Our inaugural Winter Windows program featured local artists Axel Garay and Liwen Lian, who presented digital works responding to the theme Possible Worlds: Imagined Futures.

The program evolved to incorporate winter night screening programs at Blak Dot, Counihan Gallery and Michelle Gugliemo Park – and will continue as Around the Block in 2026.

Read about Winter Windows 2025

The Artistic Directorate was our decentralised leadership model that extends our curatorial reach beyond our home-base in Narrm/Melbourne. These mid-career or experienced artists were mentors to our 2024-25 Kickstart cohort.

Learn more about them

A Rising Tide was a leadership and curatorial development program initiated in partnership by Next Wave and VicHealth, involving four early-career practitioners—Matisse Laida, MaggZ, Lydia Tesema, and Banda—collectively known as the Young Artistic Directorate.

Read a wrap up written by Banda

Launched in 2022, Radical Hospitality invited communities to converge, connect and spark new encounters. The radical power of sharing food brought us together. This program was discontinued in 2024 to make way for new initiatives.

The wrap up of our inaugural Artistic Directorate term signaled an important moment in Next Wave’s story. They have played a crucial role in Next Wave’s transition from a local festival to a national artistic movement.

Read more about them

Artists Leigh, Tarryn and MaggZ join our team as Producers in Residence, embarking on a year long journey designing and curating projects with/for/by young people.

TIDAL took on the provocation of “art as public space”…

Countercurrents was a new public art commissioning partnership between Next Wave and Moreland City Council.