Melbourne welcomes a significant new cultural attraction with the official opening of the Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA) at Hamer Corridor, Arts Centre Melbourne. The museum launches with its headline exhibition DIVA, a spectacular worldwide showcase celebrating the world’s strongest and provocative performers.
Whereas the exhibition just isn’t designed particularly for younger kids, households with tweens and youths will discover loads to discover, particularly these with an curiosity in music, vogue, theatre and popular culture. For fogeys, it is usually a pleasant probability to share iconic performers from your personal childhood with a brand new era.
What Is the Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA)?
AMPA is Arts Centre Melbourne’s latest everlasting museum house, positioned inside Hamer Corridor on the banks of the Yarra River. It brings Australia’s wealthy efficiency historical past to life by way of large-scale exhibitions that mix native tales with main worldwide collections.
The museum attracts from the Australian Performing Arts Assortment, a unprecedented archive of greater than 850,000 objects spanning circus, dance, music, opera, theatre and common leisure. Count on rotating exhibitions that showcase costumes, set designs, private objects, images and musical artefacts from performers who helped form Australian tradition.
For households, this implies AMPA just isn’t a one-off go to. It’s a new long-term cultural vacation spot you may return to as new exhibitions open.
What Is the DIVA Exhibition About?
DIVA, developed by London’s world-renowned Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), opens 11 December 2025 as AMPA’s inaugural exhibition. It explores the thought of the “diva” throughout historical past, from Nineteenth-century opera stars to in the present day’s international pop icons.
Guests transfer by way of a wealthy show of greater than 250 objects, together with 60 spectacular costumes, alongside jewelry, images, artworks, posters, handwritten lyrics and private objects. The exhibition traces the origin of the phrase “diva”, which means goddess in Italian, and exhibits the way it has been challenged, reclaimed and reshaped over time.
Slightly than specializing in celeb gossip, DIVA centres on creativity, ambition, resilience and affect. It exhibits how performers use voice, vogue and stage presence to problem expectations and form tradition.
Tip: Look out for the Star Path plaques, which have kid-friendly, readable data and inquiries to immediate conversations.
Well-known Names Older Children Immediately Recognise
The exhibition incorporates a line-up that spans generations, making it simple for fogeys and children to attach over shared favourites. Artists on show embody:
- Kylie Minogue
- Woman Gaga
- Rihanna
- Billie Eilish
- Adele
- Whitney Houston
- Madonna
- Prince
- P!nk
- Björk
- Cher
- Elton John
- Tina Turner
- Maria Callas
- Marilyn Monroe
It’s a highly effective approach for teenagers to see how in the present day’s pop stars are a part of a for much longer inventive legacy.
Costume Highlights Households Will Love Seeing Up Shut
A few of the most talked-about objects within the exhibition embody:
- Kylie Minogue’s purple outfit from her “Padam Padam” music video (2023)
- Woman Gaga’s periwinkle blue Valentino couture ballgown from the Golden Globes (2019)
- Rihanna’s jewel-encrusted Papal look from the 2018 Met Gala
- Whitney Houston’s black and gold Grammy Awards costume (1994)
- Elton John’s towering Louis XIV-inspired birthday costume (1997)
- Marilyn Monroe’s fringed black costume from Some Like It Sizzling
- Billie Eilish’s Glastonbury ensemble designed by Stella McCartney
Sturdy Australian illustration additionally options all through the exhibition, together with objects linked to Jessica Mauboy, Amy Taylor (Amyl and the Sniffers), Dame Nellie Melba, Olivia Newton-John and Chrissy Amphlett.
What Will Curiosity Older Children and Teenagers?
Though DIVA just isn’t a hands-on kids’s exhibition, there’s loads to have interaction older children, together with:
- Iconic popular culture costumes they recognise from music movies and award exhibits
- Behind-the-scenes tales of how public picture and efficiency are crafted
- A robust sonic expertise all through the exhibition, that includes music from Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Dolly Parton, Prince, Adele and extra
- Style as identification, displaying how performers use clothes to inform tales
- Sturdy Australian hyperlinks, significantly by way of Kylie Minogue and modern artists
It naturally opens up conversations about confidence, individuality, fame and artistic threat.
Is DIVA Appropriate for Children?
DIVA is finest suited to higher major college students and youngsters. There are not any devoted kids’s play areas or interactive zones designed for youthful children, and far of the content material is introduced in a conventional museum format.
Households with an curiosity in music, vogue, dance, theatre and media research will acquire essentially the most from the expertise. The themes are introduced thoughtfully, however mother and father should want to information conversations with youthful teenagers round fame and public picture.
Visiting Particulars for Households
Dates:
DIVA Exhibition: 11 December 2025 – 26 April 2026
Location:
Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA)
Hamer Corridor, Arts Centre Melbourne
Tickets:
Grownup: $30.00
Concession: $28.00
Little one (5–15 years): $19.00
Household (Group of 4): $23.00 per particular person*
BlakTix: $15.00
*Household pricing applies per particular person when buying a gaggle of 4.
Opening Hours:
- Weekdays: 12:00pm – 7:00pm
- Weekends: 10:00am – 7:00pm
The central Arts Precinct location makes it simple to mix a go to with a riverside stroll, lunch at Southbank or a matinee efficiency close by.
What’s Subsequent at AMPA?
Following DIVA, AMPA presents its second main exhibition ENCORE! from June 2026. This exhibition celebrates 50 years of the Australian Performing Arts Assortment, showcasing 50 iconic objects together with:
- Dame Nellie Melba’s opera cloak
- Ella Havelka’s ballet pointe footwear
- Set fashions from landmark Australian theatre productions
This confirms AMPA as an ongoing cultural vacation spot for households, not a one-season attraction.
Why Households Ought to Go to AMPA This Summer time
AMPA fills a singular house in Melbourne’s family-friendly points of interest. It gives older children and youths the possibility to:
- Join with historical past by way of music and vogue
- See how performers form common tradition
- Perceive the craft behind stage costumes
- Really feel impressed by artists who challenged the established order
For fogeys, it is usually an opportunity to share the music and performers you grew up with in a contemporary, visible approach.
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