What does it mean to ‘be human?’

Does it lie in our ability to look at our past, and learn from our history, so that we might shape our future? Is it in our capacity to imagine fictional worlds and create works of art that shape our culture? Or is it in the connections we seek with the people around us, to build communities, and come together?

Being Human Festival 2026: Illuminate your humanity

Crossroads: a meeting place of convergence and divergence. We are at a time of pivotal change, as the international order faces restructuring, while democratic institutions are being tested and reimagined.

The Faculty of Arts is delighted to once again serve as an international hub for the UK’s Being Human Festival, presenting a packed program of events that brings Australian humanities research to life in imaginative and engaging ways.

Immerse yourself in a pop-up art community from the 1940s, come along to a masterclass in HOPE, find out if a prison can inspire poetry, lose yourself in literary translation or experience multicultural Melbourne. Together, history, technology, and imagination invite us to connect through humanities research.

Meet us at the liminal place of decision and change, where society faces the choices of our time – meet us at the Crossroads.

Supported by the Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative.