Melbourne’s winter arts festival RISING (27 May to 8 June) has unveiled its 2026 program, one led by international artists spanning hip hop, experimental jazz, dub, indie rock and electronic music.

More than 100 events will take place in theatres, town halls, clubs, galleries and public spaces across Naarm/Melbourne.

Chunky Move: Glow. Photo supplied

A major hub will be Day Tripper, a multi-room live music marathon presented with Triple R that transforms venues including Max Watt’s and Melbourne Town Hall into a festival-within-a-festival. Headlining the event is British spoken-word artist and musician Kae Tempest, joined by genre-crossing poet-rapper Saul Williams and Chicago spiritual-jazz pioneer Kahil El’Zabar.

The eclectic lineup also includes Jamaican roots legends The Congos, New Zealand indie stalwarts The Bats and experimental rock-raga collective SAICOBAB (sitar master Yoshida Daikiti alongside avant-rock icons from Japan legends The Boredoms), reflecting what organisers describe as a collision of poetry, punk, reggae and avant-jazz.

Elsewhere in the music program, a world-premiere concert tribute to Gil Scott-Heron will be performed by longtime collaborator Brian Jackson alongside hip hop artist Yasiin Bey.

Hip hop royalty also arrives in the form of Brooklyn rapper Lil’ Kim, performing material from her landmark albums Hard Core and The Notorious K.I.M., while Afrobeat bandleader Seun Kuti appears with his father’s legendary ensemble Egypt 80 at Hamer Hall.

The program continues with veteran dub producer and On U-Sound label founder Adrian Sherwood, Welsh art-pop songwriter Cate Le Bon and Palestinian-French artist Saint Levant. Canadian dark-synth project TR/ST, UK techno producer Daniel Avery and London post-punk band Dry Cleaning further highlight the festival’s club-leaning strand.

A more experimental dimension comes through the Australian presentation of Voiceless Mass by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon, staged inside St Paul’s Cathedral as a resonant ensemble work reflecting on land and silenced Indigenous histories.

Oona Doherty’s Hard To Be Soft. Photo supplied

Beyond music, RISING 2026 introduces the inaugural Australian Dance Biennale, a city-wide showcase of contemporary dance spanning theatres, public spaces and club nights.

Among the major works is Hard to Be Soft: A Belfast Prayer, in which Northern Irish choreographer Oona Doherty explores the emotional and political landscape of Belfast through explosive physical theatre and a score by DJ David Holmes.

The dance program also includes The Forest, a new work from Melbourne choreographer Lucy Guerin, and the revival of Glow, the pioneering technology-driven solo originally choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek.

The performance program further features international theatre, including A Year Without Summer, a darkly comic spectacle from Austrian director Florentina Holzinger, and Nowhere, an autobiographical performance from actor and writer Khalid Abdalla (seen recently in the Sydney Festival).

At Arts Centre Melbourne, Sydney Dance Company presents a double bill, pairing Antony Hamilton’s Forever & Ever with Melanie Lane’s Love Lock and after a one-night RISING appearance in 2021 cut short by lockdown, Dancenorth’s RED returns for its first full festival season at MTC’s Lawler Theatre.

Khalid Abdalla: Nowhere. Photo © Neil Bennett

Artistic director Hannah Fox said the program reflects Melbourne’s deep connection to collective experiences built around music and movement. The festival will transform venues ranging from cathedrals and ballrooms to clubs and civic squares, she said, creating spaces where audiences can “gather, move and encounter new ideas at scale”.

RISING runs from 27 May to 8 June 2026, with presale tickets available from 12 March and general sales beginning 16 March.