RESET: A festival for grounding and growing

Every weekend throughout August, join community-led planting events across Naarm (Melbourne) and beyond to help regenerate local environments. The thirteen different Planting sites stretch from Macedon to Cairnlea on Wurundjeri Country and around Birrarung, inland to Chewton on Djaara Country, and across the peninsula to Flinders on Bunurong Country. Each event is guided by passionate ecological groups dedicated to Caring for Country and feature a range of special cultural or creative activities and talks. Enjoy live music and readings, draw plants and create a nature journal, learn from First Nations knowledge holders on a cultural walk – or learn to construct a bee hotel to protect native bees. 

Returning for its second year, Planting Party celebrates a month of community native tree planting at multiple sites along Melbourne’s creeks and rivers. Fed Square will host a free day of entertainment, talks, food stalls, art installations, propagation and gardening workshops, and a plant market, bringing the community together to connect and learn how to support a culture of Caring for Country.

A day of zero-waste inspiration, with hands-on activities, lively discussions and an exhibition featuring zero waste innovators and small businesses. Featuring talks by leading sustainability voices, practical zero-waste ideas, and the inaugural ReWear Runway showcasing creative alternatives to wasteful fashion.

A relaxed, shared reading experience where book lovers can slow down and get lost in a novel, while listening to ambient music curated to help with your reading. Enjoy free tea and coffee, bring a book to read or swap, bring your knitting, sketchbook or journal if you want to get creative – and settle in for a no-pressure afternoon on your own terms. 

Step away from the scroll and create in a collective community. A hands-on junk journalling workshop with Melbourne-based artists hey.raco and Akres, inviting participants to unplug, get creative with repurposed materials, and explore self-expression through collage in a relaxed, supportive environment.

A free workshop led by local textile artist hey.raco, where you can learn the art of practical textile repair and upcycling. Bring your own garment to mend, create accessories from repurposed materials, and help keep textiles out of landfill.

Join in a free, community cleanup along the banks of Birrarung (Yarra River) near Fed Square to celebrate World Cleanup Day. Roll up your sleeves to help keep our river clean, our city healthy and enjoy free tea and coffee and a free sausage sizzle afterwards.

Join Urban Ecologist Dr Jacinta Humphrey to explore design for birds in these small group, family-friendly workshops.

Join community advocates, volunteers, researchers, Traditional Owners and waterway champions for a day dedicated to the future of Melbourne’s rivers, creeks and wetlands.

Back for its third year, the Big Toy Swap is a free community event empowering families to keep toys out of landfill and in the hands of kids who will love them. Sessions are free, but require bookings.

From award-winning interactive theatre company Polyglot Theatre, Paper Planet is a magical, child-led experience where families use paper, tape and imagination to transform a forest of cardboard trees into a growing world of creatures, plants and stories.

These school holidays we’re screening a trio of beloved and award-winning 90s family-friendly adventure films featuring stories of human and animal connection with an environmental message at their heart: Free Willy (1993), Flipper (1996) and Fly Away Home (1996).

How do birds make their nests in urban environments?

Presented in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Melbourne Fringe, artist Bethany Kiss’s Peckable Architecture features biodegradable composite bricks designed for birds to peck apart and collect nesting materials.

From leather grown from fungi to fibreboard made from hemp, Plant Life: The Nature of Design explores humanity’s evolving relationship with the plant world through design, from ancestral craft knowledge and devotional making, through industrial exploitation and the rupture of the petrochemical century, to the designers building a regenerative material future today.

Image credit: Joris Laarman Ply loop chair 2025. Photo: Leonard Faustle