Musician Gelareh Pour performs on the kamancheh. Image copyright Chris Warr, 2025.
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Welcome to our creative city
Ballarat is working to become the city of the sustainable and resilient practitioner, and we’re supporting all forms of artist, maker, creative and producer. Whether you are seeking to develop a fine arts practice and devote yourself to being a professional practising artist, or wanting to grow your creative business, the City of Ballarat wants to see you succeed. Designated a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts & Folk Art we’re steadily working towards economic resilience through support of the micro and artisanal.
Here you’ll be able to find opportunities for makers, creatives and artists alike. We’re working to create a clearinghouse of opportunities - expressions of interest, open jobs and other briefs - and support networks you can call on. You can also find out what kind of happenings are going on around town, perfect for the local creative. We profile our growing community of artists, makers, performers and producers, building a better city for all.
Ballarat’s heart of creativity
Over two years the City of Ballarat was focused on the development of it’s Creative City Strategy. This strategy is one that embraces the energies of makers, crafters, artists, innovators, entrepreneurs and problem solvers, linking them closer to the engine room of the city’s heart.
We know that a creative city is one that can wear the changes in economic forces, delivers new ideas, drives businesses to grow and delivers greater community cohesion and wellbeing. The creative sector in Ballarat is crucial to our prosperity, helping create better people and better places to live and work. It is creative thinking that helps all sectors to blossom, and underpins a healthier, happier and wealthier city. The City of Ballarat is dedicated to embedding creativity within its very fabric.
Current Projects & News
Image: Render of Ben Pennell’s artwork
Image: Early Days captured by Sunflower Imaging Photo Studio
Image: Chronic painting by Julia Howe.
Image: Kate Lucas, Codachroma. Image by Love Drum
Hidden 2026
Step inside something unexpected.
This July, HIDDEN - a three-day micro festival will transform Civic Hall into a dreamlike landscape of air, colour and imagination.
From 10–12 July, six local artists unveil large-scale inflatable works that invite you to wander, touch, listen and play. HIDDEN is an immersive experience where the environment shifts and unfolds around you.
Featuring installations by Jay Kulbardi, Annelìse Belladonna, Ben Pennell, Tom Bell, Kathy Holowko and Meaghan Shelton, this sensory experience celebrates curiosity, creativity and play.
Early Days: Tania Babic
UNICORN LANE
Tania Babic is an emerging Ballarat artist with an eye for fine detail that she expresses through her intricate drawings.
Early Days shares Tania’s journey in her creative practice over the past decade, revisiting teenage doodles and recreating them following years of practice and growth in skills and approach. Short listed for numerous national art awards, Tania is an artist on the rise.
JUlIA HOwE: Chronic
Art Space BAllarat
Julia Howe is a multidisciplinary artist based in Ballarat and Melbourne. Working across photography, oil painting, printmaking and sculpture, her practice is centred around symbolism, visual narrative and process-based making
Chronic is Julia’s first solo exhibition. It is an investigation into the hidden battles a life with invisible illness entails. The works form a collective narrative surrounding the symptoms so many navigate daily, and forms an introspective web of experiences and memories, giving space for the unseen to become visible.
CREATIVE SECTOR SURVEY OUT NOW!
In 2025 1 in 4 creative people thought Ballarat was great for creative collaborations and 75% agreed they had artistic freedom. But 33% disagreed with the statement that the City of Ballarat provides opportunities for all members of the community to engage in creative practice.
What do you think?
The Creative Sector Survey is open for 2026. We want to know how you feel about your creative work, the kind of support you have and what you need. This is our annual survey to measure the challenges, the gaps, the opportunities and the concerns. This survey directly shapes the work we do to help you.
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FIND PLACES TO GO
There are heaps of tiny galleries, small studios, workspaces and hiding places for our creative community. Have a little scout of our open studios and micro-enterprises.
FIND WHAT’S ON
Looking for a great night out? A local experience? Check out Ballarat In the Know, designed by locals for locals.
Or do you have an event, exhibition or show you want to promote?
‘Cut Off Your Hands’ jewellery - Alana Smith - pic by Tony Evans (2023)
Weaver Ana Peditis at work - pic by Tony Evans (2023)
Activating the city streets. Artist Kelsie White takes over Mackenzie Street