Projects

The Creative City team works within a community cultural development framework to deliver an annual Cultural Development program and the City Centre Activations program on behalf of the City of Greater Bendigo. 

We encourage you to browse the below content showcasing a range of our projects. 

Yirrip (Ironbark) 
Pennyweight Walk Open Air Gallery
10 November – late February

Curated by Nacho Station
Hidden just beyond the edges of the city lies a forest unlike any other. The Box-Ironbark landscape is unique to this region. Ancient, resilient, and quietly blooming all year round. Though it can’t be seen from the streets of Bendigo, its presence surrounds us.
Yirrip draws this forest into the heart of the city. Through public art woven into Pennyweight Walk, the exhibition celebrates the textures, tones, and cultural layers of the Box-Ironbark. It offers a visual echo of the bush, blooming against the backdrop of the built environment.
Featuring curated works from First Nations, local, and interstate artists, this open-air gallery invites you to pause, look closer, and feel the forest resonate through the laneway. Each artwork is a call and response, a conversation between Country and city, past and present, rooted in celebration of our wonderful natural heritage.
Artists in alphabetical order: Alicia Huddy, Amanda Peluso, Andre Sardone, Bridget Finch, David Snowdon, Gus Eagleton, Jack Fran, Jasmine Howell-Saunders, Juzpop, Lauren Starr, Levi Jessen-Fennell, Manda Lane, Reece Hendy, Sarah Macumber, Steve Stanley, Troy Firebrace. 

Connect the dots / mapping creative industries pathways

Creatives of Bendigo: Mapping Creative Industries Pathways (6 minutes)
The Creative City team has created a series of resources that map local education and employment pathways in the creative industries, including this video featuring local creatives generously sharing their stories. Lauren Starr, Troy Firebrace, Tomi McManus, Caleb Maxwell, Courtney Koop, Rhayven Jane, Chris Duffy, Kristen Beever and Claire Tennant discuss lessons learned along their creative career journies with filmmaker Leonie Van Eyk, and Youth Mayor Levity Camilleri.

Connect the Dots (3 minutes)
A short video featuring local artists Lauren Starr, Caleb Maxwell, Tomi McManus and Troy Firebrace. They shared their insights and lessons learned along their creative career journey. This video was created as part of work that Creative City are undertaking mapping pathways in the creative industries.

Eat.Drink.Art 2025  

Eat.Drink.Art 2025 was presented by the City of Greater Bendigo, as part of Fiesta Bendigo, with events and activations across Greater Bendigo celebrating Bendigo Art Gallery’s Frida Kahlo: In her own image exhibition.

27 local artists exhibited their artwork across 21 cafes, restaurants, bars and wineries in Greater Bendigo from Saturday March 15, 2025, until Monday May 12, 2025. Both emerging and established local artists exhibited their works, some for the first time and others who are well known for their craft.

Greater Bendigo is a UNESCO Creative City and Region of Gastronomy, celebrated for its creative and cultural vibrancy and diverse range of local artisans, producers, eateries, cafes and bars.

Participating artists: 
Heidi Franklin, Paula Zetlein, Kim Lowe, Emily Richards-Jones, Fiona Gladigau, Amelia Berry, Elizabeth Conway, Jill Reid-Connors, Sharon Hocking, Jemima Lotika, Emma Buckland, Paul Harrington, Pauline Robinson, Jade Tanner, Meg Doller, Anakita Escalante, Tenneille Jones, Ivan Sun, Amanda Peluso, Karen McDougall, Geraldine Stills, John Monteath, Felicity Burman, Sophie Marie, Tony Worland, Kerry Brown, Amber Collet 
 

Participating Businesses:
Borchelli, Bunja Thai, Cantina, The Anxious Goat, Shiraz Republic, Nimbus Rooftop, Peppergreen Farm, Beechworth Bakery, Peachy, Alcohol By Victoria, The Bendigo Club, Black Swan, The Wine Bank on View, Alium Dining, The Dispensary, Omari, All Seasons, Indulge Fine Chocolates, Hoo-gahs, The Beehive.

Create Lab 2025

Create Lab small grants program is an initiative of the City of Greater Bendigo's Creative City team. Supporting local creatives to explore, experiment and develop their artform. In 2025, Create Lab offered young and emerging artists an opportunity to explore a creative idea with the support of a mentor.

In this short video we hear from the artists and their mentors about how they benefitted from participating in the project.

Sonic Bloom, 2024

During Spring 2024, Rosalind Park's historic Conservatory came to  life with "Sonic Bloom", a transformative sound experience designed by Artistic Producer Aimee Chapman and commissioned by the City of Greater Bendigo with support from Emporium Creative Hub. Sonic Bloom invites you to step away from the everyday bombardment of screens and visual stimuli and reconnect with Bendigo’s extraordinary parks and gardens through immersive soundscapes, audio stories, and live music. 
Visit Aimee Chapman’s website to explore this extraordinary project. www.aimeechapman.net/projects 

Healthy Greater Bendigo - Arts and Health

This short film provides an introduction to some of the work being done in Bendigo around Arts and Health.
For more information and to contact the network email [email protected]
 

My Healthcare Story (2022)

The aim of the exhibition was to profile artwork that told the story of health and wellbeing from the perspective of people working in the healthcare sector. The exhibition included art that was about the artist’s personal experience of illness, role as a carer or broader sense of health and wellbeing.

Projection Festival Bendigo, 2018

The Bendigo Projection Festival was an initiative of the City of Greater Bendigo supported by Regional Centre of Culture Program 2018, a Victorian Government initiative in partnership with the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation and the City of Greater Bendigo.  The four day festival was based around the Bendigo Town Hall and Rosalind Park precinct. The festival was a community, art-based, curated festival that engaged diverse communities across Bendigo and central Victoria. We created opportunities for local artists and offered a mentorship program linking skillsets, nurturing development, and encouraging cross-disciplinary exposure.

Kultur-All Makaan 

The Kultur-All Makaan is a Punctum production devised between 2018 and 2021 in collaboration with South Sudanese, Karen, Hazara, Indian, Colombian, and Indonesian artists.
It was presented as part of 2020 Melbourne Design Week and the 2021 Castlemaine State Festival and was supported by the City of Greater Bendigo.