Things to do in Melbourne today

The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and its sister venues, Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Mornington Peninsula Chocolaterie, are hosting a delicious 18-day festival dedicated to possibly the best baked invention since sliced bread: the brownie. During the sweet extravaganza, the chocolateries will be releasing 16 limited-edition brownie varieties to sample, along with a range of brownie-inspired desserts and drinks.  Wondering what flavours are available this year? Here's a tasty teaser about what to expect: Dubai chocolate, Basque cheesecake, peanut butter chocolate whisky, black sesame and yuzu tarte. Yum! There are even gluten-free and vegan options to try so no one misses out. If you eat, sleep and breathe brownies, you might want to consider booking one of the tasting sessions. This is where you'll get to concoct your dream brownie from 50 different ingredients and while that’s baking, get to sample eight exclusive creations including bites, a hot chocolate and brownie ice cream You can even order the brownies to take home too – if they last the drive home, that is. The Brownie Festival is on from June 11-29. You can find out more here.  Keen for more fun? Here are the best things to do around Victoria in June.

French Impressionism is host to arguably some of the most famous (and most loved) artists of all time. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are just some of the artists who achieved such acclaim that they remain household names even a century after their deaths. And this winter, you can see some of the artist's most beautiful and well-known works right here in Melbourne at the NGV's new exhibition, French Impressionism: From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. From June 5 to October 5, 2025, the NGV will host more than 100 French Impressionist works by artists like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Mary Cassatt – including works never before seen in Australia. The exhibition is running in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is well regarded for its collection of French Impressionist masterpieces.    A highlight is the display of 16 canvases in one gallery, painted over a 30-year period, by Claude Monet. These works depict many of Monet’s most beloved scenes of nature in Argenteuil, the Normandy coast, the Mediterranean coast and his famous garden in Giverny.  One of the best things about this exhibition is that you will also learn the stories of the artists, exhibitions and collectors that shaped this significant movement in art history. Originally brought to the NGV back in 2021, this exhibition had to close just after it opened due to (yep, you guessed it), the...

For the twelfth year, Fitzroy's beloved Builders Arms Hotel is once again devoting ten days to sausages in June, celebrating everything from classic bratwurst to smoked frankfurters. Make a lunch or dinner booking anytime from Thursday June 12 to Sunday 22 to taste your fave sossies from the special festival menu.  The carnivorous array include spicy 'nduja rolls glazed with local honey; Spanish-style morcilla blood pudding hash brown Benedict; grilled bratwurst skewers with curry sauce; smoked cheese kransky hotdog with sauerkraut and chilli; an Alsatian-inspired trio of smoked frankfurters, Toulouse and Lyonnaise sausages on a bed of baked sauerkraut; and Modena-style cotechino with cime di rapa and baked polenta.  While we love a Bunnings sizzle as much as the next person, there's no doubt this menu takes it to the next level. The incredibly talented Troy Wheeler and his team from Meatsmith are making all the sausages from scratch, so you can expect proper juicy ones of an exceptional quality and with all the complementary accoutrements.  Kicking off the celebrations, there's a festival launch happy hour on Thursday June 12 from 5-7pm with free sausage snacks – and for a bit of extra fun, the program includes a special sausage-themed edition of Trivia with Cam Smith on Thursday evening, June 19. Call up your most competitive foodie friends, establish a team and prepare yourself for a night of obscure sausage facts, general snag knowledge and plenty of laughs all...

May the 4th is a special date for any Star Wars fan, but this year it'll be one to remember. A brand-new Lego Star Wars exhibition is making its world premiere, and it won't be in a galaxy far, far away but right here in Melbourne.  Lego Star Wars: the Exhibition at Melbourne Museum comes from revered Lego genius Ryan 'Brickman' McNaught, who's back with his latest mind-boggling project of massive Star Wars brick creations – some standing at a whopping four metres tall.  There'll be Lego replicas of many of the iconic characters, fan favourite scenes, spacecraft and more, from both the classic films and newer releases. Plus, the exhibition will include interactive brick-based activities inclusive of all ages.  While there's still some time to wait for the exhibition opening, building has already begun, and it's expected it'll take more than 25,000 hours to finish and use a wild 8 million Lego bricks. One of the most monumental creations is a three-metre-tall red X-wing spacecraft, made of an astonishing 64,759 bricks, taking 382 hours to build.  "Fans will be blown away by the scale of the experience," Brickman says. "Building these iconic scenes and characters in Lego Star Wars form is an extremely complex task – taking the humble Lego brick and using it by the millions to translate into Star Wars builds and models at an epic scale the world has never seen before.  "My team and I are super excited to launch this mind-blowing experience right here in Melbourne. My inner...

The Immigration Museum on Flinders Street is getting its first major exhibition in several years and it’s all about leaning into what makes us happy. The exhibition, called Joy, will run through until August 29, 2025. Joy features seven brand new commissioned installations from leading Victorian-based creatives, each expressing the artists’ own personal joy. You can expect an emotive adventure where colour and storytelling combine, and big happy moments that sit alongside more reflective ones. Experience the vibrant power of joy as you walk amongst room-sized interactive artworks, or contribute your own joy with the collaborative ‘share your joy’ wall. Venezuelan-born Australian artist Nadia Hernández has filled the Immigration Museum’s hallway with bold collage works, ‘future positive’ fashion designer Nixi Killick has created a ‘joy generator’ and queer artist Spencer Harrison has created a runway where you can strut your stuff. Jazz Money, a Wiradjuri poet and artist, has fused sculpture, audio and mural for a work reflecting the history of the museum site, while local artist Beci Orpin has taken over a room with a giant toy rabbit made to be hugged. Afghanistan-Australian visual artist and poet Elyas Alavi and Sher Ali have also created a large-scale mural illustrating a Persian myth.  Lastly, much-loved pop artist and designer Callum Preston has constructed a full-scale replica of a nineties video store, a joy he never thought he would miss until he realised it was...

Do you have golden retriever energy, or are you more of a black cat kind of person? Felines and canines form an important part of the everyday lives, pop culture and mythology of humans, and the latest exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria celebrates the role of these animals.  Cats and Dogs is now showing at the NGV’s Ian Potter Centre until July 2025. The exhibition will feature more than 250 works of art, design and fashion spanning diverse periods and media, all drawn from the NGV’s own collection.  One side of the exhibition is dedicated to all things dogs, with the other side to our feline friends. The cross-cultural and transhistorical collection of artworks spotlights the cultural symbolism of cats and dogs, from their significance in religion, spirituality and the occult, to their appearances in pop culture.  The multifaceted line-up of artists includes Pierre Bonnard, Rembrandt van Rijn, David Hockney and Jeff Koons, as well as local talents Atong Atem, Grace Cossington Smith and Trevor Turbo Brown. In terms of fashion, there are also impressive pieces from Romance Was Born and Alexander McQueen. Find out more about Cats and Dogs including ticket information over here. Feeling arty? Check out the best art and exhibitions happening in Melbourne this month.

For the First Peoples of so-called Australia, the term ‘Country’ describes much more than simply a place or nation. Instead, it describes a deep connection to land, animals and plants, ancestors, language, culture and the wisdom of the land itself. Relationships to Country are individual and dinstinct, but always grounded in mutual respect. A new installation within Melbourne Museum called Biik Milboo Dhumba – Country is Always Talking encourages visitors to consider what it means to listen to Country. As you enter the tranquil space of the museum’s living Forest Gallery, you’ll encounter portraits of Elders and community members of the Eastern Kulin Nations. Use your phone to listen to their stories, detailing their unique and personal relationships to Country. Wander among the tall trees as you learn about cultural practices including scarring trees, seed collecting and cultural burning. A towering new sculpture by artist Robert Young provides the perfect place to stop and reflect on your journey. In the words of senior Elder N’Arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs: “‘We have to sit with Country and understand how it talks to us. The landscape informs us if we learn to see and hear it.” This installation is now open and access is included with museum entry. You can find out more at the Melbourne Museum website. Want more? Check out the best art and exhibitions happening in Melbourne this month.

Traversing time and space, Wurrdha Marra is an ongoing exhibition celebrating the diversity of First Nations art and design. Since late 2023, the ground floor and foyer of the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia has become home to a dynamic and ever-changing exhibition space that displays masterpieces and never-before-shown works from the NGV’s First Nations collection. Translating to ‘many mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language, Wurrdha Marra showcases pieces from emerging and established artists from across Australia, including Tony Abert, Treahna Hamn, Kent Morris, Marlene Gilson, Rover Thomas, Christian Thompson, Gary Lee, Nicole Monks, Gali Yalkarriwuy, Dhambit Mungunggurr, Nonggirrnga Marawili and more.  Highlights of the free exhibition include a large-scale installation of fish traps produced by Burrara women from Maningrida – the objects have been crafted over weeks using vines from the bush. Also on display is a new collection of contemporary resin boomerangs by Keemon Williams, a First Nations queer artist hailing from Meanjin/Brisbane. Another unseen work is titled History Repeats by Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku Yalanji contemporary artist Tony Albert, who has used mass-produced objects – from tea towels to ashtrays – to reframe Indigenous histories.  More recently, the exhibition has been updated to include the largest-ever display of the NGV's expansive collection of bark paintings. Bark Salon subverts the traditional European salons of the 18th and 19th...