RISING, Melbourne's winter festival of music, art and performance, returns to Naarm/Melbourne from 27 May to 8 June 2026. At the start of winter, theatres, town halls, railway ballrooms, civic squares and galleries are reimagined as sites of shared experience, welcoming artists and audiences from Australia and around the world to gather, move and encounter new ideas at scale.
In 2026, RISING presents over 100 events featuring 376 artists, including seven world premieres and 11 Australian premieres - transforming the heart of Melbourne's centre and beyond. Across venues large and small, the programme pulses with music and movement, boasting major international names alongside bold new Australian works and expansive free events.
British Council is proud to support a number of UK artists and works at RISING 2026, bringing together music, theatre and visual art from across Britain and connecting Australian audiences with some of the UK's most exciting creative voices.
Kae Tempest at Day Tripper 6 June, Melbourne Town Hall
A lifelong Londoner raised in Lewisham, Kae Tempest has forged a singular career spanning music, poetry, theatre and fiction - from busking as a teenage MC to becoming a Mercury Prize-nominated recording artist, Sunday Times bestselling novelist and acclaimed playwright. Australian audiences can expect a performance that is immersive, electrifying and profoundly human.
At RISING, Kae Tempest headlines Day Tripper, the festival's beloved multi-room live music marathon that takes over Melbourne Town Hall and Max Watt's for a single unmissable day, joined by genre-crossing poet-rapper Saul Williams and Chicago spiritual-jazz pioneer Kahil El'Zabar.
Kae Tempest at Day Tripper is supported by British Council.
Khalid Abdalla: Nowhere 2–6 June, Malthouse Theatre
Following its celebrated Australian premiere at Sydney Festival earlier this year, Khalid Abdalla's remarkable solo show Nowhere comes to Melbourne. Inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and the counter-revolution that followed, actor and activist Khalid Abdalla takes audiences on a surprising journey into his own history, set against a cartography of seismic world events - weaving together colonialism and decolonisation, friendship and loss, and the ongoing violence in Gaza.
A mix of funny anecdotes, political awakenings, heartfelt losses and a belief in the importance of everyone's core humanity, it's a partial memoir with a motivating point to make. Produced by UK theatre company Fuel, the work received strong audience and critical response during its Sydney season.
Nowhere is produced by Fuel (UK) and supported by British Council.
The Vinyl Factory: Reverb 22 May – 31 August, ACMI, Federation Square
A groundbreaking, multi-sensory exhibition exploring vinyl culture and music's influence on art, fashion, film and social movements, The Vinyl Factory: Reverb arrives in Melbourne after a wildly successful London season that drew more than 50,000 visitors. Originally produced and staged at 180 Studios in London, the exhibition showcases The Vinyl Factory Collection - 20 years of artistic commissions celebrating the intersection of music, art, fashion, film and social movements.
Visitors can get immersed in a sculptural sound system, play with endlessly remixable vinyl loops on Technics turntables, and roam The Vinyl Factory's archive of 100 pressings from Massive Attack, Grace Jones, Daft Punk and more. At the heart of the exhibition is The Listening Room - an acoustically optimised sanctuary for deep listening, with a curated programme of talks, listening parties and DJ sets.
British Council is proud to support three UK artists and cultural figures taking part in Reverb's public programme:
Jeremy Deller is an English conceptual, video and installation artist whose collaborative, politically engaged practice has reshaped ideas about what art can be and who it involves. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2004 and Great Britain's representative at the 55th Venice Biennale, Deller is no stranger to Melbourne - in 2024 he brought his celebrated work Acid Brass to the streets of the city as part of RISING, working with local brass bands including the Merri-bek City Band and the Victorian State Youth Brass Band.
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer and pioneering figure in dub music, widely regarded as a key innovator in reggae and electronic music. Founder of the influential On-U Sound Records, Sherwood has collaborated with an extraordinary range of artists — from reggae legends to Depeche Mode, Primal Scream and Sinéad O'Connor - bringing his signature approach to texture, sound and noise to everything he touches.
Sean Bidder is curator and creative director at 180 Studios and The Vinyl Factory, the creative force behind Reverb itself. He also serves as creative director of Fact magazine, a multimedia platform championing the global movement of electronic art.
The artists will participate in public programming as part of the exhibition.
The Vinyl Factory: Reverb is co-presented by ACMI and RISING, with support from British Council.