Local Encounters Lab is a three-day deep dive into creating participatory and place-specific art projects connected to North and West Melbourne neighbourhood.
Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are now open to participate in the Lab running Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 March 2027.
Co-facilitated by artist Madeleine Flynn and curator Lana Nguyen, this Lab is a three-day immersion into North and West Melbourne inviting artists to investigate the neighbourhood as a social, cultural, political and ecological landscape. Through walks, conversations and encounters, artists generate propositions for new place-responsive artwork in the area.
Lab participants will:
- Connect with local traders and community groups;
- Explore local stories, challenges and future dreaming;
- Learn about the history of North and West Melbourne through conversations with Traditional Owners, historians and community members;
- Build relationships with other artists living and working in Melbourne;
- Explore methodologies behind making participatory and place-specific art;
- Develop project concepts grounded in place and shaped by community knowledge, experience and perspectives.
Each participant will receive a $2,000 artist fee, plus daily morning tea and lunch.
Following the Lab, artists are offered shared studio space at Arts House to test ideas, deepen their research and develop project proposals. The development period culminates in a Community Weekend of talks, workshops and public events, where artists will share emerging ideas and provocations with local audiences.
One month later, artists will meet with the Arts House Creative Team to discuss their proposals and explore possibilities for presentation, partnership and ongoing support.
Key dates
- EOIs Open: Thursday 22 October, 10am
- EOIs Close: Monday 23 November, 3pm
- Notification: Monday 14 December
- Local Encounters Lab: Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 March 2027
- Shared Studio Space for Project Development (optional): Monday 15 to Sunday 21 March
- Local Encounters Community Weekend: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 March 2027
- Local Encounters Proposals Due & Meeting with Arts House: 1 month after Lab
All dates and times are AEST.
This Lab is part of Local Encounters, Arts House’s neighbourhood program supporting artists, communities and audiences to explore North and West Melbourne in unexpected ways.
Video Credit: Luke King
This Lab welcomes artists of all career stages who are interested in participatory and place-responsive practice, and who are excited by research, relationship-building and creative practice that responds to place.
Participants will contribute to a shared process of learning, listening and knowledge exchange within North and West Melbourne.
You must be located in Melbourne to participate. A number of places are reserved for artists residing in the City of Melbourne.
Up to eight (8) artists will be selected to participate in the Lab.
Each participant will receive a $2,000 artist fee, plus daily morning tea and lunch.
As part of your Expression of Interest, please respond to the following questions:
- What is your experience creating participatory and place-specific art projects?
- How do you approach collaboration?
- What role can artists play in shaping, strengthening or reimagining connections within the North and West Melbourne neighbourhood and their communities?
The Lab will take place in and around North and West Melbourne, with Arts House at North Melbourne Town Hall serving as the Lab’s home base.
The Lab will involve extended periods of listening, discussion and writing. A range of seating options will be provided. Elements of the workshop will include outdoor activities including walking in the surrounding landscape and neighbourhoods which sometimes has uneven surfaces.
Participants can nominate access requirements in their EOI, including requests for Auslan interpreting.
An Access Guide will be available prior to the workshop.
Madeleine Flynn is an artist whose practice creates unexpected situations for listening. Her work explores the relationships between human and non-human ecologies, emerging technologies, acoustics, and the cultural and ecological impacts of artistic practice. Through collaborative, participatory and site-responsive processes, she engages diverse communities, experts and audiences in new and old ways of listening and experiencing the world.
Lana Nguyen is an independent curator, writer and researcher based on Wurundjeri Country with a particular focus on projects that stem from and interact with the politics and cultures of place. Interested in experimental, collaborative and public art, her practice has recently revolved around creating spaces for long-form learning and exchange, site responsive cultural production, and culturally-led initiatives for climate response.
Sarah Rowbottam, Creative Producer
sarah.rowbottam@melbourne.vic.gov.au
03 9322 3720 (voice only) during business hours Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 9am – 5pm AEST.
National Relay Service (NRS)
TTY users: phone 13 36 77 – then ask for – 03 9322 3720
Speak and Listen users: phone 1300 555 727 – then ask for – 03 9322 3720
Internet relay users: connect to the NRS (www.internet-relay.nrscall.gov.au) – then type in – 03 9322 3720
Supported by –
Local Encounters Lab is supported by the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
Image credit: Ruth Crow Walks by Lorna Hannan and Hannah Morphy-Walsh, Photo by Anne Moffat
Image description: A group of people gather beside a footpath in Royal Park at dusk, pausing to listen to someone speak. Surrounded by trees, they are silhouetted against the fading light and distant glow of the city.