FREE workshops, storytelling, pop-up performances, digital projections – all driven by young participants.
Presented by Arena with Sylvie Meltzer & Electric Wonderland
WARNING: THIS IS NOT A THEATRE SHOW
Literally! Join us for a roving adventure across the Ulumbarra stage. No sitting still. No reserved seats. No shushing.
Families get to experience the theatre like they’ve never seen it before – on a quest chock-full of hands-on creative activities.
Hunt for night-time creatures hiding in every corner. Help co-create an immersive disco. Kids are in charge, and no two journeys are ever the same.
Duration: approx 30 mins
Age range: 4-12 years
Presented by Arena and Things of Foam and Wood
RAVEN
Look up — there are friendships waiting for you in nature.
RAVEN is a gentle, hopeful story about courage and kindness, inspired by the remarkable life of wildlife rescuer Raven Kinski.
Through puppetry and interactive play, watch how even the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference. Join the flock and discover new ways to care for our natural world.
‘I will help… because I can’t do anything else. Anything from a snail, anything, anything that’s sentient, I’ll be there. But particularly with animals because they need us and in today’s times, more than ever.’ — Raven Kinski
Duration: 50 mins
Age range: 5-12 years
Presented by Arena and Bendigo Art Gallery
COMPOSING SPACE: LISTEN, MAKE & IMAGINE
Slow down, listen, and make something beautiful.
In this gentle workshop with Bendigo Art Gallery’s Learn team, musician Kelly Ryall fills the room with soft, ever-changing live music – and you turn it into art. With a multimedia offering to create from, tune in and see what shapes and colours the music makes.
Relaxed, welcoming, and open to all ages and abilities.
Workshop 1
Duration: 90 mins
Age range: 4-7 years
Workshop 2
Duration: 90 mins
Age range: 8-12 years
Presented by Arena and The Wholesome Hour
ROCKIN’ REPTILES!
We reckon reptiles would make excellent rockstars.
Come and prove us right! In this wild, interactive workshop, you’ll dream up your own rockin’ reptile character and design a show-stopping rockstar costume to match.
Led by the Wholesome Hour, a comedy crew who bring big energy, big laughs, and space for every kind of creativity in the room.
Duration: 90 mins
Age range: 7-10 years
Presented by Arena and Bendigo Art Gallery
COUNTRY & BELONGING: CURATOR TALK
Duration: 30 mins
Age range: 9+ years
Join Annie Brigdale from Bendigo Art Gallery for a walk through Country and Belonging. Hear playful stories behind the artworks, ask your own questions, and think about what Country means to you.
Presented by Arena and Props Theatre
PROPS THEATRE WORKSHOPS
Get up, get moving, and discover your inner actor with Props Theatre.
A fast, fun hour of line-learning and physical play builds into a one-of-a-kind show for the group.
You’ll explore projection, expression and teamwork and feel the buzz of performing together.
Duration: 60 mins
Age range: 7-9 years
Presented by Arena with Props Theatre
PROPS THEATRE WORKSHOPS
Get up, get moving, and discover your inner actor with Props Theatre.
Start with movement, add sound, then find the words. Watch a brand-new story take shape.
We start with the body first, because (we promise!) the story always follows.
Duration: 90 mins
Age range: 10-14 years
Presented by Goldfields Libraries in partnership with Arena and supported by the City of Greater Bendigo.
MANGA DRAWING WORKSHOPS
Learn to draw in manga style with artist and animator Kenny Chan.
Discover simple ways to build original characters in Japanese comic style and give them personality and humour.
Bring your pencils and your imagination!
Duration: 60 mins
Age range: 8-12 years
Presented by Goldfields Libraries in partnership with Arena and supported by the City of Greater Bendigo.
MANGA DRAWING WORKSHOPS
Learn to draw in manga style with artist and animator Kenny Chan.
Discover simple ways to build original characters in Japanese comic style and give them personality and humour.
Bring your pencils and your imagination!
Duration: 60 mins
Age range: 5-8 years
Presented by Goldfields Libraries in partnership with Arena and supported by the City of Greater Bendigo.
COMIC PANELLING WORKSHOP
How do you tell a story through pictures? Why do heroes tend to face one direction?
Kenny Chan reveals the secrets of comic panelling; how to build motion, create action and tell a story in just a few frames.
Learn the answers, plus other fun and simple concepts to make your comics come alive.
Duration: 60 mins
Age range: 9-14 years
FREE workshops, storytelling, pop-up and roving performances, digital projections and more – all driven by young participants.
COUNTRY & BELONGING: ON COUNTRY
Step into a space made of light, sound and stories.
Created by Arena in consultation with Dumawul (Dja Dja Wurrung cultural enterprise), this immersive exhibition brings to life three years of First Nations-led artist residencies in primary schools across Greater Bendigo.
10 AM - 4 PM.
(Image Artist Supplied).
Read more below.
BRAINLIGHT
Enter a light installation powered by your own brainwaves!
Pop on a headset and watch your brain activity light up a glowing web in real time – showing off your focus, imagination, calm, excitement, and even daydreaming.
No two brains (or experiences) are the same. Come and watch your thoughts glow in the dark.
Created by Australian artist Laura Jade.
SESSIONS: 10:30 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM, 3 PM, 3:30 PM.
(Photo by Brendan McCarthy)
CLOUDLINES
Many of us look at the sky and find shapes in the clouds. But have you ever talked to a cloud?
Has a cloud ever spoken back?
Cloudlines is a gentle new audio work made with cloud lovers Zoë Barry and Jason Tamiru — with the help of local kid cloud experts. Find a space, look up and cloud-dream.
DURATION: 30 mins.
SESSIONS: 11:45 am, 12:20 pm, 2:45 pm
(Image Artist Supplied)
PAPER & TAPE
Grab some paper and tape and make anything you can dream up; characters, plants, costumes, creatures, the lot! Polyglot Theatre artists are on hand to help your imagination run wild with recycled materials.
Drop-in any time during this relaxed two-hour session. Add your creation to the foyer space, or take it home. Click the image for more information
12 PM - 2 PM
(Image Artist Supplied)
STORY BUFFET
Feast on a buffet of stories with storyteller Anna Manuel!
String stories, origami stories, cut-and-tear stories, draw-and-tell stories, body percussion stories. There’s a little bit of everything on the menu, and you will love them all!
Best suited to ages 3-6 years, but all are welcome.
SESSIONS: 11AM, 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM, 2 PM, 2:30 PM, 3:30PM
(Photo by Brendan McCarthy)
DRAGON MAKING
Join the Golden Dragon Museum team and make your own dragon puppet — all materials supplied! Bring your dragons back at 3:30pm to join the puppet dragon parade.
Meet Siu Lock Loong (小樂龍), Bendigo’s ‘Little Happy Dragon’, who’s been delighting local schoolkids since coming from Beijing in 2001.
All Day
(Photo by Leonie Van Eyk)
COME & TRY CIRCUS
Roll up, roll up! Step into the colourful world of circus with the clowns from Castlemaine Circus.
Spin plates, twirl hula hoops, juggle scarves and balls, master the diabolo and flower sticks, wobble your way onto a unicycle, take your first giant steps on stilts — and clown around with friends along the way!
Our friendly coaches are there to cheer you on and celebrate every wobble and win. First timer or future circus star, drop in and have a go!
All Day
(Image Artist Supplied)
CYBRO3000
Sent from the year 3000, Cybro3000 is half human, half machine and fully programmed for fun. Watch him leap, bounce and play — then join in the fun to see just how high you can jump!
Keep an eye out as this larger than life robot roams the festival, sharing laughs, surprises and unforgettable moments wherever he goes.
All Day
(Photo by Brendan McCarthy)
SNIGEL THE SNAIL
Join Snigel, the curious snail on a roving adventure around Ulumbarra.
Play in the bubbles, sit down for a picnic, help clean their shell, and even learn some snaily dance moves! A promenade performance by award winning artist Caroline Bowditch, designer Laura Hook with music by Zac Scott.
For everyone young at heart.
All Day
(Photo by Brendan McCarthy)
Step Into the Story
Discover the magic behind movies and digital storytelling with Bendigo Tech School.
Travel through time, blast into space or dive beneath the sea, without leaving the room! Dress up, strike a pose and jump in front of the green screen to create your own movie moment. Where will your imagination take you?
All Day
(Photo by Bendigo Tech School)
Step into a space made of light, sound and stories.
This immersive exhibition has been created by Arena in consultation with Dumawul (Dja Dja Wurrung cultural enterprise) and in partnership from Bendigo Art Gallery. It brings to life three years of First Nations-led artist residencies in primary schools across Greater Bendigo.
Wander through artwork, photography, projection and soundscape, all woven together by a team of local artists.
Come and explore what “Country” means to you — then leave your own mark. This installation keeps growing all day as visitors of every age add their own creations to it, so the exhibition you see at 10 AM won’t look the same by 4 PM.
Bring the family, take your time, and add your voice to the story.
With thanks to Agnico Eagle, whose support has taken Country & Belonging from the classroom to this exhibition.
