Emerging Artists Creative Hub

The Emerging Artist Creative Hub is a new initiative which will enable creatives to grow and thrive in Melbourne’s south east. An artist driven space for developing individual and collective practice, it will be a site for collaboration, meeting peers, and sharing skills and resources. Resident creatives will be able to present small-scale exhibitions and projects, public programs and other outdoor activations.

The Hub will be situated at the heart of Narre Warren - Fountain Gate in Narre Warren Mechanics Institute with upgrades completed in mid-2024.

The Emerging Artist Creative Hub residency program will open for expressions of interest in late January 2024.

The Factory

The Factory is a purpose-built performing arts rehearsal centre within the Cranbourne Indoor Leisure Complex. The venue has have a range of rehearsal and practice rooms for hire and a recording studio and video production services. The spaces have been equipped to cater for musical, theatre and dance performances.

For further information, visit The Factory Rehearsal Centre for the Arts.

Art Spaces

The Art Spaces program plays a significant part in the vibrant cultural life of the City of Casey.

The program promotes and supports traditional and contemporary art practice and artists. The dedicated spaces in libraries create access to visual art in a diversity of forms and gives artists the opportunity to reach new audiences.

The Hayshed Studio at the Old Cheese Factory in Berwick offers a multi-arts studio with exhibition and workshops spaces.

View the latest edition of the Art Spaces program

How to apply

The Art Spaces Guide gives you the information to choose the right Art Space for your exhibition.

The program also offers artists the opportunity to apply to be part of a curated program of exhibitions held at Bunjil Place Library, Cranbourne Library and at the Hayshed Studio.

Applications will open at the beginning of November. Exhibitions will then be selected and programmed for the following year (April 2025 to March 2026).

Apply online

The Hayshed Studio 

The Hayshed Studio is a new art space located in the historic grounds of the Old Cheese Factory in Berwick.

This multi-arts studio space with kitchenette is available for hire for art and craft, exhibitions and other small gatherings.  The Studio is equipped with hand building ceramic workshop equipment for up to 6 people and a kiln firing service on application. The Studio is connected a conference room available for hire, with a large screen and its own kitchenette.

To book the Hayshed Studio, please email ocf@casey.vic.gov.au 

Artist Register

Casey Arts values the creative talent we have in the City and the Arts Register is the essential way for creative professionals, performers and artists to list their details and be found for their next gig.

Visual and performing arts, creatives, gamers, tutors and those with other creative offerings will be able to register to make your contacts available to a prospective clients and audiences. 

Join the Artist Register

Winter Arts Festival 2023

The Winter Arts Festival is created with the community at its heart. Every offering in the program is by the community, for the community or with the intent to build new connections and shine a light on the incredibly vibrant municipality, rich with arts and culture that is the City of Casey. The festival has been running for 22 years with the purpose of presenting creative programs that encourage arts participation, community pride and generate social, cultural and/or environmental benefits.

We encourage local artists, choirs, theatre groups, dance troupes, musicians, comedians, crafters, filmmakers and venues to add their performance, activity or event to the festival program and help us immerse the community in creativity each Winter.

Take a look at some of the highlights from Winter Arts Festival 2023 here.

Want to get involved?

Applications to be part of the Winter Arts Festival 2024 will open in February to all members of the Casey community. Your event or activity must have an arts focus, be held in the City of Casey and be open to the public to attend. Your proposal will require full details including dates, venue, insurance

For further information, contact the Casey Arts team at arts@casey.vic.gov.au

Lindsay King Award 

Established in 2007, this annual arts award was named in memory of Cranbourne resident Lindsay King, whose vigorous commitment to the arts and passion for local history, tourism and culture made a positive impact on the Casey community

Each year nominations are requested for individuals and groups in Casey who consistently go above and beyond to make a significant contribution to the Art in Casey, embody community spirit and contribute to making our city a wonderful place to live.

On Friday 22 March all finalists were invited to attend the Casey Community Awards ceremony where the winner for 2024 was announced.

2024 Recipient – John McMahon

John has been a hobby woodturner and member of the Berwick District Woodworkers Club for several years. During that time John has exhibited his work to critical acclaim and received a number of awards.\

More recently, the Berwick District Woodworkers have actively displayed members work as an art form rather than just woodwork. John has been a key player in this transition and has been active in arranging the exhibition of members work in the Casey annual Winter Arts Festival.

Learn more about John and the Berwick woodworkers.

Congratulations also to Zia Atahi, Aseel Tayah and Cultivate who were also nominated this year for their significant contribution to the Arts in Casey.

Previous recipients:

2023 recipient - Bandok Tati

The success of the dance group has impacted the whole community, providing elders with an incredible sense of pride as this is the first Aboriginal dance group formed in South East Melbourne for a long time. Bandok Tati has acted as a lifeline for some of the young people involved, supporting deeper cultural connections and connection to lore. It has also supported healing, dancing is a form of healing for the boys and so to for the community.

2021 Recipient - Kuichiang Tut Kuiy (Kush)

2019 Recipient - Maurie Richardson

To learn more and to nominate an individual or group, please visit the Casey Community Awards.

City of Casey is excited to be partnering with Craft Victoria to deliver a Creative Professional Development Program, designed to support creatives in the region to develop their practices and careers in a sustainable and intentional manner. The program is specifically intended for creative practitioners with a connection to the City of Casey who are wanting to gain professional skills within a visual arts, crafts and design context.

The program includes the following:

• Thursday 11 July @ Bunjil Place: Free public talk Creative Careers That Last with artists Anna Varendorff and Vipoo Srivilasa unpacking practical strategies for cultivating longevity and sustainability in creative practice. 
• Thursday 11 July till Monday 12 August: Expressions of Interest for participating in the Creative Professional Development Program will be accepted from 
• Thursday 24 July: An online information session will be held on 
  The program will run from August-November 2024 with individual mentoring and group professional development training components. Applicants are expected to be able to commit to attending the full program. 

Applications will be assessed by a panel of City of Casey and Craft staff. 

Successful applications will demonstrate artistic merit, strong motivation, a commitment to engaging in the program activities, as well as showcasing how the applicant will benefit from the opportunity.

Follow the link below for more information and to submit an Expressions of Interest.

Craft x City of Casey

The City of Casey through its Planning Policy allocates 1% of funding to the development of site-specific public art projects for all new Community Capital Works projects over $3 million dollars.

Committed to high-quality public artworks through standards of innovation and excellence across all aspects of commissioning processes, Casey has developed a public art collection that is progressive, stimulating, and explores a variety of mediums, scales and approaches.

Local Public Art 

With more than 250 public art projects across the City of Casey, the chances are there will be local artwork near you.

You can find your closest piece of art on Explore Casey.

Council’s Civic Collection consists of objects, documents and photographs that trace the history of local government administration and the making of the City of Casey as it is today. 

There are over 700 objects in the Civic Memorabilia Collection and 124 are documented and online here.

With the opening of Bunjil Place Gallery in 2018 came the occasion to plan for a Bunjil Place Art Collection guided by Council’s Art Acquisitions Policy.

When active collecting commences, the Collection will aim to acquire major artworks by Australian, and where possible, international artists held in trust for the community.

The Art Acquisitions Policy confirms Council’s commitment to enlivening and enriching the municipality through the collection of art and commissioning of public art from leading professional artists.

The Local Arts Leaders Reference Group (LAL)  represent the Casey arts community in reference role for Council. Highly experienced in their field, members provide knowledge and diverse perspectives about creative practice and arts participation in the context of relevant Council Plans, arts policies and strategies.  Current LAL membership is from 2020-2022 and nominations for vacant reference group membership positions are advertised and selected every two years.

Casey Arts engages with communities through the Arts and Cultural Advisory Committee, formal evaluation of programs and feedback received through our communication channels.

The City of Casey uses Casey Conversations to reach community members for specific feedback on initiatives of local interest. 

We will inform our arts community when we are seeking formal feedback and post information about these opportunities on our webpage.

You can provide feedback at any time by emailing us.