Melbourne is set to take a bite out of the Big Apple this winter, with a city-wide festival this June to August, to celebrate the strong cultural connections between New York City and the Victorian capital.
A feature of the National Gallery of Victoria’s world-premiere exhibition MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art – the MEL&NYC festival will explore the links between the two global creative cities – across art, music, food, comedy, dance, film and more.
“More than a dozen of Melbourne’s best cultural organisations are collaborating with New York-based partners, to present this exciting and ambitious city-wide program,” said Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley. “It demonstrates the global reach of our creative sector and will showcase local talent alongside NYC’s finest.”
The festival will bring together local talent with New York’s finest, including comedian Ilana Glazer (Broad City), award-winning songstress Regina Spektor, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow and guest chefs from acclaimed New York restaurant Momofuku.
The extensive music program includes a live RockWiz TV event paying homage to all things rock in New York, a tribute to Leonard Bernstein by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a jazz line-up curated by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
The festival will also include secret laneway pop-up gigs celebrating Melbourne and New York’s shared underground music scene, and bring together the cities’ iconic food culture through week-long residencies in restaurants and bars across Melbourne, with collaborations including Momofuku X Marion.
Anchoring the festival, MoMA at NGV will take over the entire ground floor of NGV International, with over 200 works from art legends including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keeffe, Roy Lichtenstein and more. It will be the biggest collection of MoMA works to ever leave the prestigious New York gallery.
MEL&NYC runs from June to August 2018 across Melbourne. For more information, visit: www.melnyc.com for details.