Upcoming Events & Experiences
Burrinja Presents
Creative Showcase 2025 | Yarra Ranges VCE Students
Sat 3 May – Sun 18 May | Burrinja Gallery
Discover the next generation of artistic talent at the 2025 Creative Showcase, an annual celebration of emerging visual artists from across the Yarra Ranges. This dynamic exhibition brings together a stunning collection of multi-disciplinary works, offering a unique glimpse into the creativity shaping our future.
This professionally curated exhibition will feature diverse and thought-provoking artworks that highlight the talents of emerging artists.
Visitors will have the opportunity to witness the artistic vision of the region’s brightest young creatives.
The showcase will present works by recent graduates from schools throughout region, displayed in a vibrant and engaging public gallery.
Burrinja Presents
Garry Starr - Classic Penguins
Wed 14 May 7.30pm | Burrinja Theatre
Venue note: Due to popular demand, this event has been relocated from the Lyre Room to the Burrinja Theatre. Seating will remain General Admission.
Warnings: Strictly 18+ years. This performance involves full nudity. There will be some audience participation.
Only Melbourne metro show left
Literature! Literature! Literature! It might not rhyme with anything but it’s still very important. Garry Starr is back and he’s hell-bent on saving books from extinction by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written. In an hour. Mostly naked (but with flippers).
Comic wunderkind Starr takes us on a literary adventure through the world’s most iconic works of fiction. From The Little Prince to Moby Dick and everything in between, nothing is safe from being lampooned with the utmost nincompoopery.
Winner Most Outstanding Show Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Winner Best Comedy Adelaide Fringe Festival 2025
Winner Best Comedy Perth Fringe World 2025
‘A very funny man who is peculiarly averse to wearing trousers’ ★★★★★ Scotsman (UK)
‘Brilliantly ticklish… joyfully silly’ ★★★★ Guardian (UK)
Seating: General Admission
Doors: 7pm
Duration: approx 60 mins with no interval
Age suitability: strictly 18 years and older.
Tickets $25 - $32
Burrinja Presents
DoomsDay Core | Amanda Page
Thu 15 - Sun 25 May | Burrinja Airlock Gallery
An evocative reflection on climate, preservation, and global food security.
Doomsday Core presents a striking display of agricultural grain seed samples from the 2022 deposit made by the Australian Grains Genebank in Horsham, Victoria, to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
Referencing the structure of an ice core sample, this glass-blown artwork encapsulates seeds that burn, blister, and bubble—forming delicate atmospheres of trapped air and abstract, ash-like residue suspended within the glass. Each piece becomes a microcosm, echoing both preservation and fragility.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores frozen seed samples at –18°C, acting as a global food reserve should current food systems collapse due to fire, flood, famine, or war. Located 130 metres deep in the Arctic mountainside, the vault was designed to remain secure in the face of disaster. Yet, as temperatures rise and permafrost melts, even this symbol of security faces the threat of climate change—posing urgent questions about the future of food and survival.
This event is part of Melbourne Design Week 2025, an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with the NGV.
Burrinja Presents
Grigoryan Brothers Present 'Amistad'
Thu 15 May 8pm | Live in the Lyre
‘Amistad’ is the new album from acclaimed guitar duo, the Grigoryan Brothers.
With a repertoire spanning centuries, continents, and genres, displaying amazing telepathy and the ability to evoke emotion from every note, Slava & Leonard Grigoryan are justifiably regarded as Australia’s finest classical guitarists. Throughout their musical journey spanning over two decades, Slava and Leonard have forged connections with like-minded souls worldwide. Each track on ‘Amistad’, released by Decca, is a gift from composers met during their travels, some tailored specifically for the brothers, while others find new life through their unique interpretations.
Contributions have come from such diverse composers as Cuban guitarist Leo Brouwer, legendary jazz guitarist Ralph Towner, Sting's guitarist Dominic Miller, guitarist Gus Isidore (Seal, Peter Gabriel), Australian neo-classical pianists Luke Howard and Nat Bartsch, and more.
Crafted with love, respect, and a profound understanding, these compositions symbolise the reciprocal appreciation between the composers and the Grigoryan Brothers. Amistad, meaning 'friendship' in Spanish, is a celebration of camaraderie — a project resonating with respect and connection, a heartfelt tribute from the brothers.
This performance will feature music form Amistad and favourites from their past recordings.
Check out their music on YouTube.
Please note this performance has been relocated to the Lyre Room. Bookings for the theatre are still valid.
Duration: 120 minutes
7:30pm Doors open
8pm-9.30pm Grigoryan Brothers
Age suitability: at parental discretion. This event may not be suitable for babies and younger children due to content and/or noise levels.
Tickets $45 - $65
Burrinja Presents
Artful Alliance | Alison Fabiny & Vicki Singleton
Sat 17 May - Sun 29 Jun | Burrinja Studio Gallery
Photographer Alison Fabiny and mixed media artist Vicki Singleton invite you into a breathtaking visual dialogue between detail and texture, stillness and vibrancy.
Alison’s floral portrait photography, some inspired by the quiet elegance of Japanese wabi-sabi, captures fleeting botanical moments with extraordinary precision and depth. Her masterful use of natural and strobe lighting, combined with thoughtful composition, elevates each flower into something transcendent—inviting viewers to pause, lean in, and truly see. Her work is not just about beauty, but about presence.
In perfect harmony, Vicki’s richly textured mixed media and acrylic artworks burst with life and colour, drawing from the rhythms and patterns of the natural world. Each piece is a layered, tactile experience—alive with intuition, joy, and emotional depth. Her vibrant works have earned local acclaim and can be found in her studio at Burrinja Cultural Centre.
Together, Alison and Vicki create an exhibition that encourages you to slow down, look closer, and rediscover the wonder in the details that often go unnoticed.
Free exhibition - Wed to Sun 10am - 4pm
Exhibition Opening - Sat 17 May 2pm (all welcome)
Join Alison and Vicki for drinks and nibbles as they celebrate the launch of their first joint exhibition and share the inspiration behind their work.
Artwork left - Alison Fabiny - Chrysanthemum Everlasting - image copyright by the artist
Artwork front right - Vicki Singleton - Into the Unknown - image supplied by the artist
Image: 'Listening to the Mountain Body' (2025) by Gülsen Özer and Aarti Jadu. Photo by Fergus Floyd.
Burrinja Presents
ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain
Sat 24 May - Sun 13 Jul | Burrinja Gallery
We started to feel our bodies in a continuum with the body of the mountain.
Walking together across Corhanwarrabul (Dandenong Ranges), a group of artists shared place-responsive practices and considered what it means to 'listen to Country' through their diverse perspectives.
ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain is an exhibition outcome from this mobile residency.
Curated by Gretel Taylor with Gülsen Özer and Mandy Nicholson, the exhibition includes painting, screendance, sound installation, textiles, sculpture, digital and cyanotype photography.
Artists: Aarti Jadu, Rebecca Murray, Mandy Nicholson, Jill Orr, Gülsen Özer, Laki Sideris, Gretel Taylor and Tammy Wong Hulbert.
Free Exhibition Opening | Sat 24 May 3pm-5pm
Join us to celebrate the opening of ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain at Burrinja Gallery. The event will feature performances by Jill Orr and Djirri Djirri dancers and a Welcome to Country by Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson.
Cyanotype Workshop facilitated by Rebecca Murray | Sat 7 Jun 11am - 13.30pm | $10 per person
Local artist, Rebecca Murray, is renowned for her beautiful cyanotype photography. She will lead a workshop for young people (aged 8+) to create a sun-printed image from found natural materials. Participants can then take their unique artworks home.
'Biik Ngarrga' - Wurundjeri Dance Workshop led by Djirri Djirri | Wed 9 Jul 11am - 11.45am | $10 per person
Learn about the layers of Country through dance.
Djirri Djirri are the only Wurundjeri female dance group and are Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) and surrounds. Djirri Djirri means Willy Wagtail in Woiwurrung, our Mother Tongue. The Willy Wagtail is the Spirit’s Messenger and gave us dance! Our dances honour our Liwik (Ancestors), Kerr-up-non (Family), Biik (Country) and animals.
Place-responsive Art and Performance Now: a panel discussion | Thu 12 Jun 5.30-7pm| Free
Hosted by Centre for Art and Social Transformation (CAST), RMIT.
Panellists: Professor Vicky Hunter (UK), Arahmaiani (Indonesia), Dr Jill Orr, Dr Mandy Nicholson.
Chaired by Dr Gretel Taylor and introduced by Dr Tammy Wong Hulbert
Online and in-person: RMIT Interactive Theatre, Building 80, 435-457 Swanston Street, Melbourne/Naarm and online.
Colourz presents
Colourz of the World
Sat 24 May 3.00pm | Burrinja Theatre
The Colourz of the World show will be a truly spectacular event.
Come and join our Colourz performers as we celebrate different cultures from around the world. This show will include our world-famous orchestra and dance routines that need to be seen to be believed.
Hope to see you all there!
Duration: 120mins
Age suitability: This event is not suitable for babies due to noise levels.
Tickets - $23.50 - $33.50
Burrinja Presents
Mick Harvey & Amanda Acevedo - Live in the Lyre
A Tribute to Jackson C. Frank
Sat 7 Jun 8.00pm | Lyre Room
Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo’s latest release Golden Mirrors is a hauntingly beautiful tribute to the enigmatic American folk singer Jackson C. Frank — a nearly forgotten voice of the mid-sixties whose influence quietly shaped a generation. Despite releasing only one album, produced by Paul Simon, Frank left a lasting legacy, with artists such as Nick Drake, Laura Marling, Sandy Denny, Mark Lanegan and Fairport Convention among his admirers.
The duo brings new life to Frank’s work with 11 evocative reinterpretations, recorded in Harvey’s North Melbourne music room and mixed by Alain Johannes across Los Angeles, Spain and Chile. The result is a collection that drips with atmosphere — brooding, intimate and deeply textured — combining Harvey’s signature dark stylings with Acevedo’s ethereal, expressive vocals.
Check out the duo's official music video for 'Golden Mirror' here.
Doors: 7:30pm
Duration: approx 2 hours 15 mins including interval
General Admission (seated)
Age suitability: at parental discretion. This event may not be suitable for babies and younger children due to content and/or noise levels.
Tickets $50.90 - $55.90
Luna Live Presents
Clare Bowditch - In Concert
Supporting act to be announced
Sat 21 Jun 8pm | Burrinja Theatre
Clare Bowditch is a musician, broadcaster, sometimes actor, speaker, entrepreneur and author. Somewhat of a slashie you might say.
ARIA Award-winning musician, best-selling author, and all-round creative force Clare Bowditch is coming your way. Known for her powerhouse voice and warm, engaging presence, Clare is one of Australia’s most beloved and versatile artists.
She’s taken home the coveted ARIA Award for Best Female Artist, been named Rolling Stone Woman of the Year for her contribution to Australian culture, and received a Logie nomination for her role as Rosanna on the hit TV series Offspring. Her debut memoir Your Own Kind of Girl (Allen & Unwin, 2019) became an instant best-seller, earning her the ABIA for Best New Writer. In 2020, she extended the conversation with Tame Your Inner Critic, an inspiring audio guide that continues to resonate with audiences across the country.
Clare has graced just about every major stage, festival and venue across Australia, performing alongside icons like Leonard Cohen, Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, Gotye and John Butler. Whether she’s performing, speaking or sharing her story, Clare Bowditch brings authenticity, heart and a spark of magic you won’t want to miss.
Check out Clare's music on YouTube.
Doors: 7:40pm
Duration: approx 2.5 hours including interval
Age suitability: at parental discretion. This event may not be suitable for babies and younger children due to content and/or noise levels.
Tickets $57.90 - $62.90
A-List Entertainment Presents
Akmal
Sat 23 Aug 8.00pm | Burrinja Theatre
Akmal returns with a smash-hit tour after a spiritual journey to India to find himself. Unfortunately, when he got there, he couldn’t find himself anywhere. After all, India is a big place…
On his return to Australia, he was pleased to discover he had been here the entire time. This has absolutely nothing to do with his upcoming show, and he’s sorry he mentioned it.
Stand-up, movies, sketch, TV appearances, radio DJ, talk show host and a published author, Akmal is one of Australia’s most respected, successful and accomplished comics. Lightning quick and a master of unscripted comedy gold, Akmal has an incredible ability to deal with hot topics in an hilarious and slightly offensive way.
As seen on Thank God You’re Here, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Just For Laughs and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala.
'Akmal's strength is his stream-of-consciousness ramblings and his interaction with the audience.' - The Age
'Akmal is an explosion of laughter and entertainment.' - Telegraph Mirror
Doors: 7:40pm
Age suitability: Restricted 15+. Occasional coarse language. This event is not suitable for babies due to content and/or noise levels.
