Celebrate the Year of the Snake with Lunar New Year 2025 at NGV

Featuring pop-up lion dances, Peking opera performances and a delicious menu created by chef and restauranteur Victor Liong, Lunar New Year at NGV is a vibrant, all-ages celebration marking the first moon cycle of 2025 and the Year of the Snake. With two full days of free events at NGV International across Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 February, visitors can enjoy drop-by artist workshops, performances, mahjong in the NGV Garden, tours of the NGV Collection and much more. 

Especially for the NGV’s Lunar New Year celebration Brunei-born, Melbourne-based chef Victor Liong has created a bespoke menu with the support of event partner, HSBC. The menu features Kashgari cumin lamb skewers, dumplings, five spiced duck sausage roll, jasmine tea cream choux puffs and more.​ Liong is an icon of Australia’s hospitality sector. His restaurant, Lee Ho Fook in Duckboard Place in Melbourne’s CBD, has earned a loyal following for its unique and creative new-style Chinese dishes.

Presented by HSBC, Liong will also feature as part of a Lunar New Year cuisine discussion, along with food writer, comedian, TV presenter and host of ABC’s Chopsticks or Fork? Jennifer Wong. Food is central to Lunar New Year celebrations, symbolising prosperity, luck and familial togetherness. Audiences will discover how the presenters honour their heritage through food, blending traditional dishes with modern creativity, as well as personal stories of family and cultural connection. Guests attending the culinary discussion will receive complimentary loose-leaf tea from Lee Ho Fook to enjoy at home. 

For younger visitors, local artist Yiwon Park will lead an illustrative workshop that invites children to decorate their own traditional Korean bokjumeoni (fortune pouch), filling it with drawings of symbolic objects that represent good fortune and blessings, including rice cakes, coins and peaches. Visitors can stop by the NGV Garden for a game of mahjong, a traditional Chinese game played using tiles that date back to the Qing dynasty. There will be free Häagen-Dazs ice cream available from 3.30pm in the NGV Garden. 

Audiences can also enjoy a rich program of performances, including the vibrant and energetic lion dance performance (wu shi) by Hong De Lion Dance Association. Featuring larger-than-life lion costumes, the lion dance is a tradition symbolising good luck and prosperity. Also presented will be performances of bian lian, a 300-year-old art form from Sichuan opera in which performers wearing colourful and ornate costumes skilfully change face masks – often with several mask changes happening in a matter of seconds. 

In the Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, visitors can experience the dazzling spectacle of Peking opera (jing ju). A mesmerising blend of music, vocal performance and stylised movements, Peking opera is a centuries-old artform and the most popular form of Chinese opera today. The stories of gods, warriors and ancient scholars are brought to life by performers in elaborate costumes and vibrant face paint, each symbolising their character archetype. The performances at the NGV will be conducted by Mei Lan Fang’s Chinese Beijing Opera Friendship Association & Chinese Beijing Opera Club of Melbourne. ​There will also be DJ sets in the Great Hall by Rainbow Chan and Small Fry.  

Additionally, there will be tours of the NGV Collection in both Mandarin and English, where visitors can unearth the hidden treasures and lucky symbols found throughout the NGV’s International Decorative Arts collection. 

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: ‘Our annual Lunar New Year celebrations at the NGV bring together our whole community for a weekend of non-stop cultural activities. Festivals like this are an important way to preserve and share the cultural heritage and traditions of our diverse and multicultural community.’ 

Lunar New Year at the NGV will run Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 February 2025 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. FREE. For more information visit the NGV website: NGV.MELBOURNE 

Lion dances at the NGV Lunar New Year Celebrations 2024 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo credit Tim Carrafa