The Arts : Community : University of Melbourne

The arts at Melbourne

The University of Melbourne owns 33 Cultural Collections. The origins of some lie in the earliest years of the University's establishment in the 1850s, while regular new acquisitions keep the collections dynamic and relevant.

The Cultural Collections embody the history of many of the academic disciplines taught at the University of Melbourne, including law, classics, history, languages, medicine, dentistry, botany, zoology, physics, fine arts, music and engineering. Object types include rare books and manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, archives, photographs, medical and dental implements, scientific apparatus, musical instruments, mineral, plant and animal specimens, and ethnographic and archaeological artefacts.

The University encourages the use of the collections by students, staff and the wider community, whether for research, teaching, conversation or enjoyment.
The University's Cultural Policy (pdf 2.7 mb) sets out the guiding principles which assist the University to configure its cultural resources to best serve the whole community.
Melbourne University Publishing: building on its long history as Melbourne University Press, this academic press has diversified into multimedia production as well as books and monographs.
Asialink Arts: Asialink at the University of Melbourne, offers an extensive Arts program, initiating cultural and artistic exchange between Australia and the countries of Asia. Asialink Arts organise artist residencies, specific programs and events, including an annual Arts Forum – see our Events calendar.
Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC): Australia’s flagship theatre company celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2003.
Meanjin literary magazine has for more than 60 years reflected the breadth of contemporary thinking, be it on literature, other art forms, or the broader issues of the times.
Encyclopedia of Melbourne: The first encyclopedia of Melbourne was produced by Dr Andrew Brown-May, senior lecturer in the University's History Department and a team of over 400 contributors. The publication makes the history of Melbourne accessible to a wide audience.
Australian Dictionary of Biography: Online edition Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography. Over 10,000 scholarly biographies of significant Australians who died before 1980.

For information about forthcoming performances, lectures and exhibitions, see our Events calendar.