Dec 12: Celebrate summer at the NGV Kids Summer Festival, a week-long party of colour and creativity running 10–16 January 2026. This year’s Festival offers an exciting lineup of free family events to spark imagination, getting active, and creative play, including disco dance parties and live performances at NGV International, and drawing workshops and storytelling sessions at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.
During the Festival and open across the summer months, the NGV’s Children’s Gallery transforms into an immersive fashion playground featuring dancing, dress-ups, and spectacular fashion garments in Let’s Party! Fashion for Kids: Designed by Danielle Brustman.
Running exclusively during the NGV Kids Summer Festival period, fun-filled activities include Rich Higgins from kids-comedy duo The Listies bringing the laughs in his joke-making workshop and Kids Disco Parties activate the perfect party setting for dancing to all the classics and kids’ hits under the colourful canopy of the NGV Great Hall. Inspired by the Let’s Party! exhibition, kids and families can become fashion designers in drop-by drawing and collage activities.
Also throughout the festival, families can enjoy a diverse range of activities designed to engage and inspire young visitors. Artist and educator Bushra Hasan leads lively and engaging family tours, bringing to life remarkable and surprising stories from within the rich NGV Collection of art and design. Teens can enjoy a behind-the-scenes private tour in the NGV Conservation lab and see how artworks are cared for and prepared for exhibitions, while a photobooth ensures children, families and friends capture the memorable moments of their Festival experience, with thanks to Major Partner, Mercedes-Benz.
Over at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, families can participate in a range of engaging First Nations-led activities. Kids can get crafty with Ngarrindjeri artist and educator, Emma Stenhouse in a drawing and weaving workshop while she shares the Ngarrindjeri Country story of Pondi, an ancestral river cod who used his giant tail to carve the curves of the Murray River. Kids can drop by and create their own fish puppet inspired by the special story of Pondi.
Young visitors can see iconic artworks by Hermannsburg Potters on display on Level 2. These artists create terracotta pots painted with stories of their culture, Country, bush tucker and their love of football. Kids can draw their own sporting moment inspired by these pots. Children can enjoy story time sessions with Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri artist and educator Tania Rossi, connecting families to First Nations artworks by highlighting key pieces in the NGV Collection followed by readings from favourite storybooks.
Relaxed Sessions take place on 14 and 15 January offering early access to Let’s Party! children’s exhibition and the Great Hall activities for visitors who would benefit from a quieter experience with fewer people and reduced sensory stimuli.
Colin Brooks MP, Minister for Creative Industries, said: ‘We are proud to back the annual NGV Kids Summer Festival which is jam-packed with free events and activities for kids and families this summer.’
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: “This year’s NGV Kids Summer Festival offers kids and families the opportunity to explore the vibrant world of fashion and self-expression through Let’s Party!, a celebration of creativity and colour, while also engaging with a rich program performances, art-making and First Nations-led activities that invite children to connect with Indigenous culture and storytelling.”