RESET: A free festival for greener living

Grab a beanbag in the Atrium, pop on your headphones, and get carried away on a dreamy sonic journey, exploring the sounds and stories of Australia’s nocturnal wildlife. Blending nature sounds and storytelling across four different audio experiences, you’ll hear about the lives of the pygmy possum, platypus, bare nosed wombat or the green sea turtle.

Presented with Australian Museum and Audiocraft.

Gather with community and experts for an evening of bold conversation about climate justice, from creative thinkers and practical experts. Speakers will include First Nations Knowledge holders, artists, gardeners and thinkers. This conversation event is planned in the lead up to Planting Party: a day of community action and celebration.

Presented by Creative Climate and Fed Square.

Throughout RESET, you can catch documentaries on the Big Screen, presenting stories about how different local environmental groups and collectives made up of dedicated volunteers work to protect our environment, repair our waterways and preserve threatened species, imagining a better future for all of us. From the Ground Up delves into the stories and people behind some of the more than 500 environmental volunteer groups working across greater Melbourne, and Big Swim explores the movement imagining a future swimmable Yarra River/ Birrarung.

A jam-packed day of zero waste inspiration and action, with hands-on activities, discussions, info displays, a clothes swap and a vibrant market with sustainable food trucks. Head to The Edge for a program of talks and panel discussions by leading voices in waste reduction and sustainability, and drop into the Repair Café or join the mending circle to learn how to keep your clothes and broken household items out of landfill.

Presented by Zero Waste Victoria.

Get involved in a morning of community native tree and grass planting at multiple sites along Melbourne’s creeks and rivers, then head to Fed Square for the after party – Planting Party! Hosted by ABC presenter dirtgirl, you can connect with community, relax and listen to live music, join in a workshop with local artists or propagation experts and hear from renowned City of Trees author Sophie Cunningham and our Head Gardener Russell Larke. Inspired to rewild? Pick up a plant or two at the plant sales to take home.

Planting Party is commissioned and presented by Fed Square in partnership with Creative Climate. Planting Party is generously supported by Landcare Victoria, Bupa, and Melbourne Water.

This new site-specific textile installation by Melbourne-based artist Sangeeta Sandrasegar continues her collaboration with Heather Thomas, a natural dying expert.

Suspended from the Atrium ceiling, the work of hand-dyed silk organza and cotton will reference the histories of Italian immigrant flower sellers along the Princes Bridge in the 1900s, exploring themes of migration and cultural identity, through histories of colour, natural dying and textile fabrication.

Commissioned and presented by Fed Square, with the Australian Tapestry Workshop.

Join in a mending or embroidery workshop with Manjari Singh, where you can revive your wardrobe and learn about traditional Indian textile arts. Bring your own items to repair or embroider, or work alongside others to contribute to a community textile project over a hot drink.

Join the local community at Fed Square, for the Bupa Healthy Cities Community Cleanup for World Cleanup Day. You’ll work together to pick up rubbish from along the banks of the Birrarung, with free tea and coffee available and a sausage sizzle (vegan options available!) for lunch.

Presented with Bupa and Clean Up Australia.

A drop-in activity and installation for kids and adults. Participants will get muddy, playing with cob – an ancient, reusable building material – to create a metropolis made of mudbricks. For all ages!

A self-directed creative activity, inspiring kids to learn all about butterflies. Pick up an activity sheet from The Atrium and follow the map to the Test Garden on top of Fed Square’s car park. Kids will search for butterflies among the blooming spring flowers and learn about the different species common to our urban environment, and what their markings mean.

Drop by the Atrium to experience interactive displays, musical plants, hands-on activities, workshops and discussions for all ages, celebrating 60 years of protecting nature with the Australian Conservation Foundation. Write a love letter to nature, join an artist-led drawing workshop where you can draw one of Australia’s threatened species, or compose a tune on some playable plants.

Bring your kids to the Test Garden for an indigo dye workshop with Heather Thomas. In this fun, drop-in workshop, create your own beautifully patterned indigo textile to take home.

Free drop-in sessions, booking links to come. 

Legendary performance artists Betty Grumble and Dandrogyny lead a workshop and performance experience in the Test Garden for kids and their grown-ups, encouraging empathy, curiosity, and wonder about the natural world.

Television presenter dirtgirl and everyone’s favourite gardener Costa Georgadis (aka Costa the Garden Gnome) host this year’s Big Toy Swap. At this free community event, you can refresh your child’s toy box with new-to-them alternatives. Designed with zero waste principles, The Big Toy Swap encourages reusing before binning, getting those toys destined for landfill into the hands of kids who will love them.

Presented with Zero Waste Victoria 

An afternoon of culture, creativity and connection, honouring the Birrarung. Join with community on Birrarung Marr Walk for a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, and performances by the Climate Choir and Wurundjeri women dance group Djirri Djirri. The afternoon of activity will continue in The Edge, with conversation, storytelling and music, followed by afternoon tea.

Presented by Yarra Riverkeeper Association as part of Birrarung Riverfest.

During the school holidays, our Big Screen is going green. Catch our free outdoor film festival for kids and families, with a selection of green-themed animations and documentaries exploring stories of environmental displacement, climate action, connection and home. The program includes the 2024 documentary about the power of youth-led climate action, Future Council; animated musical-fantasy FernGully: The Last Rainforest; Oscar-winning animated feature Flow; and the original fairytale-with-a-difference, Shrek.

Bee-lovers and the bee-curious can go behind the scenes with Rooftop Bees on a guided tour of Fed Square’s rooftop beehives, suitable for all ages. See the hives in action and learn from the beekeepers about what the bees are up to, and the vital role bees play in supporting local biodiversity and a healthy environment. Each tour is limited to 20 people, and access to the roof is via a flight of steps.

Presented with Rooftop Bees.

A monthly outdoor talk and creative workshop held in the Test Garden, designed for garden and plant lovers. The morning talk will feature University of Melbourne researcher Claire Farrell and principal architect at Hassell Jon Hazelwood for a conversation on the role of rooftop gardens in shaping greener, more liveable cities. Following this, join Heather Thomas in a hands-on workshop exploring the histories and properties of plant material in dyeing fabric. Registrations required.