The Melbourne Festival - one of the country's most important - includes dance, theatre, music, opera, visual arts and film performances. The 17-day event held each October has an outstanding reputation for bringing together some the very best international and Australian entertainment acts for a packed programme of events. Visitors can expect to experience an exciting range of urban and contemporary art from around the globe with past performances including dance from Africa, theatre from Europe and music from South America. The event was first held in 1986 under the direction of composer Gian Carlo Menotti when it became the third in the Spoleto Festival series (with the others in Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston, United States). Melbourne's Spoleto Festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990 and to its current name, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, in 2003.

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