FIRST LOOK: Free NGV Kids Summer Festival 2023

The popular NGV Kids Summer Festival is back with a packed schedule of entirely FREE events for families from Saturday 14 January to Sunday 22 January 2023. The nine day program includes artist-led workshops, performances, events and activities designed especially for kids, teens and their families. 

This year's theme is curated around the concept of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure,’ with each section of the festival highlighting a different summer exhibition. 

When is the NGV Kids Summer Festival 2023?

NGV Kids Summer Festival runs from Saturday 14 January to Sunday 22 January 2023.

NGV for Kids – Activities & Events Inspired by NGV Exhibitions

Highlights of the 2023 festival will include activities based around the Alexander McQueen exhibition, the newly-installed architecture commission ‘Temple of Boom’ which is a contemporary and very colourful and vibrant reimagining of the ancient Greek temple, the Parthenon as well as the NGV Collection of Asian Art and Indigenous Art.

Children will be able to rock in the Great Hall with punk-pop music by performers ‘Shiny Coin’ or experiment with unexpected objects and textures such as candle wax, hair, slugs and jelly to make a wig or hat with Singaporean-Australian sculptor Nabilah Nordin in her ‘Hairy Slug Hats’ art activity. 

There will also be teen-specific activities like a fashion workshop with Melbourne-based fashion designer Erik Yvon where they’ll create their own unique embellishment to add to a favourite piece of clothing.

Kids will have the opportunity to have their face painted by Melbourne-based hair and makeup artist Nisal Atapattu who has designed special Alexander McQueen inspired face paint designs just for the festival!

Or they might like to enjoy a performance by Arrernte drag artist, ‘Stone Motherless Cold’ in a performance where Stone expresses her identity through fashion, while the kids dance along to a lip-sync and learn how to pose to make themselves runway ready. 

Other activities include Tai Chi workshops, K-Pop dance workshops, paper pottery, Greek Dancing, art activities, storytelling performances and a beautiful woven creatures art activity with Indigenous textile designer and artist Taylah Aimee Eid.

While you’re at the NGV don’t forget to collect an activity trail and explore the ‘Freedom of Movement: Contemporary Art and Design from the NGV Collection’ where you’ll find more than sixty works conveying stories of the world in which we live through painting, sculpture, furniture and lighting. You can complete the activities with friends and family as you wander through the exhibit.

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