Melbourne International Arts Festival
| Melbourne International Arts Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Major arts, theatre, music and cultural festival |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Melbourne, Australia |
| Years active | 26 |
| Inaugurated | 1986 |
| Participants | 1,000 artists (2013) |
| Attendance | 416,547 (2013) |
Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia, from 1986 to 2019.
In 2020, a new festival named RISING was announced to replace both the MIAF and the White Night Festival. RISING was conceived as a winter festival combining elements of visual art, music, performance, and large-scale public installations. The inaugural RISING festival was initially scheduled for May 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent attempts to launch in 2021 were also disrupted by the pandemic. The festival eventually debuted in June 2022.