Images: 2023 and 2024 Maroondah Festival activity with Taylah Eid, Opal and the Artists for Kids Culture artsbus
Opportunity: Maroondah Festival
Maroondah Festival is a free one-day festival to be held at Town Park, Croydon on Sunday 9 November 2025 from 10am to 4pm. Hosted by Maroondah City Council, this annual family-friendly festival offers live music, thrill rides, food trucks, market stalls, come and try sports, arts and cultural activities and more.
Council’s Arts and Cultural team will work with Artists for Kids Culture to create an accessible and participatory space for a local artist to design and deliver a free drop-in creative activity for families at Maroondah Festival. The activity will be inclusive, innovative and inviting to attract family audiences at the festival. An activity that can be undertaken at a variety of levels would work well to attract all ages.
Please note that this is an opportunity for an artist with a local connection to the community.
Background: Maroondah Festival Maroondah Festival originated in 1990 as the Croydon Festival and was designed to encourage the involvement of Council, community groups, local traders and key business stakeholders within the local area and the surrounding eastern region. More recently, Maroondah Festival has been held on one day (a Sunday) with all activities at Croydon Park. The festival sees an estimate of 25,000 people pass through the event each year, making the Maroondah Festival one of the biggest community events in Melbourne and a key event on the Melbourne cultural calendar.
Feature Artist: Role and Responsibilities The successful Artist will design a creative arts activity to be delivered at the Maroondah Festival. The activity will be hosted on-site with the Artist for Kids Culture (AKC) artsbus. The Feature Artist will be supported by the AKC artsbus Program Manager and Council staff to facilitate the activity in an outdoors undercover setting.
The successful Artist will:
- Be selected by Maroondah City Council to enter into an agreement with Artists for Kids Culture who will support the activation
- Work, live, study or play in the Maroondah City Council local government area
- Hold a current Working With Children Check
- Possess public liability insurance to the value of $20Million
- Design a creative activity to engage the Maroondah community, estimated to be up to 500 people accessing the activity across the day. The activity may involve several parts or options and should be appropriate for ages 5 – 15 and suitable for a drop-in festival context. Based on previous events, the activity can provide space for up to 20 – 25 people at one time, who spend between fifteen to sixty minutes in the space doing the activity.
- Develop a creative activity that is participatory, innovative and celebrates community connections
- Consider large crowds attending the festival, ensuring the approach to the activity is simple and can be self-directed
- Be considerate of waste, and take a modest and sustainable approach to materials required for the creative activity (i.e. up to $150 of new purchased items)
- Attend 3 x 30-minute meetings (online / in-person) in the lead-up to the event, with at least one in-person meeting prior to the festival
- Attend the Maroondah Festival on Sunday 9 November 2025 from 10.00AM – 4.00PM to deliver the creative activity (this includes lunchbreak)
- Co-develop a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) with Artists for Kids Culture
- Co-promote the activity and Festival across agreed channels
- In line with NAVA rates, the artist will be paid $1,467 (ex gst) plus superannuation which will include pre-festival preparation and attendance for activity on the day of the festival.
Feature Artist Selection Criteria
- – Connection to Maroondah
- – Current Public Liability Insurance and valid Working With Children’s Check
- – Experience
- – Quality of Work
- – Ability to Deliver
Maroondah City Council will:
- Coordinate an agreement between the Artist and Artists for Kids Culture, to include an Artist Fee of $1,467 (excluding GST) + superannuation as required
- Supply Maroondah Council staff to support Artist and AKC artsbus at the Maroondah Festival on Sunday 9 November 2025 from 10.00AM – 4.00PM
- Co-promote the activity, Artist and Festival across agreed channels
About: Artists for Kids Culture (AKC) artsbus
Artsbus is a mobile arts studio, theatre and music space, enabling Artists for Kids Culture (https://www.akc.org.au/akc-artsbus/) to facilitate meaningful, thoughtful and therapeutic arts activities. AKC is a for-purpose organisation that raises funds for children across Australia to access grants for arts and cultural activities.
AKC artsbus programs are designed to support children to:
- build belief in their own creativity through an open-ended and encouraging studio environment
- improve their wellbeing through social connection and the therapeutic benefits of the arts
- be inspired to challenge themselves and build confidence through inclusive and playful artmaking
Collaborating with the AKC artsbus
The artsbus Program Manager will:
- Co-design and support the creative activity that is inclusive and age appropriate for family audiences (particularly 5 – 15 year olds)
- Supply the Artist with agreed materials and equipment within budget
- Co-promote the activity and Artist (and check in with you about how you would like the activity to be described and marketed)
- Support connections between local community, artists, and young creative kids
- Organise volunteers to assist with the creative activity and area
- Provide the AKC artsbus and set-up and pack-down the creative activity area and equipment on the day
- Co-facilitate on Festival Day, supporting the Artist, activity and audiences
Maroondah Festival Expression of Interest Arts and Culture Activity – Sunday 9 November 2025, 9AM to 5PM
Please collate responses below into one PDF document and send to publicart@maroondah.vic.gov.au by 11.50pm Thursday 14th August Artist Personal Details:
Name:
Organisation (if applicable):
E-mail:
Phone (preference mobile number):
Address:
Postcode:
What is your connection to Maroondah?
Artist’s Business / Organisation Information:
Company Name:
Please list the name registered with your ABN ABN: Registered for GST: Y/N Website / Social media links: (Facebook / Instagram) Public Liability Insurance: (Company: Cover amount $20M) Valid Working With Children Check (Victoria) or VIT Registration: Y/N (this will be required) ___________________________________________________________________________
Please provide a CV and a short Artist biography of no longer than 300 words
Please supply up to three examples of your artistic practice:
Examples may include artworks and/or documentation of an exhibition and/or public project. Please supply an example (brief description and two images) of a community-engaged creative activity that you have previously designed / delivered, ideally for a family audience. If you have not previously designed such an activity, please outline which aspect of your art practice you would like to share with the community.
Send applications to publicart@maroondah.vic.gov.au by 11.50pm Thursday 14 August. If you have any challenges with responding to the application requirements, please contact the above email address and we will endeavour to assist you.
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