night, bigger, brighter 2017

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February 18 heralds the return of one of Melbourne’s favourite events, White Night.

Now in its fifth year year, this celebration of light and art will to transform Melbourne’s major cultural institutions, public spaces, gardens, city streets, landmark buildings and laneways into a glorious display of light, colour and art for twelve hours (7pm to 7am).

Make sure you’ve got your comfy steppers on, and a fully charged camera so you don’t miss out on any of this all-night party action featuring performance illuminations, art installations and music all through the CBD, including in and on some of Melbourne’s most iconic spaces like Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, Melbourne Town Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, State Library Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Museum and ACMI.

Some of the ‘must-dos’ that we’ve got marked down, including some gems slightly outside of the always-busy CBD hub include:

Purple Rain (Pierre Ardouvin, Lonsdale Street)
French article Pierre Ardouve’s visual interpretation of the film of the same name, starring the late great Prince. Previously featured in 2014 White Night, this visual and sound installation is created to inspire White-Nighters to pick up a clear umbrella, and meander through a lavender downpour.

Get along to this and pay your homage to the late, great artist, Prince, but remember to have fun, after all, we only want to see you laughing in the purple rain…..

Lonsdale Lounge Cinema (Lonsdale Street)
A fab way to step out of the craziness and recharge for an hour or so, this precinct offers comfy seating to kick back and take in a short film, clip, documentary or animation. If you are headed there with the family, there is kid-friendly content showing between 7-11pm, with more mature material screening from 11pm onwards. The full schedule will go live on the White Night website, from 1 February.

Swing City (Collins Street, between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets)
Taking White Night engagement to an entirely new level, Swing City will bring Collins Street alive with an all-night dancing marathon open to everyone, no matter their dancing experience, plus a program of professional dancing displays. The whole section of the street will be lined with cars and music from the 30s, 40s and 50s, so White-Nighters will be transported back in time for a fully immersed interactive, all-night experience.

Love this Way (Alexandra Gardens)
A beautiful concept down by the Yarra in Alexandra Gardens, Love this Way is a light display celebrating, well, LOVE. Designed to take White-Nighters on neon journey to discover love, through an exploration of open air, romance themed light, it sounds like it will offer up some warm fuzzy feelings and brilliant Instagram ops. Who knows, you may actually discover love whilst you are out and about… it’s a bit cute after all.

Get in and grab an early dinner before hitting the streets for some insane fun, we recommend Gaylords Indian on Tattersalls Lane in the CBD.

Where: In and around Melbourne city
When: Saturday Saturday, 18 February, 7pm-7am
More information: Check out their website

Moomba Festival – 2017

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Every March Labour Day long weekend Melbourne comes alive for four colorful days with over a million visitors celebrating all the fun of Moomba Festival.

What is Moomba… it’s basically a celebration of everything Melbourne, of diversity, the arts, sports and music kicked off on the Friday and wrapped up on the Monday holiday with a super-cool parade and fireworks. Intense, serious, fun.

You can watch world-class watersport competitions along the Yarra, groove to a silent disco, send the kids along to karaoke or a cooking class, head along to an Afro-Brazilian music workshop or take in a local band in the Main Arena… the options are pretty much endless.

And the bonus… all the events are free.

There are some must-see events which are synonymous with Moomba like:

Birdman Rally (Sunday, 12 noon)
Basically a bunch of people create fun, bird, plane or otherwise winged costumes and jump off a pier into the Yarra, to raise money for a good cause.

Moomba Parade (Monday, 10.30am)
Meandering down St Kilda Road, this parade is a celebration of everything Melbourne. Community groups create and build their own brilliant, kooky floats, bands march and play, twirlers twirl, kids sing and everyone has a fantastic time. The crowd will also get to see the recently crowned King and Queen of Moomba as they wave to their Melburnian subjects.

Watersports Competition
If you love a good display of watersport prowess, grab a rug, some picnic goodies (or something for the barbeque if you are early enough to snag one on the ‘Tan side of the river..) and park yourself along the banks for the Yarra for four days of men’s and women’s competitive skiing and wakeboarding.

Music in the Main Arena
Over the four days, this free lineup includes a Battle of the Bands, Young Vincent, British India, Tim Rogers and the Bamboos and loads more, as well as silent discos and a carnival to end all carnivals (tickets do need to be purchased for the rides).

Where: Mostly along the banks of the Yarra River
When: 11-14th March, 2017
More information: Check out their website.

Photo credit: kuehdi / Shutterstock, Inc.

Dolly & WKM do Midsumma

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We Know Melbourne is proud to partner with iconic Melbourne entertainer and Midsumma Lifetime Member, Dolly Diamond to offer the We Know Melbourne community an exclusive backstage pass to all the biggest and best events from the 2017 Midsumma Festival including the main events and all sorts of brilliant performance pieces that you might have missed otherwise!

Kicking off this Sunday, 15 January at Carnival and T Dance and taking us through to Pride March on the 29th, you’ll go behind the scenes of this premier event, see exciting backstage exclusives, get a sneak peak of Midsumma’s best performances (including Dolly’s own shows ‘Bl*ankety Bl*anks‘ and ‘Piano Barre‘) and enjoy everything that this colourful festival has to offer.

Keep an eye out on our Instagram page for all the best bits, maybe the odd freebie, and tag us in some of your favourite Midsumma highlights (keep it clean kids..) #weknowmelbourne #midsumma 

For more information about events during Midsumma Festival, check out their website here.

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Dolly Diamond Midsumma Interview

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We recently took some time to chat to one of the stars of Midsumma Festival, recently awarded lifetime member Dolly Diamond about her upcoming show ‘Bl*ankety Bl*anks’ and to find out just why Midsumma continues to be one Melbourne’s most popular festivals.                                                                   

  1. You’ve called Australia home since 2009, what is it about Melbourne you love the most?  It’s always felt like home from the moment I arrived. It’s the people that make this city what it is, they’re warm & welcoming. Whenever there’s a festival on and it feels like there’s a new one happening every 20 minutes this city turns it on big time.
  1. In 2014 you were awarded a lifetime member of Midsumma Festival because of your long-running involvement with the organisation – what’s your favourite parts of this festival and what do you think keeps people coming back and supporting in increasing numbers year to year? My first Aussie gig was part of Midsumma at Chapel Off Chapel in 2003. The show was called “Songs that I like and shows that I didn’t get”, the title was too long to print on the ticket. Midsumma have been really good to me over the years and I’ve enjoyed every show I’ve done with them. They’re inclusive and diverse in what they present and I think people like that mixed bag of entertainment, I know I do.
  1. Can you describe your ideal way to get a full Midsumma Festival experience? I think it’s the same with any festival, pick a few of your favorites and then take a stab in the dark…who doesn’t like that every now and then.
  1. Tell us about your upcoming Midsumma show Bl*nkety Bl*nks? I’ve always been a fan of the show, you never know what you’re going to get from the contestants or the various celebrities. I can think on my feet pretty quickly when it comes to improvising, so this is right up my alley. I’m so excited to reveal some of the famous/infamous names taking part but not yet….I’m hoping for a few brainless celebrity responses.
  1. You’ve also been appointed as the Artistic Director of the 2017 Melbourne Cabaret Festival (congratulations), where do you see this festival going in 2017, how do you want to make your mark on this iconic event? Well I’d like it to be a financial success, that’s really important or it won’t be able to continue. I guess the best way for that to happen is to try and find new and interesting acts (I’m trawling the bars as we speak) and I also want to try and get some familiar names from the cabaret scene to break out of their comfort zone and try something new.
  1. With so many performing arts festivals in Melbourne (Comedy, Fringe, Cabaret and now the recently launched Musical Theatre Festival to name a few) why do you think Melbourne keeps successfully sustaining more and more support for the arts community and these festivals continue to improve in popularity? The standard of productions and the performers in them is very high and that’s what we appreciate. The moment the standard drops the audience just won’t support it, as a producer and a performer I know my work must be of a certain standard. I see a lot of shows and I’m a great audience member. I’m always grateful to be there and I want to be entertained but if you serve up lazy, unimaginative dross then don’t expect to do well. Melbourne audiences are honest and I like that…. they don’t clap for crap.
  1. You recently travelled with LGBTI Equality Roadshow through Swan Hill, Shepparton and Mildura? What were some of the highlights for you and what sort of an impact do you believe this roadshow had on these regional communities? It was such a great week and I was thrilled to be asked. I think the Commissioner for Gender and Sexuality Ro Allen and LGBTI advocate Daniel Witthaus are inspiring in the work they do. There were a lot of highlights but the final night in Mildura was my favourite. The small group of 4 singers who guested during my show, they called The Rainbow Pandacorns and they brought me to tears. So young , so brave. I’ve worked alongside a great number of performers but these were just teenagers who wanted to be accepted in their own community just for being different, it’s not too much to ask really.  

Midsumma Festival runs from 15 Jan to 5 Feb in and around Melbourne CBD. For more information, check out midsumma.org.au

Dolly’s Midsumma show Bl*ankety Bl*nks runs from 20-28 Jan at Chapel off Chapel in Prahran. For details and ticket information check out dollydiamond.com.au

Midsumma Festival – 2017

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Each January, Melbourne plays host to Midsumma Festival Victoria’s premier queer arts and cultural Festival, for and by LGBTQIA+ communities for three glorious, festive weeks.

Now celebrating it’s 30th year, the schedule promises to be the biggest and best yet.

Midsumma kicks off with Carnival Day and T Dance celebrations on Sunday the 15th of January in Melbourne’s gorgeous Alexandra Gardens and offers other key events including VIC Pride March through the streets of St Kilda.

Midsumma Festival celebrates queer culture and prides itself on supporting local artists and performers, offering a fabulous line up of diverse, quality performances across venues in Melbourne city and surrounds.

Just one of these entertainment identities, the fabulous Dolly Diamond, took some time out to chat to We Know Melbourne about her upcoming Midsumma show ‘Bl*ankety Bl*anks’ and all things Midsumma. Check it out here.

Midsumma Festival runs from 15 Jan to 5 Feb in and around Melbourne CBD. For more information, check out midsumma.org.au

 

 

Outside: The Cloud

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Pop Up Playground proudly presents, Outside: The Cloud an online and real life choose your own adventure that will be hitting the streets of Melbourne this summer.

The theme of the adventure includes cyber warfare, environmental activism and artificial intelligence and is designed to turn the day of each player an epic journey by embroiling them into a story greater than themselves.

Played over two months, each week will introduce a new episode that will direct each participant to hunt down hidden documents and videos online, along with unlocking passcodes that are concealed in real life while following gripping plot lines that will lead people over the Melbourne inner city and CBD.

When; 23 January – 26 March 2017

Cost: $50 Two Month Subscription, $30 Monthly Subscription

For more information, please visit popupplayground.com.au/outside-the-cloud/

 

 

Heineken Saturday

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The famous Heineken Saturday returns to its spiritual home of the Royal Croquet Club located riverside at Birrarung Marr.

Enjoy a day of icy cold Heinekens, delicious cuisine, spicy tunes and of course, some summertime croquet. Headlining music acts will be ARIA award-winning singer Jarryd James along with other feature artist to take the ultimate party into the night.

For more information, click here

Where: Royal Croquet Club, Birrarung Marr, Melbourne

When: Saturday 17th December 16

Inflatable Regatta 2017

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Experience the sensation of floating downstream along the Yarra River in your own inflatable boat this summer.

For one day only Inflatable Regatta 2017 will give people the opportunity to book a spot in one of their 1000 boats departing from the Hawthorn Rowing Club and drift down south along the Capital City Trail.

Soak in the peaceful sights and sounds of the Yarra while you share the water with rowers, kayakers and pedestrians who will watch the action from the banks.

Prices

Single Boat $60

Double Boat $110

 For more information, please visit inflatableregatta.com

Where: Yarra Bank Reserve, 44 Creswick St, Hawthorn

When: 9:30am 11th February 17

New Year’s Eve @ Arbory

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Melbournians know how to party and a New Year’s Celebration is no exception. Nothing beats the thrill of experiencing the spectacular fireworks show nestled on the banks of the Yarra River.

However, if you’re looking at making this New Year’s Eve an unforgettable night surrounded by friends in prime position on the Yarra, then book your spot at Arbory Bar & Eatery.

Enjoy an all exclusive food and beverage package featuring a stunning menu by Executive Chef Nick Bennett including Oyster & Charcuterie Stations and 5 hours of roving canapés along with a large selection of specialty beers, premium spirits and any wine from their extensive list.

Varies live performances will set the vibes throughout the night including talented DJ sets.

The night’s theme is ‘a splash of red’ and will absolutely make sure you kick off 2017 is style.

Where: Arbory Bar & Eatery Flinders Walk, Melbourne

When: 8pm – 1am Saturday 31st December 16

Price: General Release $190pp

For further information, visit arbory.com.au/event/nye16/

West End Art Park

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Stop by for a free event full of vibrant celebration of urban artwork at the West End Art Park.

Artist Georgia Hill, Phibs, George Rose and Ken Taylor with transform the old site of the Melbourne Australia Post Mail Centre into a spectacular urban gallery showcasing
their aesthetically unique techniques and styles. George Rose will also be hosting exclusive lettering workshops, providing valuable insights for aspiring artist.

In addition, live music will be provided by DJ Django on the decks followed by some soothing jazz sets. Local food vans will appease the crowds’ appetite including Gorilla Grill and The Grace Caravan.

Audience will also find refuge in the shaded lounge areas where they can create their own urban artwork through interactive art zones, all while sitting back and soaking up the atmosphere.

For further information, click here

When: 12pm – 4pm Sunday 10th December 16

Where: Trenerry Property’s West End site, 185 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne