Next Wave has grown from a youth arts festival in the ‘80s to the beloved platform it is today. Next Wave Festival artists have continued to shape contemporary artistic culture, and many works that premiered with us have gone on to tour the continent and beyond our shores.

And we keep learning. And we keep experimenting.

We dig deep into our collective moral imagination, respond to the here and now, and dream towards the future we want to see for our artists and communities.

Our vision begins On Country, and is anchored by our values of Justice, Friendship and Care. We embed artist-led processes to foster a thriving environment for artists and their communities. And we remain rigorous in how we continue to support the development and presentation of contemporary and experimental practice by artists across this continent.

In 2022 and beyond, Next Wave will not present a festival.

Next Wave reorientates its activity beyond Melbourne as the centre of gravity, prioritising different approaches to knowledge, power and aesthetic. We work from diversity – of lived and cultural experience, of artform and practice, of geographical, social and community contexts. And we honour the relationships that are born from engaging artists as self-determined and equal partners as we share in the act of art making and culture building.

Our 2022-2025 Strategic Plan is here for your reading pleasure. As we share the details to our plans and programmatic shifts in the coming weeks, we invite you to come along on this journey of reinvention with us.