May We?
Next date: Thursday, 23 April 2026 | 01:00 AM
to Friday, 15 May 2026 | 12:00 PM
Image caption: Mei Wah Williams, Precarious Imbalance, 2024, wash basket, projection, mirror [installation view]. Photo by: Juliette Wehling Wrathall.
Pussy Willow Power present May We?, a collective act of resistance against the subjugation of women, reclaiming the radical origins of Mother’s Day and May Day.
May We? brings together a diverse range of experiences and identities through a variety of media, including photography, installation, printmaking, painting, sculpture and video. The works challenge expectations that cast reproduction, fertility, and gender as prescriptive roles and asks how we might collectively rewrite narratives of care, self-determination and the right to define one’s own bodily autonomy.
Pussy Willow Power is a Naarm/Melbourne based collective founded by feminist interdisciplinary artists Kat Rae, Drey Willows and Chiara Zeta. Grounded in principles of social and political justice, their work is informed by lived and professional experiences of trauma, loss and systems of violence.
Exhibiting artists: Dena Aljamal, Mursal Azizi, Janty Blair, Jesse Bratby, Lauren Cameron, Michelle Ferreira, Angelique Joy, Iona Julian-Walters, Sarah Karnis, Jacinta Maude, Clare McCracken, Michelle McLachlan, Shona McMahon, Angela Mezzatesta, Vani Newby, Kat Rae, Dee Robinson, Shannon Slee, Wensi Sun, Toni Vallance, Drey Willows, Meiwah Williams, La’la Zarei and Chiara Zeta.
Further information
For more information please contact Arts in Maroondah on 0417 915 347 or email gallery@maroondah.vic.gov.au.
Opportunities for creatives
The R&M McGivern Prize is calling for artists to submit outstanding, original artwork in the medium of painting in oil and watercolour (including gouache). Applications close Thursday 25 June 2026.
About this opportunity
About the R&M McGivern Prize
The R & M McGivern Prize was established by the will of the late Muriel Evelyn McGivern, a local resident and artist of Maroondah, as a legacy of Muriel’s support of the arts in Maroondah. Awarded every three years by the Perpetual Trustee Company Limited, acting as Trustee of the R & M McGivern Croydon Arts Trust, the Prize recognises outstanding, original artwork in painting.
The R & M McGivern Prize is an acquisitive award and the winning artworks, as judged by an expert panel, enter the Maroondah City Council Art Collection. The Prize aims to promote artistic excellence in painting and build a high-quality collection for Maroondah.
See previous winners
Call for entries
Entries close 11.59pm, Thursday 25 June 2026.
- Theme: Atmosphere
- Medium: Submissions must be predominantly oil or watercolour (including gouache)
- Entry fee: $30 entry
- Prizes:
- $25,000 acquisitive R & M McGivern Prize 2022
- $25,000 acquisitive R & M McGivern Prize 2025
- $1,000 non-acquisitive People’s Choice Prize awarded by Maroondah City Council
For more information on entry requirements visit mcgivernartprize.com.
Submit entry
Exhibition of entries
Selected artworks will be exhibited at ArtSpace at Realm and Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery from Thursday 19 November 2026 to Sunday 24 January 2027.
Announcement of winners
Prize winners will be announced at the exhibition launch on Thursday 19 November 2026.
About Muriel McGivern
Muriel McGivern (née Britten) was born on 1 October 1904 and passed away on 29 January 2000. She lived a richly creative life, and the R & M McGivern Prize grew out of her desire to provide an art prize within her local Croydon community.
Muriel lived her entire life in what is now known as the City of Maroondah and she is fondly remembered for her colourful writing, paintings of the Australian landscape and dedication to local history research. Muriel is also noted as the founder of the Croydon Historical Society and Museum in 1963.
Koko Crozier & Claire Riverland, The Caretaker’s Guide to Loving a Home, 2025, behind the scenes still Film produced by Arts Activators 2025 cohort
Applications for Arts Activators will remain open until further notice.
About Arts Activators
Are you a passionate creative aged 18 to 25? Whether you’re into music, visual arts, photography, writing, performance, filmmaking, event production, curating exhibitions or organising creative projects - we’d love you to join Arts Activators, a group of young creatives shaping the arts in Maroondah.
Arts Activators will meet monthly on a Wednesday, from 6pm to 7.30pm. Meetings will be at arts venues across Maroondah to explore and respond to opportunities for creative and community spaces, gain mentorship from established artists/arts workers, and exchange feedback on creative projects.
We encourage creatives from all backgrounds and disciplines to apply.
Benefits of joining
- Be part of a community of like-minded young artists
- Access mentorship and resources to support your creative journey and bring your ideas to life
- Be supported to create projects / works to activate venues across Maroondah
- Develop your creative practice and network
Express interest
Expressions of interest will remain open until further notice. Applicants will be contacted after they submit.
Express interest
Previous programs
Arts Activators has a new structure for 2026, but you can check out past Arts Activators programs below.
Arts Activators 2025
In 2025, Arts Activators presented five bold and thought-provoking works by emerging artists aged 18 to 25, each transforming material, space and sound into immersive sensory experiences.
Rory Giezekamp
Rory Giezekamp’s sculptural installation invisible wall made the unseen visible by recycling rubbish from the Maroondah area.
Amelie Stewart
Amelie Stewart presented suspended ceramic forms shaped by the ever-changing rhythms of nature and creativity.
Koko Crozier and Claire Riverland
Koko Crozier and Claire Riverland’s The Caretaker’s Guide to Loving a Home was a fusion of film and props that follows a cleaner of deceased estates who transforms her work into a 5-step ritual of care, reflecting on memory, loss and the commodification of housing.
Jordz
The Music Zone, an intimate listening space crafted by Jordz, layered airy music and offered an escape from the sensory stresses of the world.
Emma Lyn-Winkler and Neve Curnow
The thought-provoking What Remains was an immersive multimedia installation by Emma Lyn-Winkler and Neve Curnow. Merging Victorian 19th century death symbolism, rural gothic, and dark humour, the work transformed the space into a ghostly cemetery that playfully confronted mortality, anxiety, and sexuality.
Arts Activator 2024
For 2024 three artists were selected through an open callout for projects including sculptures, installation, puppetry and performance.
Mikayla Hotton
Mikayla Hotton is an early career artist who specialises in the art of puppet making and mould making. She created highly detailed otherworldly characters who are as quirky as they are mischievous. Building stories from the ground up she meticulously sculpted all sets and props by hand, giving her backgrounds a character of their own. Puppet movements are carefully engineered and tested.
Maya Grkow
Maya Grkow is an emerging New Zealand, and Australian artist who studied Sculpture at RMIT University. Utilising recycled materials she explored the ideas of comfort and hope. Her works serve as a metaphorical comfort pillow—a symbol of hope and support during life's trials.
Imogen Davis
Imogen Davis is an artist and art student interested in the world-building of real life and how we as humans, as well as animals, plants, and non-organism elements interact with and in turn affect everything within it. She worked in installation creating expanded 3D collages to explore the environment and ecosystems that can be found in and around Maroondah.
Further information
For more information please contact Arts in Maroondah on 0417 915 347 or email gallery@maroondah.vic.gov.au.
The project is a collaboration between Arts in Maroondah and Maroondah Youth Services.
The Arts Lounge includes spaces for artists and makers to display and sell their work. Expressions of interest are always open.
About this opportunity
Display spaces
The Makers Windows
The Makers Windows are located in Room 2 of The Arts Lounge. These locked cabinets feature handmade crafts and giftware for sale.
Art Card Display
The Art Card Display is located in front of the office window in the Wyreena foyer. Art Cards are a popular item for sale, with visitors frequently browsing and purchasing cards.
Express your interest
Expressions of interest are always open. Artists are given an initial period of three months to display their work. Wyreena manages the sales of goods and takes a 25% commission on sales.
Terms and Conditions are listed on the Expression of interest form. Please read carefully before submitting the form.
Expression of interest - The Makers Windows and Art Card Display(PDF, 106KB)
Please email the completed form and examples of your work to wyreena@maroondah.vic.gov.au.
Wyreena will be in touch with you in due course following your expression of interest.
Further information
For more information contact the Wyreena Arts Program Officer on 03 9298 4533 or email wyreena@maroondah.vic.gov.au.
When
-
Monday, 30 March 2026 | 09:00 AM
- Friday, 15 May 2026 | 12:00 PM
Location
Maroondah Federation Estate, 32 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood, 3134, View map
-37.8197784,145.2302246
32 Greenwood Avenue ,
Ringwood 3134
Maroondah Federation Estate
32 Greenwood Avenue ,
Ringwood 3134
May We?