Arts and Culture Maribyrnong

01/09/2026

Words by Candlelight coming up this Friday! 🎤🕯

01/09/2026

Experience Encounters in motion.

For three Saturday afternoons, acclaimed Naarm/Melbourne choreographer and performer Alice Dixon transforms Footscray Town Hall through a series of live performances inspired by Encounters, an exhibition drawn from the City's Art and Heritage Collection.

Wander the grand Romanesque building as dance unfolds across two levels, creating unexpected connections between artworks, objects, histories and movement. Experience the collection in a new way through a live response that exists only in the moment.

1.30-3.30pm on Saturdays 19 September, 21 November and 5 December.

Free but RSVPs encouraged at https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/arts-and-culture/Events/Encounters-in-Motion-A-live-performance-by-Alice-Dixon

Photo by Jeff Busby

31/08/2026

We are delighted to invite artists and creatives in Melbourne’s west to express their interest in a range of residencies in Maribyrnong in 2027. These residencies support those wanting to create new work in dedicated spaces, present a performance season, or collaborate with community on a deeply engaged arts project.

Opportunities include:

🧩 Maribyrnong Community-Engaged Artist in Residence Program: a residency for experienced community-engaged artist/s to work with and celebrate the communities who use Maribyrnong Community Centre.

📝 West Footscray Writer-in-Residence Program: a four-week artistic residency with access to office space, embedded within the West Footscray Library and Neighbourhood House.

🎭 Bluestone Church Arts Space residencies: Creative development opportunity for works in progress and supported seasons for shows ready for production.

Browse the Residencies webpage for open EOIs and submit yours before 4 October 2026. https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/arts-and-culture/Programs/Artists-in-Residence

Maribyrnong Community Centre City of Maribyrnong Maribyrnong Youth Maribyrnong Libraries West Footscray Neighbourhood House

Pictured: Untitled by Liz Dalgleish, West Footscray Library and Neighbourhood House (L) and Meet Me at the Centre by Emma Ismawi, Maribyrnong Community Centre (R).

26/08/2026

🔴⚪🔵 The west is buzzing as the Western Bulldogs prepare for their wildcard showdown with Collingwood on Friday.

Did you know that our City's Art and Heritage Collection contains a signed limited-edition print, "Team of the Century Western Bulldogs" (2002) by Jamie Cooper?
The artwork celebrates some of the club's greatest players and a legacy that stretches all the way back to 1886, when Footscray formed a senior football club and made the Western Reserve its home ground.

Long before they were known as the Bulldogs, the team carried colourful nicknames including the "Saltwater Lads" and the "Bone-mill Fellows". In 1938, the club officially adopted the bulldog as its mascot, a symbol of the grit, determination and community spirit that has come to define football in Melbourne's west.

As the Doggies chase finals glory, we're proud to preserve artwork and memorabilia that celebrates our City's cultural and sporting heritage. View this artwork and more stories of our city in the exhibition "Encounters," available for viewing in Footscray Town Hall during opening hours.

Learn more at https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Encounters

🐾 Carn the 'Scray!

Bulldogs City of Maribyrnong

24/08/2026

FINAL WEEK.

There are only a handful of opportunities left to experience ‘The Sacrifice of Farinelli’ at Bluestone Church Arts Space.

This immersive theatrical event combines music, movement, live performance and striking visual design to tell the story of one of opera's most extraordinary legends.

Closing 29 August.

📍 Bluestone Church Arts Space, Footscray
🎟️ Last tickets: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/arts-and-culture/Events/The-Sacrifice-of-Farinelli

This project is supported by Maribyrnong City Council’s Artist Residency Program.

Image description in alt text. Subverse Theatre

20/08/2026

Don't miss your chance to experience ‘The Sacrifice of Farinelli’.

Subverse Theatre's immersive new Australian production continues at the Bluestone Church Arts Space.

Journey into a world of Baroque splendour, soaring music and larger-than-life historical figures.

📍 Bluestone Church Arts Space, Footscray
📅 Final performances until 29 August
🎟️ Book now: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/arts-and-culture/Events/The-Sacrifice-of-Farinelli

Limited performances remaining.

This project is supported by Maribyrnong City Council’s Artist Residency Program.

Image description in alt text.

This winter, Subverse Theatre proudly present the premiere season of 'The Sacrifice of Farinelli', an original Australian work inspired by real figures from the 1700s.

19/08/2026

13/08/2026

Fringe Westside is set to return from 29 September to 18 October 2026, bringing the energy of the Melbourne Fringe Festival to venues and public spaces across our City.

The Bluestone Church Arts Space will provide an intimate setting for a diverse range of performances including Smoko Theatre’s multilingual production of ‘La Trampa’, the haunting melodies of live music event ‘Shadow Resonance’, a battle-cry for justice and change in immersive play ‘PIGSKIN’, a Pasefika diaspora perspective shared through spoken word in ‘Holding the VĀ’ and a new dance-theatre work which questions the integration of artificial intelligence in a deteriorating world in ‘INTERNET OF THINGS’.

Local First Nations-led Na Djinang Circus will present family-friendly roving street performance ‘Ocker’ across Footscray and Yarraville. Keep an eye out for other performances at local sites and venues including Footscray Railway Station, Kindred and Pride of Our Footscray.

Browse the program and start planning your Fringe Westside now: https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/festivalcity/Festivals/Fringe-Westside-2026

13/08/2026

Join Donna Jackson and her musical friends celebrating a time when gals playing in rock bands was seen as a revolution and dancing hard was the solution.
Come for a delicious lunch, hear rabble-rousing stories from the 1980s, then put your dance shoes on for some classic all-girl pumping rock with The Lost Girls

TWO SHOWS ONLY!
Saturday 5 & 12 September 2026
1:30pm
135 Stephen Street Yarraville

TICKETS
$45 Full / $38 Conc

Join Donna Jackson and her musical friends in a cabaret inspired by a time when gals playing in rock bands was seen as a revolution and dancing...