Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

  For the 18th time, the Melbourne Art Fair is returning as a major fixture on the calendars of arty folks around the country (and Australasia). The fair describes itself as a progressive event showcasing boundary-pushing contemporary art, with a focus on underrepresented artists and women-led curation.   More than 100 interdisciplinary artists will come together at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), across four busy days from February 20-23. This year the fair will span an incredible 9,000sqm space and feature works from 70 leading galleries and Indigenous owned art centres.  If you’ve never been to an art fair before, here’s what to expect. Galleries will present works from different artists, a series of talks will bring together thinkers from across the spectrum and the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair Showcase Exhibition will shine a light on the cultural and creative diversity of 20 independent First Peoples artists and designers. Alongside more conventional artworks, you’ll also find video works and large-scale works and two major new commissions. A snapshot of this year’s participating galleries includes APY Art Centre Melbourne, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Coma, Daine Singer, Five Walls, Mars Gallery, Munupi Arts and Crafts Association, Moa Arts, Neon Parc, Tolarno Galleries and Void Melbourne – alongside many, many more.  The full program for Melbourne Art Fair’s mammoth 18th edition has just been announced and you can find all the...

Melbourne's giant beer, cider and fun festival GABS is back for 2025, so get ready to get sipping. In previous years, the cult fave event has been held at the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Showgrounds, but for this edition, it's landing with a frothy splash at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Despite the rotating digs, the GABS brief fortunately remains the same: go on a deep dive with some of the best and most experimental local and interstate brewers on the scene right now. Each year, breweries are invited to submit an expression of interest to create a GABS Festival Brew, but only 120 make the cut. Famed for their weird and wonderful flavour combos (think sushi beer, cookie stouts and lollipop sours), some of the exclusive Festival brews have gone on to become top sellers. For 2025, several exciting European guest breweries have been confirmed in the program already. Bamburg's famous smoked beer brewery, Schlenkerla, will be crossing the oceans to showcase their offerings while the fest will also be joined by the world's oldest brewery Weihenstephan (who had so much fun in 2024, they're coming back!) And of course, the serious drawcard of GABS each year involves the roster of never brewed before, never to be seen again beers and ciders made just for the fest. In 2025, the bonkers beer festival will showcase more than 500 beer taps, cocktails, whiskies, wines and non-alcoholic beauties to discover. There'll also be brass bands, circus...