Rough Festival Guide to Melbourne
The state of Victoria supports roughly 6 million people. Not a huge population given the space involved. When in primary school I used to be fascinated by population density in Victoria in comparison to European countries. Let’s have some examples:
Victoria, Australia, 227600 square km, 6 million people
United Kingdom, 243610 square km, 61.5 million people
Germany, 357021 square km, 82 million people
You might notice that while Victoria is just a little smaller than the UK, geographically speaking, we have a population roughly a 10th the size. So that we’re a city with one of the most active festival culture I’ve ever encountered, including one of the largest Comedy Festivals in the world, is perhaps a bit surprising. One day I’ll write a thesis about it. But in the meantime I’ll just roll around in arts festivals like a pig in mud. Glorious festival mud.
Below is a rough list of festivals in Melbourne. This list is largely comprised of programs currently sitting on my self. It will be expanded and constantly updated over the next few months to provide a thorough, though doubtfully ever complete, list of the festival-plague which possesses our fine city.
November 2011
Big West Festival, 15-27 November
October 2011
Melbourne International Arts Festival, 6-22 October
September 2011
Overload Poetry Festival, 10-19 September
Melbourne Fringe Festival, 21 September – 9 October
August 2011
Chocolate Rush Festival, 13-14 August
Freeplay Independent Games Festival, 20-21 August
Manifest: Melbourne Anime Festival, 26-28 August
Melbourne Writers Festival, 26 August – 4 September
July 2011
Melbourne Magic Festival, 4-6 July
State of Design, 20-31 July
Melbourne International Film Festival, 21 July – 7 August
June 2011
Melbourne International Jazz Festival, 4-13 June
Australian Burlesque Festival, 9-12 June
Melbourne International Animation Festival, 19-26 June
May 2011
Human Rights Arts & Film Festival, 12-22 May
St Kilda Film Festival, 24-29 May
Emerging Writers’ Festival, 26 May – 5 June
April 2011
Melbourne International Comedy Festival, 30 March – 24 April
Castlemaine State Festival, 1-10 April
La Mirada Film Festival, 14-26 April
Williamstown Literary Festival, 27 April – 1 May
Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival, 29 April – 8 May
March 2011
Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, 4-14 March
Moomba Festival, 11-14 March
Port Fairy Folk Festival, 11-14 March
L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, 14-20 March
Dance Massive, 15-27 March
Melbourne Queer Film Festival, 17-27 March
Melbourne International Garden & Flower Show, 30 March – 3 April
February 2011
St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, 5 February
St Kilda Festival, 5-13 February
Sustainable Living Festival, 12-27 February
Tropfest, 20 February
January 2011
Midsumma, 16 January – 6 February
Festivals gone: 2010
