Arts and culture in Melbourne: galleries, theatre, and live music

Melbourne's claim to be Australia's cultural capital rests on the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia's most visited art museum), the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Comedy Festival, the Writers Festival, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and one of the most fertile original live music scenes in the Southern Hemisphere.

National Gallery of Victoria — the NGV International on St Kilda Road and the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square collectively present Australia's most comprehensive art collection, with the Great Hall's stained glass ceiling and the permanent collection spanning 5,000 years of human art-making. The NGV Triennial and the major international blockbusters are the most attended temporary exhibitions in Australia.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival (March-April) — the third-largest comedy festival in the world (after Edinburgh and Montreal) takes over Melbourne's CBD for four weeks, with 600-plus shows ranging from the Melbourne Town Hall headline acts to the free outdoor performances that make the Festival accessible at every price point. It is the most important comedy showcase in the Southern Hemisphere.

Live music — Fitzroy, Collingwood, and the CBD — The Corner Hotel, the Tote, Howler, the Forum, the Palace Theatre, and the nightclub strip of Fitzroy and Collingwood create the live music ecosystem that Melbourne's musicians, the Music Victoria advocacy, and the city's music-friendly planning policies have sustained against the forces that have closed comparable venues in Sydney and Brisbane.

Melbourne Theatre Company and the Arts Centre — the Arts Centre spire and the MTC's Southbank Theatre provide the premium performing arts programme — the MTC's drama seasons, the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia's Melbourne season, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's regular programme — that positions Melbourne as the equal of any performing arts city outside London and New York.

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