About
In 2023, MPavilion welcomes Pritzker Prize LAUREATE Tadao Ando as our MPAVILION 10 designer. One of Japan’s leading contemporary architects, Tadao Ando is a master of light known for his striking geometric interventions in nature. Read more here.
MPavilion is Australia’s leading architecture commission: a place for conversation, collaboration and experimentation around the design of today and tomorrow.
Conceived and created by Naomi Milgrom as an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, MPavilion celebrates a decade as the country’s cultural laboratory in 2023.
Since 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has invited extraordinary architects from Australia and across the world to design a meeting place for the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne’s heart. From this MPavilion, a five-month design festival of free events is launched—prompting locals and visitors alike to consider how architecture, art and design can change lives.
When its season draws to a close, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation gifts each MPavilion to the people of Victoria—relocating it to a permanent home in the community where it can remain as a catalyst for conversation. Find out where to visit MPavilions in Victoria.
In its first decade, MPavilion has become one of Australia’s most anticipated design festivals—attracting over 1,250,000 visitors, with 350,000 in 2022 alone. Accessible and open, MPavilion is both of and for the community: hosting 3,400 events with 4,000 individuals and organisations during this period.
MPavilion’s myriad collaborations are a testament to Melbourne’s status as a local and global centre of design. Its ambitious program is made possible through the visionary support of its partners, principally the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the City of Melbourne, ANZ and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
MPAVILION
VALUES
- MPavilion exists on the stolen land of the people of the Eastern Kulin Nations and we pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. We believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood. It is important to us that all our collaborators acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which their event is taking place, and that they are aware of the history and importance of the Kulin Nations in the development of any event.
- We aim to prioritise and support the voices of First Nations peoples in the development of our program.
- We advance dialogue around urgent climate action through events that consider the health and wellbeing of Country, the environment and all living beings.
- We are driven to bring exceptional design and architecture to all Australians in a free and accessible manner—enriching the lives of individuals, nourishing communities, protecting the environment, boosting economies and improving the growth of cities.
- We welcome projects and collaborative work from communities, organisations and individuals from all identities, environments and experiences that are focused on social and gender equity, sustainability and accessibility.
- We operate under a ‘nothing about us, without us’ policy, and will look to support events that have shown to deeply consider these principles.
- MPavilion is committed to the Panel Pledge. When organising a panel, line-up or any event at MPavilion there needs to be a gender balance in the selection of participants. We will only accept proposals that align with this.
- MPavilion is committed to child safety and we want all children to feel happy and be empowered. We support and respect all children and their families, as well as our staff, volunteers, audience and program participants.
- MPavilion strives to be a culturally inviting and physically safe space for sharing and collaborating, and we encourage and support self determination through freedom of expression.
reconciliation
action plan
MPavilion—an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation—exists and creates on the stolen land of First Nations peoples.
In November 2022 our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was formally endorsed.
As an organisation that champions art, design, and architecture to improve Australian lives, our vision for reconciliation is a unified society where the diversity and richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and heritage are genuinely represented, recognised, respected, and celebrated.
Our RAP intends to build on MPavilion’s journey to date, prioritise and support the voices of First Nations peoples in the development of our program, and contribute towards a more just, equitable, inclusive and reconciled Australia.
Contact
General: info@mpavilion.org
Media: media@mpavilion.org