If you were an animal, what would it be?

Release your inner animal with artists and animators, Dell Stewart and Kate Matthews. Using cut paper, drawing, traditional animation techniques and voice recordings you will bring your inner animal to life. All creations will be put together as a group animation that will be screened during the Melbourne International Animation Festival in June.

Contact: 03 9664 7900 or online.

ArtPlay is creating the next generation of artists.
Children can draw and paint their very own masterpiece in the ArtPlay studio. Try new materials, make a mess then fix it up – it’s all part of the creative process!

Contact: 03 9664 7900 or online.

An exquisite journey through the Australian landscape will magically come to life at ArtPlay.

Told through song, dance, storytelling and music, Saltbush is performed on a touch-sensitive carpet that is triggered by traveller’s steps to help unfold the magical journey.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Putting a new spin on children’s playgrounds, the interactive Play with Cardboard is returning to ArtPlay.
First year architecture students from Monash University have taken an ordinary material and designed extraordinary interactive play spaces made entirely from cardboard, one of which can travel outdoors!

Contact: 03 9664 7900;

Come and make a special friend – one that fits in your hand.

Children will see nature and creativity take on a life of its own as they bind sticks, seeds and yarn together to make a natural sculptural figurine to call their own.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

How can everyday things get a wiggle out of you?

Children and adults will use ordinary objects to connect in playful ways, wiggling, hopping and dancing together in a creative dance experience to music from all around the world.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Budding bloggers can become the next big thing in the arts and culture blogosphere with E-artkids.
In this exciting series of workshops, a young ArtPlayer with her very own blog will share her knowledge and experience, along with reviewers from Express Media.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Grab your dancing shoes and prepare to boogie at

"Everyone can dance"

Mums, dads, grandmas and granddads can also shake, shimmy and bop with children and young ones in this fun program. With a new style of dancing to learn every hour, including swing, hip hop, contemporary and tap, everyone will come away with some new dance moves to show off at the playground, school disco or maybe even the office.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Get into the swing of things in a lively dance session the whole family will enjoy.

Jitterbug and jive your way across the dance floor to the swinging 50s beats, then swing, jump and twirl as a dancing team.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Feel the rhythm and tap along to the beat in an energetic session by tap pioneer, Grant Swift.

Explore the fun of making noise with your feet as you learn the basics of steps and rhythms to help you tap in time.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Meet Bruno Munari. He created furniture, toys, posters, books, and machines that do ordinary things in ridiculous ways.

Guided by designer Samuel Barnes, children can learn more about Bruno and create their very own machine using collage, drawing – and a touch of humour.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Join the performers from Pocketfool and see what the world looks like all wrapped up.Have fun and make lots of mess as you swaddle, cover, roll up and wrap up absolutely anything – even yourself!

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Let there be light!

Recycling takes on a whole new life in this workshop to create lamps using unlikely combinations of coloured materials – all from second hand shops – and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Unwind, rewind and roll your way through ArtPlay in a dynamic adventure.

Artist Hayley Rivers will take children on a journey of visual discovery with stories, sculpture, multimedia and an enormous ball of sting.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Come-a-hunting and discover some overlooked treasures in our everyday lives.

Maybe it’s a crack in a wall that looks like a vein or a flower that moves like a dancer – children will be inspired to look beyond the unusual. Then armed with a sketch-book, they can use their new powers of perception to create their own treasure hunt around the ArtPlay site.

Contact: 03 9664 7900; www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/artplay

Shapes and colours of all dimensions will collide in ArtPlay’s very own free exhibition: Colour! Come along to ArtPlay’s gallery this summer and let the explosion of vibrant photographs, illustrations, rainbows and objects carry you away to an imaginative world.

About ArtPlay

Launched in 2004, ArtPlay is an innovative cultural program run by the City of Melbourne with the aim of celebrating the imagination and creative spirit of all children. ArtPlay presents children from 2 to 13 years and their families with the unique opportunity to participate in an imaginative world of interactive arts and hands-on creative workshops.

For details and a full schedule of what’s at ArtPlay, visit www.artplay.com.au. To book, visit the website, call (03) 9664 7900 or email.



 

Meet the Diana Mini, an old-fashioned camera that shoots soft, dreamy images on real film. Inspired by colour, photographer Kate Golding shows children how to use the camera creatively to take some surprising snaps. ArtPlay will print and post photos to you after the workshop too so you can enjoy them for years to come.

About ArtPlay

Launched in 2004, ArtPlay is an innovative cultural program run by the City of Melbourne with the aim of celebrating the imagination and creative spirit of all children. ArtPlay presents children from 2 to 13 years and their families with the unique opportunity to participate in an imaginative world of interactive arts and hands-on creative workshops.

For details and a full schedule of what’s at ArtPlay, visit www.artplay.com.au. To book, visit the website, call (03) 9664 7900 or email.


 

Artist and early childhood teacher, Ben Goodes takes little ones on a journey of discovery, using colour-coded cameras to capture the changing colours in the world around you.

ArtPlay will print and post photos to you after the workshop too so you can enjoy them for years to come.

Price includes development of film photos, plus postage of the CD and negatives.

About ArtPlay

Launched in 2004, ArtPlay is an innovative cultural program run by the City of Melbourne with the aim of celebrating the imagination and creative spirit of all children. ArtPlay presents children from 2 to 13 years and their families with the unique opportunity to participate in an imaginative world of interactive arts and hands-on creative workshops.

For details and a full schedule of what’s at ArtPlay, visit www.artplay.com.au. To book, visit the website, call (03) 9664 7900 or email.
 

ArtPlay is calling all music loving kids to bring along their musical instruments and join the ArtPlay MSO Ensemble open workshop. Free to everyone, young musicians are invited to listen, play along and immerse themselves in the world of music improvisation, whatever their level of experience.

And if they love what they hear, children can express their interest in becoming part of the MSO ArtPlay ensemble – a year round program giving budding talent the opportunity to work with MSO musicians, attend rehearsals, concerts and more.

About ArtPlay

Launched in 2004, ArtPlay is an innovative cultural program run by the City of Melbourne with the aim of celebrating the imagination and creative spirit of all children. ArtPlay presents children from 2 to 13 years and their families with the unique opportunity to participate in an imaginative world of interactive arts and hands-on creative workshops.

For details and a full schedule of what’s at ArtPlay, visit www.artplay.com.au. To book, visit the website, call (03) 9664 7900 or email.
 

ArtPlay’s Autumn program is full of collaborative events in 2010. The highlights are included below but for a full program please go to www.artplay.com.au

Moomba and Slow Art Collective
As part of Moomba festival, the Slow Art Collective are making a stunning large-scale installation in the ArtPlay building using a range of colourful recycled plastics and other materials. Slow Art Collective consists of Chaco Kato, Ash Keating, Dylan Matorell and Tony Adams.

Scalefree Network will be running a complementary projection and drawing activity of creatures in the yarra that are invisible to the eye.

Melbourne International Jazz Festival
ArtPlay has some improvised music, interactive performances, storytelling and music workshops planned as part of the festival.

Popular ArtPlay friends Nico Brown and Martin Brunsden are returning from Ireland with a veritable army of instruments. Not content with just one angklung, they’ll challenge children of all ages to some improvised jamming and transform an audience of kids and their families into a delightful orchestra wielding melodic bamboo rattles for the Bamboo Jam.

Artist Gabrielle de Vietri and her musical friends will be joining in the jazz fun, inviting you to spill some secrets before transforming them into song. Yes, we have ways of making you talk—and sing!

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Calling all budding chefs – you’re never too young to begin an exploration into the joys of cooking and combining food. Learn how to whip up a meal in a flash and enjoy flavours from around the globe.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Unleash your inner comic with guidance from professional comedians, refine your routine or create your debut performance.

In an outstanding performance, artist Fleur Elise Noble uses drawing, animation, puppetry and film to take the audience into new dimensions. A richly imagined parallel world is awoken where drawings reproduce themselves, drift between surfaces and move in and out of three dimensions. Captivating and cheeky, 2-Dimensional Life of Her will astound family audiences at ArtPlay.

This year, ArtPlay is opening its annual Big Draw weekend to all of Melbourne for free. And they have just one aim – to get everyone drawing, no matter their age or ability. Whether it’s the first time they’ve picked up a pencil or the thousandth, everybody can come along to ArtPlay to take part and explore the world of drawing.

Premiering at ArtPlay in October, Wishhh! is a unique artistic experience for preschool children and their carers in which they are interwoven into the creation of a theatrical adventure through music, art and imaginative play. Rich in colours and action, the littlest members of the audience will be entertained from beginning to end.