Submissions are now open to perform in one of Melbourne’s key winter arts events. Over the past five years, the Melbourne Cabaret Festival has grown to become an iconic Melbourne event much loved by audiences and performers. Join us in 2015, from Thursday 18 to Sunday 28 June.

We encourage you to submit as soon as you can so we can begin conversations with you and Festival venues.

What we’re looking for:

We’re shaking things up in 2015! To boldly demonstrate the depth of Melbourne’s cabaret scene, we’re not going to select any performer who has had a show in the Festival in the past three years*. We particularly encourage Melbourne cabaret performers who have not featured in the festival ever before to submit.
We're seeking new shows: festivals are a terrific medium to introduce premieres!
We’re seeking high quality cabaret shows.
Originality floats our boat, as does strong concepts that we can market.
We love a well written and crafted show that has high entertainment value and is thought provoking.
We love shows that break down stereotypes of what often pops in people’s minds when you say ‘cabaret’.
We present a highly diverse program to cater for different tastes – for example we always pick at least one funny cabaret show, one show that appeals to a gay audience, a second language show, a jazz based cabaret show etc.

* some exceptions may be made for collaborations.

We really like:

Shows that provide us with sufficient material to enable us to promote you. Things like:

-       multiple high res images that catch the eye and that print media will love;
-       a brief professional video promotion that keeps a viewer watching till the end;
-       evocative descriptions of your show; and
-       shows/performers that are highly engaged on social media channels.

We don’t like:

We’re unlikely to book you if your show appears in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April, simply because it’s too close to ours which impacts on audience numbers.
Shows that are self-indulgent. Think of your audience, not yourself.

An important note:

To maintain the high standard of quality for which we have become known, and to ensure we have adequate resources to support all Festival shows, we cap the total number of shows at 30. Festival spots are therefore highly competitive. Being declined is not neccessarily a reflection of the quality of your show.

How to submit:

Please email us answers to the following questions and we'll be in touch.