Bendigo

Bendigo Arts

Bendigo’s creative life reaches from community choirs, brass and orchestral playing to theatre-making, dance, painting, photography, ceramics and words. You can join a rehearsal, learn a new craft, take a class, see local work, commission an artist or contribute behind the scenes. Around the city and nearby townships, studios and collectives sit alongside established cultural organisations, giving audiences and makers plenty of ways to share in the work.

Here is a selection of Bendigo-area organisations, teachers, artists and creative businesses offering practical ways to make, perform, learn and connect.

🎶 Music & Singing

Bendigo Chorale

This four-part community choir performs concerts, community events and collaborations with local and regional music groups. Singers interested in joining can contact the Chorale to find out more about becoming a member and taking part in its ongoing choral work across Bendigo and north central Victoria.

Bendigo and north central Victoria.

Bendigo Symphony Orchestra

The Bendigo Symphony Orchestra presents a concert season for the Bendigo region, bringing together local amateur and pro-amateur players, music teachers and professional musicians. Its scholarship programme also supports musicians, particularly those studying music or recently completing their studies, adding a development opportunity to the orchestra’s performance program.

Greater Bendigo.

Bendigo Brass

Bendigo Brass is the City of Greater Bendigo’s brass band, with an ongoing programme of band performances and youth brass activity. It offers a local connection to ensemble playing and brass performance, with music-making that includes both public presentation and opportunities for younger players.

Bendigo.

🎭 Theatre & Performance

Bendigo Theatre Company

Bendigo Theatre Company stages theatre productions and welcomes writers, creators, performers, musicians and behind-the-scenes contributors to get involved. Its work is presented at the Patricia Lyon Black Box Theatre in Golden Square, giving people interested in acting, writing, design, music or production a place to connect with community theatre practice.

15–17 Allingham Street, Golden Square, Victoria.

Emily Calder School of Performing Arts

At its Williamson Street studio, Emily Calder School of Performing Arts offers individual violin, viola and cello tuition, drama clubs, junior and youth string ensembles, and teen drama incorporating theatre, improvisation and devised performance. Classes are available for all ages and abilities, combining instrumental learning with ensemble and performance work.

Bendigo.

The Capital

The Capital is a Bendigo Venues & Events performance venue hosting music, theatre, opera, drama, dance and exhibitions. Its auditorium is complemented by smaller performance and event spaces, while the on-site box office supports audiences engaging with the venue’s programme and the artists presented there.

50 View Street, Bendigo, Victoria. ☎ 03 5434 6100 — box office.

🩰 Dance & Circus Arts

Let’s Dance Bendigo

Let’s Dance Bendigo teaches adults ballroom, Latin, New Vogue, street Latin and line dancing through beginner, intermediate, over-50s, private, wedding-dance and performance-focused options. Beginners do not need previous experience or a partner, making the classes open to people starting from scratch as well as those developing existing dance skills.

135 Spring Gully Road, Spring Gully, Victoria; classes also operate in East Bendigo. ☎ 0490 678 283.

Stage 29 Studios

Stage 29 Studios combines dance, fitness, pole and aerial circus in classes across age groups. Its offerings include preschool dance and acro programmes, aerial and pole training, and strength and flexibility work, bringing movement practice and circus skills together in a dedicated studio setting.

Bendigo.

🎨 Visual Artists & Studios

Bendigo Artists Inc.

Bendigo Artists is an artist-run organisation based at Hargreaves Studios, presenting activities and projects while connecting visitors with member artists. Membership is available for artists wanting to participate in the organisation’s creative community, and visitors can use the organisation as a point of connection with local artistic practice.

325 Hargreaves Mall, Bendigo, Victoria. ☎ 03 5441 5991 — Hargreaves Studios office; ☎ 0411 899 840 — mobile contact.

Bendigo Art Collective

Bendigo Art Collective brings local artists and businesses together through art markets in Hargreaves Mall. It offers a public-facing way to encounter and support local creative work, while giving participating artists and makers a shared setting for presenting their work.

Level 1, 22 Williamson Street, Bendigo, VIC 3550. ☎ 0456 149 169.

Sarah The Painter

Sarah The Painter creates paintings and accepts commissions, while also teaching children’s and adult art classes. Her studio is open by appointment, allowing visitors to arrange access for supported studio engagement, lessons or discussion about commissioned painting rather than arriving without an appointment.

Level 1, 22 Williamson Street, Bendigo, Victoria. Studio visits are by appointment.

🧵 Craft & Making

The Lamp Post Studio

The Lamp Post Studio runs small mixed-age and adult visual-art workshops in watercolour, drawing, painting, raffia weaving, clay sculpture and hand lettering. Materials are supplied, and selected programmes accept group bookings. Workshop age conditions vary, so the relevant session details matter when choosing a class.

17 Malcolm Street, Quarry Hill, Victoria.

Felicity Ceramics

Practising ceramic artist Felicity Ceramics offers pottery-wheel throwing and hand-building lessons for beginners through to experienced makers. The studio has wheels, a slab roller, kilns and glazing materials. Lessons are offered in series of three to five, with new places beginning as availability allows.

Myers Flat, Bendigo. ☎ 0408 132 013.

Bendigo Pottery

Bendigo Pottery is a working pottery offering pottery classes, school-holiday workshops, a six-week wheel-throwing course and hands-on activities. Its village also includes artist studios alongside Australian-made ceramics, linking practical making with opportunities to see working creative spaces and browse finished work.

Bendigo.

Bendigo Gem Club

Bendigo Gem Club is a member club for lapidary and jewellery making. Members can learn gem faceting, silversmithing and jewellery making, with information nights, field trips and an expo adding social and practical dimensions to the club’s activities.

10 Galvin Street, Bendigo, VIC 3550.

📷 Photography, Film & Digital Arts

Joel Bramley Photography

Joel Bramley is a landscape photographer offering prints and short photography workshops in and around Bendigo. Workshop subjects include introductory photography, phone photography, advanced photography, Lightroom and a Bendigo photography walk. Specific meeting details are supplied after registration, supporting both practical learning and outdoor image-making.

Bendigo and Central Victoria.

✍️ Writing & Storytelling

Bendigo Writers Council

Bendigo Writers Council supports writers through workshops and guest presenters covering poetry, fiction, comedy, picture books, novel writing, blogging, scriptwriting, copywriting and children’s literature. Its broad programme brings different forms of writing together and gives local writers a setting for learning, sharing ideas and developing their practice.

Bendigo.

Bendigo Goldfields Bush Poets

Bendigo Goldfields Bush Poets promotes Australian bush poetry, Australian song and music, and yarn-spinning. People are welcome to attend its gatherings and take part in the broader bush-poetry community, whether they are interested in performing, listening or sharing the traditions of Australian verse and storytelling.

Bendigo and the Goldfields.

🤝 Arts Organisers & Community Connections

CreateA

CreateA is a contemporary arts company creating new visual and performance-based work. It was established to support people with disability to engage in contemporary arts practice and present their work publicly, working with artists, arts organisations and community groups on inclusive practice.

1st Floor, 48 Mundy Street, Bendigo, Victoria.

Bendigo Art Gallery Learn

Bendigo Art Gallery’s education programme delivers artist-led workshops, after-school art sessions for students aged 10–18, school-holiday activities and Gallery to Go school-incursion workshops while the gallery redevelopment is underway. The programme connects gallery-based learning with hands-on making for young people, schools and families.

Bendigo.

Creative City, City of Greater Bendigo

Creative City provides creative-development resources and opportunities for artists and creatives across Greater Bendigo. Its work includes creative-industry support, public-art work, grants and sponsorship, professional development, filming information, and busking and street-performance permits.

Greater Bendigo.

Whether you are picking up a paintbrush, joining an ensemble, shaping clay, writing a verse or looking for a place to present creative work, Bendigo’s arts community offers many ways to participate and connect. Audiences can support local practice by attending performances, visiting studios and markets, and engaging with artists and organisations directly.

Local artists, makers, teachers, companies, groups and arts-support businesses are warmly invited to add or update their Arts-Directory listing so Bendigo’s creative connections can keep growing.

⚠️ Accuracy Note: We do our best to keep this information useful and up to date, however details can change over time. If you notice anything that appears incorrect or out of date, please let us know and we will review it. Local business owners and community leaders can also help keep local information accurate by logging in and creating or managing their own listing and useful content on bendigo.city.