ALSO If you want to get involved with a theatre project, it helps to know what’s going on around town. Get in touch with these places to see what might be happening with them.
Youth theatre companies
• First Impressions Youth Theatre
• St Martins Youth Arts Centre
• Western Edge Youth Arts
Student union theatre organisations
Generally you need to be a current or past student to be involved with these organisations. They might be able to offer venues for hire and equipment for hire though. Check them out:
• La Trobe Student Theatre and Film
• Monash University Student Theatre
• RMIT Union Arts
• Union House Theatre, University of Melbourne
Other theatre and arts organisations
We’ve concentrated just on Melbourne organisations below, and ones with their own venues. There are plenty of other theatre companies who don’t have a permanent venue, as well as independent dance theatre companies, puppetry companies, physical theatre companies etc.
These organisations below generally support established artists but some create specific opportunities for emerging artists. Each company works a little differently in how they program their work, including commissioning work and providing space for other ensembles or groups to present work. In that sense, sometimes they have a curatorial function where they choose work and sometimes they operate more like a venue for hire.
Keep an eye on:
• Arena Theatre Company
• The Arts Centre
• Arts House
• fortyfivedownstairs
• Full Tilt (not a company but a program in The Arts Centre)
• La Mama
• Malthouse Theatre
• Melbourne Recital Centre
• Melbourne Theatre Company
• Melbourne Workers Theatre
• Red Stitch
• The Store Room
• Theatreworks
Regional theatre companies
• Geelong Courthouse Youth Arts
• Hothouse Theatre
• Punctum
Writing organisations
Melbourne is now a UNESCO recognised ‘City of Literature’. A new centre has opened up at the State Library of Victoria.
Some of these organisations are at this new writing centre, some are not:
• Australian Fellowship of Writers
• Australian Writers’ Guild
• Express Media
• Playwriting Australia
• State Library of Victoria
• Victorian Writers’ Centre
Festivals
Some of these festivals you can register for, some you have to be invited to be in:
• Brisbane Festival Under the Radar
• Emerging Writers’ Festival
• Melbourne Fringe Festival
• Melbourne International Arts Festival
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• Melbourne Writers’ Festival
• Next Wave Festival
• National Young Writers Festival
• This is Not Art
You may want to consider Fringe festivals interstate and overseas too:
• Adelaide Fringe Festival
• Brisbane Festival Under the Radar
• Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• Montreal Fringe Festival
Professional support organisations
• Multicultural Arts Victoria
• Auspicious Arts