Arts Centre Melbourne Announces Summer Lawn Offerings

A fun and eclectic mix of some of Melbourne's finest musicians will come together for a series of free concerts and workshops celebrating the meaning of home at Arts Centre Melbourne's Main Lawn this summer. From January 10-26 the Lawn will be home to an open-door house party of events as part of Arts Centre Melbourne's huge public participation program, Home.

A variety of artists will perform from the verandah of a giant house installation, the Big House, which will be home to more than a thousand of the small, distinctively decorated wooden houses - painted by the community and inspired by the question "what does home mean to you?". The program features Friday night dances, Saturday concerts, Sunday afternoon jam sessions and a special Australia Day concert.

The program will kick off with The Big Housewarming on Saturday, January 10 where all 7000 little houses will be unveiled. Hosted by comedianBrian Nankervis (Rockwiz), it will feature performances by acclaimed choral conductor Jonathon Welch and the School of Hard Knocks Absolutely Everybody Choir, The Riot Squad and special guests. At the end of the opening celebration, members of the public will be asked to take a house, and help continue its story by moving it to another public space, photographing it and sharing it on social media using the hashtag #homemelb and the house number branded underneath.

The exciting program includes The Home Studio, featuring neo-soul powerhouse The Cactus Channel, and At Home with The Kids designed for families and featuring fun swing band All Day Fritz. BYO your own instrument or voice to The Sunday Verandah Jams featuring The Brunswick Old Time Swing Orchestra, Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller's Sing-a-long and Gillian Howell and the 70s Stovetop Orchestra. Running during the Big House program are Little House Workshops, on daily from 10-26 January (excl. Mon 12 & 19 Jan), where people can decorate a little house with their own expressions of Home in one of our artist-led public workshops. Also listen to Home Stories, where sound artist Ian Moorhead has collected stories, reflections and musings from the decorators of the little houses and has woven them into a layered and textured soundscape, capturing the essence ofHome directly from the voice of our communities.

As part of the official Australia Day celebrations we will celebrate the finale of Home on 26 January with artists from Australia and around the world who have chosen to make Melbourne their home. Programmed in association with Multicultural Arts Victoria, this is an expansive and joyous program of music, dance and workshops, featuring The Lalibelas, The Cambodian Space Project, Ajak Kwai, Alex and Nilusha, Tama Tatau and Dya Singh and hosted by the inimitable Mikelangelo.