The Coburg Carnivale is scheduled to take place at the Victoria Street Mall Precinct – Friday 22 September, 3pm-7pm & Saturday 23 September, 11am – 3pm.

Coburg Carnivale is an annual event that takes place in Victoria Street Mall Precint, Coburg, during Melbourne Fringe. Presented by Council, it engages the community of Coburg through exciting and dynamic free programming, which has included performance, music, dance, workshops, market stalls and children’s activities.

Presented across two days it will feature three brand new works from local artists also debuting as part of the 2017 Melbourne Fringe Festival, as well as a ‘Sweet Tastes of Coburg’ guided trail and other Pop up live art experiences including music, street theatre and more!

A major focus in the development of this year’s Carnivale program was to support the creation and presentation of high quality, innovative participatory and live art projects. New initiative the Festivals Moreland Development Program was established for this purpose and through it Council supported local artists UB (Youbi Lee), Playable Streets (Glen Walton and Cayne Borthwick) and Jessica Ferrari to create works specifically to be showcased as part of the Coburg Carnivale during the 2017 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

UB presents Asian Grocery an immersive art installation space inspired by the question ‘What is Asia? UB has created a quirky and mysterious store full of kitsch items to be discovered and will offer printmaking workshops so participants can contribute to the collective live art space

Playable Streets present Reach Out Sounds an exciting new sound work that brings people together in the joy of creating music, even if you have never picked up an instrument in your life! In this work, you become the musical instrument, touching another participant triggers sounds that create an evolving musical work that is at once energetic, original and fleeting.

Documentary filmmaker Jessica Ferrari presents ReCollection where participants get to share their stories, tall tales and reminisces about Coburg in a specially built recollection recorder. Celebrating, sharing and capturing the memories of Coburg’s places, history and faces. Visitors of all ages will be enticed off the street and invited to contribute their filmed memories to the (Re)collection.

This year’s Coburg Carnivale will also feature ‘Sweet Tastes of Coburg’; a multicultural sweets trail created specifically for the 2017 Carnivale by local organisation New Futures Creative in collaboration with Council and the Coburg Traders Association. Showcasing a selection of local traders and offering a unique opportunity to travel a guided trail in and around the iconic Sydney Road strip, Coburg, participants will taste a variety of multicultural sweets and discover the individual stories of their journey to Coburg.

The program is highly inclusive and accessible and in particular this year will offer Auslan interpretation, an initiative supported by Metro Access; who are collaborating with Event Organisers to design events that offer optimum inclusivity and accessibility to visitors.