page_title: Culture of Melbourne
section_title: Festivals and events
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Melbourne / Festivals and events
caption_attribution_description: English: Myer Christmas parade 2007
context_page_description: The culture of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, encompasses the city's artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements. Since its founding as a British settlement in 1835, Melbourne has been culturally influenced by European culture, particularly that of the British Isles. During the 1850s Victorian gold rush and in the decades the immediately followed, immigrants from many other parts of the world, notably China and the Americas, helped shape Melbourne's culture. Over time, Melbourne has become the birthplace of a number of unique cultural traits and institutions, and today it is one of the world's most multicultural cities.
  Traditionally acclaimed as Australia's "cultural capital", Melbourne topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual ranking of the world's most liveable cities throughout much of the 2010s, based in part on its cultural attributes.
context_section_description: Melbourne is home to a range of international festivals, most notably the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Melbourne International Air Show and the Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF).
  The Royal Melbourne Show has been a Melbourne tradition since 1900.
  The Boxing Day Test has been a Melbourne cricket tradition since 1950.
  Moomba is an annual festival that began in 1955 and celebrates the Yarra River; the Birdman Rally is also a Melbourne tradition.
  Several Melbourne traditions have developed around Australian rules football, particularly the annual AFL Grand Final and the Grand Final Parade
  ANZAC Day parade that concludes at the Shrine of Remembrance and also the Anzac Day football event.
  Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival
  Melbourne Fringe Festival
  Midsumma
  Melbourne Queer Film Festival
  Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)
  Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF)
  Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF)
  Melbourne International Comedy Festival
  Melbourne International Singers Festival
  Melbourne Eisteddfod
  Melbourne Winter Masterpieces
  St Kilda Festival
  Melbourne Jazz Festival
  Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
  Melbourne Open House
  Brunswick Street Street Party/Northcote High St Street Party
  Big Day Out Music Festival
  Sydney Road Street Party/Brunswick Music Festival
  Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular (GABS)
  White Night
  Several national traditions originated in Melbourne: The Melbourne Cup has been a Melbourne tradition since 1861 and then became a national tradition, subsequently referred to as "the race that stops the nation"; Carols by Candlelight, first held in 1938, is a Christmas Eve tradition; the Myer Christmas windows are a very popular annual attraction; and the AFL Grand Final attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators, both live and via broadcast media, every year.
  There are a number of cultural festivals that celebrate foreign cultures from within the context of the city's culture. Major festivals for Melbourne's large ethnic communities include:
  Greek Antipodes Festival
  Melbourne Italian Festival
  Asian Food Festival
  Australian Chinese New Year
  The Thai Culture and Food Festival, held in Federation Square, is one of the city's most successful festivals; as of 2012, it is in its ninth year.
caption: Myer Christmas Parade
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 10D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2007:11:17 18:06:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "220", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1122", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8553", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/350", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:11:17 11:39:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:11:17 11:39:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "553859/65536", "EXIF ApertureValue": "453435/65536", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "162885/32768", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2126", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1416", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2048", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "972", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "409600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}