Melbourne Fringe Festival is taking over the city and suburbs with a whopping 470 events this spring. For its 42nd year, you’re invited to ‘Eat Your Art Out’ across three incredible weeks, and enjoy a feast for the senses with plenty of events for art and food lovers. Expect a curated program that will push the boundaries with music, dance, cabaret and more. Melbourne Fringe Festival will run from Tuesday October 1 to Sunday October 20.
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Foodie events
Head to Fed Square and check out a series of events in the 2024 Civic Commission Project, COOKED. Gather around a working barbeque, and watch artists spice things up with pop-up performances on a hot plate stage. Free food will be given away every hour of the free drop-in daytime program. The festivities at COOKED will kick off with Seasoning the Grill on October 1. This First Nations-led event will feature plenty of smoke, dance, DJs, art and food. In the evening, look forward to COOKED: Hot Nights, and watch artists and chefs take over the BBQ for performances and dinners.
Fringe will also take over Queen Victoria Market with a special Fringe Flavours Night Market. For five weeks on Wednesday nights, you can feast on street food from the night market while watching roving performances and Fringe artists on a pop-up stage.
The festival will also hit an after-hours party at Melbourne Museum with Nocturnal: Food for Thought. Check out performances curated by Melbourne Fringe, along with talks, tours, music, food and late-night access to exhibitions.
For more food, check out FEAST, a new work by experimental theatre collective Pony Cam. Take part in an intimate dinner party, where you’ll enjoy food, wine and performances over multiple courses at the Substation.
More highlights
If you’re not interested in food, there’s lot of other cool events for you to look forward to.
Pop over to Malvern and Prahran for The Winner Takes It All. In this large-scale event, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies are invited to become a sports star, a spectator or anything in between. Live out your sports fantasies and capture the moment with some surreal photographs.
Head to a mysterious location in Newport for Transmission – into the dark, a radio-based live performance that will lead you through the streets to an unknown destination.
While you’re in the west, pop over to Maddern Square in Footscray for the family-friendly piece, Free Fairy Floss. In this free, one-off event, you’ll watch performer Niow dance with fairy floss in a dreamy display that combines aerial performance with live music and the fluffy treat.
Fringe Focus Taiwan makes a return, presenting two contemporary dance works from contemporary Taiwanese artists.
Meanwhile, the Festival Hub at Trades Hall will host over 100 large and small events, such as cabaret, comedy and theatre. Check out a ‘Dizney in Drag’ musical parody, a late-night panel inspired by Mafia the game, high concept art parties at Club Fringe, and more.
That’s just scratching the surface of all the weird and wonderful things you can look forward to at Melbourne Fringe Festival. There’s something for everyone to enjoy, and you can check out the full program here.