This festival explores potential futures through a carefully curated program of pioneering audio and visual art, performance, visionary thinkers, digital culture, and commissioned work.

In 2026 artists and audiences are invited to cross the threshold into A Whole New World. This is where installation meets performance, technology merges with ritual, and reality blurs with imagination, offering glimpses of alternative futures, whilst challenging the status quo of our time.

This is a moment of accelerated transformation. AI, immersive technologies, and digital tools are reshaping creativity, knowledge, and society itself. Now or Never seeks your big ideas in response: installations, interactive experiences, performances, digital art, sound projects - innovative concepts that can only happen in a festival context. Think subversive, playful, truly reimagining what's possible.

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria. Your project doesn't need to meet all of these points, but this is what Now or Never is looking for:

1. Theme, A Whole New World: Does it showcase technology or ideas shaping our future? Is the project pushing boundaries with technology and innovation?
2. Collaboration: Does the project involve high-calibre artists, researchers, or innovators?
3. Scale: Can the project reach a wide audience?
4. Viability: Is the project feasible for presentation in late August 2026 or 2027 given the budget and timeline? What development stage is it at?
5. Resources: This can include budget, venue, equipment, or collaborators. What do you have, and what do you need? Does it suit a specific venue? You can indicate any existing resources or funding. If required, has additional support been secured or is there a plan to do so?
6. Audience: Who is the intended audience of this work? What is their experience likely to be?
7. Accessibility: Can the project be accessed, understood and used by all people regardless of their age and ability?
8. Local Connection: Does it profile Victorian talent with national or international recognition? Does the project connect with Aboriginal knowledges or respond to a specific Melbourne site?
9. Support Material: Does it showcase your creative concept and project history?

• Email: nowornever@melbourne.vic.gov.au