Get ready for RISING

By Jack Alfonso

Various venues across Southbank’s Arts Precinct have been selected to feature works as part of the debut of Victoria’s newest cultural festival, RISING.

Established by the state government and first revealed by Southbank News in March 2020, RISING is a major cultural event for the Asia Pacific region, and will attempt to boost tourism in the city and surrounding areas throughout winter.

It will take the place of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and White Night Melbourne and is set to become a landmark major event for Victoria.

“Our very first RISING festival celebrates the strength and resilience of Victoria’s creative community, with local artists taking over our streets to bring us a cultural and creative immersion like no other as our city reawakens,” Minster for Creative Industries Danny Pearson said last month.

Alongside more than 80 local artists, Pearson was joined by RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek to launch the festival’s first ever program, which will see more than 750 Victorian artists displaying their work across the city.

“We feel incredibly proud to be launching the inaugural RISING program,” Ms Fox said. “Especially one that so strongly represents the collective creative energy of Melbourne and the culture and artists it’s famous for.”

Created by a diverse team of local, national and international artists and curators, the inaugural event will begin on May 26 at 5pm and finish on June 6, occurring across a range of sites in and surrounding Southbank, such as Sidney Myer Music Bowl, NGV, Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, Malthouse, Queensbridge Square and Birrarung Marr.

The program will include 133 events and projects, with 36 world premieres, and cultural events on display pertaining to art, performance, music, food experiences, and refashioning of other iconic city spaces such as the Flinders Street Station Ballroom. The Yarra River/Birrarung will also feature heavily in the festival’s program.

“For RISING, we wanted to showcase work specific to Melbourne that captures, celebrates and responds unambiguously to this place,” Mr Obarzanek said.

Victorian artists, in collaboration with a diaspora of creative contemporaries, will produce highlight events such as:

The Rivers Sing – a sonic artwork featuring the voices of First Peoples’ voices and local artists ringing out at dusk and dawn each day of the festival.

A Miracle Constantly Repeated – an immersive multi-sensory experience consuming the entire top floor of Flinders Street Station, including its ballroom and 15 adjacent and secret rooms.

Wandering Stars – this will see a spectacular 200-metre-long, glowing eel, constructed from community-made lanterns, wind its way up the Birrarung.

The Wilds – will transform the entire Sidney Myer Music Bowl into a supernatural forest of ice, art, music and moonlight.

Flow State – further down the river groups will be ferried through darkness to the isolation of Herring Island, where alone on a deserted island in the middle of Melbourne, they’ll partake in a sonic bathing experience that transcends space and time.

A celebration of live music at the Comedy Theatre with special collaborations and one-off performances.

A massive exhibition of video art, performance, installation and huge projections across Chinatown.

The launch of the festival’s first ever program comes in addition to a $17.2 million state government package announced in November last year to revitalise Southbank’s Arts Precinct, and the $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund between the City of Melbourne and the state government to boost Melbourne’s economy after months of severe restrictions last year.

RISING, a late-night “lunar eclipse” festival, is family friendly and provides a series of free and low-cost experiences for families to enjoy, such as Wandering Stars and The Wilds.

With the program coinciding with National Reconciliation Week, RISING intends to “work closely” with First Peoples artists to “develop programming and experiences that amplify the themes and intentions of Reconciliation Week during the festival” •

For more information: rising.melbourne/festival-program