Arts events and festivals in Mildura

Mildura hosts a busy calendar of arts events. See the work of local writers, artists, musicians and performers as well as internationally renowned stars who come to the city to participate in popular festivals and events.

Arts Mildura

Arts Mildura presents a year-round program of events set in unique Murray River locations, including:

Murray River International Music Festival - brings international fine music artists to the Murray River region to entertain and inspire. This is a Slow River event.

Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival - a program of memorable art, including contemporary music, theatre, comedy, opera, dance, community art and the legendary Mardi Gras Parade and Street Festival.

Mildura Writers' Festival - Each year in July, Mildura comes alive for four days of words, wine and regional food. Mildura Writers Festival is renowned for matching great literature with legendary dinners presented by guest chefs. Since 1993 the Mildura Writers' Festival has hosted dozens of nationally and internationally recognised writers, including Nobel Prize for Literature winner, JM Coetzee, as well as Nicholas Jose, Craig Sherborne and Inga Clendinnen. Don't miss the presentation of the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal Award, which recognises a consistently outstanding Australian writer.

Murray Darling Palimpsest - Every second year in September, Palimpsest presents Australian contemporary visual arts and asks artists to tackle the topics of environmental and social sustainability.

Mildura Jazz, Food and Wine Festival - One of Victoria's biggest jazz festivals can be heard each November at locations on and around the Murray River. Board a paddleboat, find a spot in a park or a seat in one of Mildura's popular eating and drinking establishments for an afternoon or evening of jazz entertainment.

Other annual events in and around Mildura;  

The Mildura Country Music Festival - Australia's biggest showcase of independent country music talent runs for 10 days in late September and early October. Be entertained by over 100 artists and groups at 20+ venues and catch the presentation of the Australian Independent Country Music Awards.

Opera by the Lock - Lock 11 becomes the backdrop to an outdoor opera for this unique event. Take your place to hear the local greats of opera, as well as soloists, choirs and orchestras perform by the Murray River under the stars. 

The Wentworth Sweatbox Art and Furniture Competition - Each July Wentworth Arts runs an unconventional art prize that acknowledges the region's fruit-growing heritage. Artists are required to make furniture or sculpture using predominantly sweatboxes - pine or hardwood boxes used to transport dried fruit from the vineyard drying ground to the packing shed for processing. Entries from previous years are in the Mildura Regional Art Gallery collection and stand sentry as you approach Wentworth.