The Melbourne Fringe Festival is set to celebrate its 2026 season from September 29 to October 18.

This year's Curated Program spotlights artists at the forefront of contemporary practice; showcasing international trendsetters and "genre-exploders" remaking artforms for the here and now.

It includes a groundbreaking program of experimental work for children and d/Deaf and Disabled makers leading bold new approaches to access.

And at the centre of the program, the landmark 10th season of Deadly Fringe.

For the first time, Melbourne Fringe Festival will also hold an Encore season in Ballarat across October 22-25, featuring regional-exclusive events alongside a selection of popular shows from the 2026 metro Melbourne season.

"The Curated Program is where curiosity becomes creative risk; where artists move beyond familiar forms, inviting audiences to turn towards the heat and follow them somewhere unexpected," said creative director and chief executive Danny Delahunty.

"This sense of possibility runs through Deadly Fringe, Radical Access, Pulse, Passport, XS and Design Fringe, each creating space for bold work to take shape on its own terms.

"At the centre of this year's Curated Program is Dhandha/Campfire, where Joel Bray's new work embraces light, sound, sculpture and performance as a vehicle for gathering, ceremony and shared experience."

Mr Delahunty noted Mr Bray's breakout work biladurang emerged through the first Deadly Fringe season.

"His return with a work of such scale and ambition for the milestone tenth year speaks powerfully to what the Melbourne Fringe Curated Program can make possible," he said.

"This is the creative heat of Fringe: artists venturing beyond the familiar, and a city willing to move closer."

10 Years of Deadly Fringe showcases bold and moving First Nations art through powerful new commissions.

At the core of the program sits Dhandha/Campfire by Joel Bray Dance, a major new participatory installation at Fed Square drawing on the campfire as a place of gathering, storytelling, ceremony and ritual. The work fuses light, sound and sculpture with daily performance rituals.

A radical act of invitation from one of Australia's most celebrated choreographers, Dhandha/Campfire invites Melburnians to gather around a sculptural Fed Square campfire with Joel Bray Dancers, DJs and strangers alike.

Other Festival Alumni joining the 10th season of Deadly Fringe include Na Djinang Circus and Ngioka Bunda-Heath.

Ocker by Na Djinang Circus is a free roving circus show that tears through the city's streets on a portable railway track built in real time, dragging audiences along for the ride.

Ocker will pop up at Fed Square, Williamstown, Yarraville and Ballarat. Estuary by Ngioka Bunda-Heath is a duet at the meeting point of saltwater and freshwater, choreographer Ngioka Bunda-Heath's new work explores dual identity and First Nations connection to land, sky and waterways.

Alongside these works, Melbourne Fringe presents Aunty Annette's Outblak by Kungari Productions. A sharp, fearless and laugh-out-loud line-up comedy show, in which Aunty Annette shares stories from a life spent breaking barriers that they didn't teach you at school.

At Koorie Heritage Trust, Georgia Boseley presents Weaving the Everywhen. Central and Eastern Arrernte artist Georgia Boseley transforms a Koorie Heritage Trust gallery space into an immersive sculptural landscape of scarred ceramic vessels and woven grasses to imagine an Indigenous deep future.

Launched in 2017 with a bold vision, Deadly Fringe has been changing the artistic landscape ever since, unearthing and supporting bold new work by First Nations artists and producers, from theatre to comedy to fashion, contemporary dance, textile design, jewellery, visual art.

What began as a launchpad for the next generation has grown into a nationally significant platform, backing dozens of artists and arts workers whose work has toured the country, won awards, and captured the imaginations of thousands.

Standout works like Joel Bray's biladurang, Sandy Greenwood's Matriarch, and Declan Furber Gillick's Bighouse Dreaming began here and made waves across the country.

At its heart, Deadly Fringe is about centring Blak voices, not just on stage, but behind the scenes too; supporting artists through mentorships, microgrants, and the guidance of a dedicated Deadly Fringe coordinator.

It's also artist-led and flexible, which means projects are "shaped by what artists need, when they're ready, and how they want to work", organisers said.

After nine years, the program has evolved, but one thing hasn't changed: Deadly Fringe is still building the future of the arts, one extraordinary First Nations-led project at a time.

Deadly Fringe continues to provide more than just funding, it offers crucial infrastructure, mentorship, and cultural safety, ensuring First Nations artists can create and present work on their own terms.

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