Next Wave

Next Wave Next Wave is an engine room for art making and experimentation, dreaming and doing, exchange and connection. We present, advocate, develop and collaborate.

We support artists from across this continent, amplifying ambitious ideas, experimental practice and critical storytelling that reflects the zeitgeist of our times.

'Rakali' is coming to Next Wave...Returning after a sold out debut season, 'Rakali' is a twisted and hilarious new work ...
29/05/2026

'Rakali' is coming to Next Wave...

Returning after a sold out debut season, 'Rakali' is a twisted and hilarious new work of Australian Gothic theatre.

A millennial couple move from Melbourne to a houseboat in a remote part of Tasmania with their newborn. They think they’ve found paradise. But life in the sticks is less than idyllic. One night, a water rat crawls aboard and transforms into a human. He wants to steal and eat their baby.

'Rakali' brings together some of Naarm’s most exciting independent theatre makers. Written by Alex Duncan (Malthouse Playwright in Development 2025), directed by Alice Darling ('The Fence') and performed by Alexandra Aldrich, Lily Fish and John Shearman.

"a comedic thriller of the highest degree" - Theatre Travels
"dark, twisted and utterly delightful - a must see!" - Weekend Notes
" deliciously entertaining" - My Melbourne Arts

Showing 3 – 14 June (5 – 7 June SOLD OUT)
Tickets from $25

Photo: Hannah Spence
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Image description:
This is a photo of Lily Fish as Rakali. They wear a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbow and denim shorts. Their hair is spiked up, and they sneer with their teeth bared. Their hands are tense with their fingers flexed like claws.

Join movement and physical theatre practitioner Lily Fish for a workshop on creating theatre without the frills. A New P...
29/05/2026

Join movement and physical theatre practitioner Lily Fish for a workshop on creating theatre without the frills.

A New Poor Theatre invites creators to step away from technology, to simplify, to return to the body and the empty playing space. To make work that inspires and invigorates audience imagination.

Lily Fish is an award winning performer, maker, director and teaching artist. They are a founding member of PO PO MO CO, Brunswick East Entertainment Festival, and The Wholesome Hour. Their play Yarn is published through PlayLab.

Lily is currently featuring in 'Rakali', a contemporary Australian Gothic fable showing at Next Wave from 3 – 14 June.

Visit our website for all the details.

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Image:
This is an photo of Lily Fish among a group of people, all wearing comfortable black clothes. They hold their arms wide and have an animated look of surprise on their face.
Photo: Kate Longley
There is also text that reads 'Creating a New Poor Theatre with Lily Fish'.

Learn more about 2026–27 Kickstart and the EOI process in our online info session on Wednesday. We’ll share an overview ...
25/05/2026

Learn more about 2026–27 Kickstart and the EOI process in our online info session on Wednesday.

We’ll share an overview of the program, what to expect across 2026–27, and how to approach your submission, followed by time for questions.

This session is open to anyone thinking about applying, whether you have a clear idea or are still figuring things out.

Link in commends to register.

Kickstart EOIs are open, closing Thursday 18 June.

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Image description:
The image contains text that reads '2026–27 Kickstart Online Info Session Wed 27 May'

The students from the Art Centred Studio (Photography Discipline, RMIT) invite you to '______see ______do' at Next Wave....
23/05/2026

The students from the Art Centred Studio (Photography Discipline, RMIT) invite you to '______see ______do' at Next Wave.

Through the instrumentalisation of the image, they have created performances, installations, publications, and site-specific interventions. These emerging image makers exhibit their research in critically informed, responsive, and productive ways that action their pedagogical inquiries.

Opening: Friday 29 May, 5pm – 7pm (RSVP via link in bio)
Exhibition Continues: 30 – 31 May, 11am – 5pm

Presented by School of Art - RMIT University

Photo: Bailey Hovey

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Image description:
This is a black and white photo of a person wearing a eclectically patterned jacket. Their head is clean shaven and they look downward, hands expressively raised in front of their chest. There is also text that reads '_____see______do opening Friday 29 May'

As an organisation that has spent more than four decades supporting emerging and early-career artists, we believe this r...
22/05/2026

As an organisation that has spent more than four decades supporting emerging and early-career artists, we believe this review presents a critical opportunity to address one of the most pressing structural issues facing the sector: the widening gap in support for young people, emerging artists, and the organisations that sustain them.

The review of the National Cultural Policy presents an opportunity to build a more sustainable, equitable and future-focused cultural sector.Australia cannot afford to lose the organisations, artists and pathways that cultivate the next generation of cultural life. The consequences of disinvestment in emerging practice are not just immediate but they are cumulative and long-term. The effects will be felt in diminished artistic diversity, weakened workforce pipelines, reduced cultural participation, and the loss of future sector leaders.

These challenges are not without solutions. A coordinated national response could include a Youth Cultural Access Scheme, structured paid industry learning pathways, and dedicated investment in emerging artist development organisations as cultural infrastructure. Together with cross-portfolio investment linking arts, education and health, and a more nuanced approach to measuring cultural participation, these measures would rebuild the pipeline between education and professional practice. They would ensure that Australia does not lose a generation of artists, but instead builds the conditions for them to thrive.

Next Wave urges government to recognise young people, emerging artists, and the organisations that support them at the centre of the future of national cultural policy.

Investment in emerging practice is an investment in Australia’s cultural future.
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Our full submission is available on our website:https://admin.nextwave.org.au/media/pages/news/our-national-cultural-policy-submission/750824771-1779422956/next-wave-submission-to-the-review-of-the-national-cultural-policy_final.pdf

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Image:
Kickstart 2024–25 artists link arms at the 2025 Kickstart Showcase. Photo: Mae Hartrick

Calling early-career artists living or working in Victoria 📣2026–27 Kickstart EOIs are now open! Kickstart is Next Wave'...
20/05/2026

Calling early-career artists living or working in Victoria 📣

2026–27 Kickstart EOIs are now open!

Kickstart is Next Wave's flagship creative development program for early-career artists, supporting the next generation of artists, producers and arts leaders to develop new work over an 18-month period.

Early-career artists ready to take their practice to the next level are invited to apply.

Join our information session on Wednesday 27 May to learn more about the Kickstart program.
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Image:
Hannah Brontë (Yaegel), 'FEMPRE$$', Next Wave Festival, 2016, Blak Dot Gallery, Narrm/Melbourne. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Sarah Walker.
This image contains text that reads EOI Open, Kickstart 2026–27.
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Supported by Wyndham City and Cardinia Shire Council

06/05/2026

EOIs for the 2026 'Around the Block' program closing tomorrow!

We thought we'd take a second to throwback to last year's 'Around the Block' (fka 'Winter Windows') works:

Axel Garay, 'S*k'
Our past consumes our future, rolling around the oceans, choked in our garbage. Our footsteps form and decay, and yet our trash remains, in great plastic detail for centuries after us. S*k [pronounced seek] is a two channel video portrait series grappling with a future land filled with our trashy remains. How do our descendants weave our garbage into the folklore of the future?

Axel Garay (Meriam/Puerto Rican/Malaysian) is an emerging q***r First Nations interdisciplinary artist and storyteller working with the still and moving image. He utilises digital video, installation and alternative photographic processes to explore themes of technology ethics, desire, spirituality and human psychology.

Liwen Lian, 'Nightfall'
Drawing from Islamic mysticism, Christian allegory, and Chinese cosmology, Nightfall questions the boundaries of reality in an age where digital illusions blur truth.
The artist’s digital twin Salima Iman Khair al-Din traverses the liminal space between worlds—human and machine, seen and unseen, the tangible and the dreamed.
In collaboration with local fashion designer Wilson Jedd Adams, Salima becomes a conduit between worlds—her cyborg-esque presence symbolising the entanglement of human aspiration and machine logic.

Liwen Lian is a Hui-Chinese 回族 visual artist, designer, and community arts labourer. They hold a Bachelor of Interior Design (Honours) from RMIT University. Their practice explores how visual and material culture—objects, technologies, and environments—shape, distort, and re-imagine identities and notions of humanness.

Submit an EOI to be part of the 2026 'Around the Block' program by Friday 8 May.

Link in b i o for details.
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Image descriptions:
In Axel's work 'S*k', hooded figures in red t-shirts and white pants walk across a blue shore, waves can be seen breaking in the background under a blue and purple sky.
In Liwen's work, 'Nightfall' you can see a figure in a flowing white dress, their face is concealed by a veil. The lighting low and tinted red.

Vale Christopher Bell. It is with great sadness that we share the news that Christopher Bell passed earlier this year. ...
06/05/2026

Vale Christopher Bell.

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Christopher Bell passed earlier this year.

Christopher served on Next Wave's board from 2006 to 2010 and played a significant role in shaping the organisation years under the leadership of Marcus Westbury and Jeff Khan.

“Christopher Bell was a great supporter of Next Wave during a critical stage of its evolution and a formative stage of my career and the careers of the many emerging artists I will always appreciate that and I know that I am not the only one who will greatly feel his loss.” – Marcus Westbury.

His legacy continues to resonate through the fabric of Next Wave today as we continue empowering and advocating for early-career and experimental artistic practice in Australia.

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Image descriptions:
1. A photo of Christopher Bell. He wears a collard shirt and straw hat. He is looking away and laughing, smiling broadly. There is also text that reads 'Vale Christopher Bell'
2. This tile contains the quote is a quote from Marcus Westbury, as above.

One week left to apply for Around the Block! There are nine opportunties for emerging and early-career artists across Au...
01/05/2026

One week left to apply for Around the Block!

There are nine opportunties for emerging and early-career artists across Australia working in moving image, in two locations:
1. Next Wave
2. Michelle Gugliemo Park

Around the Block, a six-week screening series that transforms the facade of Next Wave’s building and unfolds along Brunswick’s artistic precinct.

Visit our website for more information.
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Image descriptions:
1. This image has text that reads 'AROUND THE BLOCK EOIs close Fri 8 May'
2. This image has text that reads 'There are nine opportunties for emerging and early-career artists across Australia working in moving image. In two locations:'
3. This is an image of the front of Next Wave's venue, Brunswick Mechanics Institute. There are two pairs of screens (four in total), each pair is highlighted with a red box, showing where each screening space at Next Wave will be.
4. This is an image from Around the Block/Winter Windows at Next Wave (Brunwick Mechanics Institute) in 2026. It is artist Liwen Lian's work, 'Nightfall', 2025. One screen is a shimmery galaxy of red light. The other screen shows a person in a flowing white dress.
5. This is an image of the 260 Sydney Road Projection space at Michelle Gugliemo Park. There is one screen, also highlighted with a red box.
6. This is an image from Around the Block at Michelle Gugliemo Park. It is artist Linda Loh's work 'Golden Mist', 2024. It is a graphic work of warm colours and beams of light.

Next Wave is recruiting a Venue Operations Manager to support our work at Brunswick Mechanics Institute. The new role wi...
27/04/2026

Next Wave is recruiting a Venue Operations Manager to support our work at Brunswick Mechanics Institute.

The new role will be responsible for oversight and delivery of technical production and venue management.

Next Wave operates Brunswick Mechanics Institute with the support of Merri-bek City Council, and has secured a tender for the building for up to nine years.

Located in the heart of Bulleke-bek/Brunswick, home to one of Naarm/Melbourne’s largest and most vibrant creative communities, Brunswick Mechanics Institute is a vital engine room for artistic development and public exchange.

Want to be part of our small but mighty team?

Apply by Monday 11 May – visit our website for more infomation.

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Image description:
This image contains text that reads 'Next Wave is hiring: Venue Operations Manager'.
There is also a photo of artist Leon Rodgers and his work 'Gulan'. Leon sits behind a laptop showing an animation of a cave system. That animation is projected onto a screen in the background.

Leon Rodgers, Gulan, 2025, Next Wave, Brunswick Music Festival, Naarm/Melbourne. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Simon Fazio.

Address

270 Sydney Road, Brunswick
Melbourne, VIC
3056

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 6pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 6pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 6pm
Thursday 9:30am - 6pm
Friday 9:30am - 6pm

Telephone

+61393873376

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