RISING 2026 gets better and better with a Fed Square takeover, a tiny ramen bar and a city full of late-night detours.
Melbourne’s winter festival is a city-wide trail of things to see, eat and stumble into, with RISING adding another round of food, film, music and public art across town.
The latest RISING 2026 additions run from a huge projection at Fed Square to a ramen setup built for two, plus late-night dining, artist talks and a free meeting point for musicians, audiences and industry. Across the full festival, which runs from 27 May to 8 June, the program stretches well past the theatre-and-ticket routine and into squares, bars, restaurants and exhibition spaces.
RISING 2026
- RISING, 27 May to 8 June 2026, across Melbourne
- Midéegaadi at Fed Square, 28 to 30 May 2026
- Sapporo Supper Club: Chīsai 小, across both weeks of the festival
- RISING Artist Bar at Wax Music Lounge, Wednesday to Sunday throughout the festival
- Selector: Kahlil Joseph at ACMI, 4 to 23 June 2026
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Fed Square gets the first big play
The RISING additions are centred on Fed Square, where Midéegaadi, a large-scale projection and sound work by Native American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger, will take over the opening weekend from 28 to 30 May.
The work first appeared in Times Square, but for RISING it has been reworked for Naarm and Wurundjeri Country, with the projection stretching across the square and onto the Hamer Hall façade as part of Calling Country: The Land Speaks Back. Djirri Djirri Women’s Dance Group is also part of that broader presentation, while Killara Foundation will add First Nations food offerings to the Fed Square setup.
ACMI is joining in too, extending its hours for The Vinyl Factory: Reverb across the opening weekend, with $10 tickets available after 5pm. Taken together, the Fed Square program turns the area into one of the more active parts of the festival launch, with art, food and exhibition visits all sitting within walking distance of each other.
Food and drinks stretch the festival further
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Another RISING addition is Sapporo Supper Club: Chīsai 小, which is being billed as the world’s smallest ramen-ya. The setup is built for a very small group at a time, with two seats per sitting and a 30-minute dining window. Guests get Hokkaido-style ramen, Sapporo beer and a stop in The Waiting Room before heading into the table itself, where the menu is pared back and the focus stays on the meal.
RISING is also bringing back Moon Bites, a city-wide late-night dining series that links restaurants, bars and venues across Melbourne with festival-only menus and post-show snacks. Cathedral Coffee and Frozen Cola are leaning into dessert and drink combinations, while Melbourne Supper Club and Melbourne Gin Company are teaming up for The Midnight Martini alongside Kirk’s Wine Bar’s Pig’s Head Doughnut and cheese-cellar toasties. Dom’s Social Club is putting out a RISING roast beef dippa’ pizza, Bottega is running a pre-theatre tasting menu, and Mr Mills, Boire and Aru are each putting their own spin on the late-night brief.
Talks, film and the rest of the picture
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The RISING program also picks up more talk, film and performance work. Post-show conversations will follow selected works, while artist-led panels will pull in speakers including Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon, artist Hayden Ryan and RISING Senior Curator of Exhibitions Kimberley Moulton for Sovereignty and Sonic Resistance at RMIT. Over at City Square, a day of free talks will centre First Peoples artists and the newly commissioned public artwork Flower Power by Kent Morris, with appearances from Stacie Piper, Jenna Mayilema Lee and Kate ten Buuren.
ACMI’s Selector: Kahlil Joseph adds another layer, running from 4 to 23 June as a film program tied to The Vinyl Factory: Reverb. The lineup includes Born in Flames, Neptune Frost and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, with Joseph’s director’s cut of Lemonade opening and closing the program.
“When the temperature drops, it signals that RISING is about to kick off and the final layer of the program is unveiled.” said RISING Artistic Director and CEO Hannah Fox. “Free art after dark, fresh live music, late-night dining and artist-led conversations, clubs and lounges create even more doorways into the festival’s expansive program of new art, stories, music and dance.”
The wider RISING program now spans more than 100 events across theatres, ballrooms, basements and public spaces, including Florentina Holzinger’s A Year Without Summer, The Royal Family Dance Crew at Fed Square, the return of the Flinders Street Station Ballroom for Land of 1000 Dances, Day Tripper, Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass, Narcissister’s Voyage Into Infinity, and music sets from Lil’ Kim, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 and TR/ST.
RISING is happening across Melbourne from 27 May to 8 June 2026. For more information, head here.
Beat is a proud media partner of RISING.
