Introducing the Ballarat Pop-Up Park, the city’s newest attraction this summer.

From Friday 14 January until Sunday 30 January, the free family-friendly space is open 11am-10pm daily.

Presented by the City of Ballarat and Spark Theatre, the park is located in Camp Street’s Alfred Deakin Place (behind the Art Gallery of Ballarat).

Be entertained by a variety of live performances, including music, comedy, roving performers and more.

Pull up a deck chair and watch summer sports and movies on the big screen, or why not dance along to a Zumba class?

And cap off your summer session with a sit-down or takeaway meal or snack from one of the CBD’s nearby cafes and restaurants.

You can also pimp up your Ballarat Pop-Up Park experience with a free trip to the Art Gallery of Ballarat, which has extended its trading hours to 10am-10pm daily until Saturday 29 January.

Wednesday 26 January

• 11am-5pm: Share the Spirit livestream on the big screen, celebrating First Nations music, art and culture
• 5pm-8pm: Big Bash cricket on the big screen
• 8pm-10pm: The Sapphires on the big screen

***Please note, this schedule is subject to change***

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Thursday 27 January

• 11am-12pm: Fitness circuits with Leah Johnson
• 11am-10pm: The Talking Couch – stories from elderly Ballarat residents about their life in the 1940s. The installation is a small sofa with speakers installed, with a 40-minute audio on loop
• 4pm-10pm: The Boaz and Jachin Pillars interactive installation and sensory experience. The audience will become participants, encouraged to touch and manipulate each pillar. The main intention is to produce a heavenly blend of ethereal sounds with Jachim and a cacophony of hellish undertones with Boaz
  
• 6pm-9pm at the Art Gallery of Ballarat: ZÖJ (Iranian-Australian musician Gelareh Pour and experimental drummer Brian O’Dwyer who fuse Persian and western motifs into their intoxicating music)

***Please note, this schedule is subject to change***

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Friday 28 January

• 11am-10pm: The Talking Couch – stories from elderly Ballarat residents about their life in the 1940s. The installation is a small sofa with speakers installed, with a 40-minute audio on loop
• 6pm-7pm: The Wunderhorns roving musicians
• 7pm-8pm: Live music with Paige Duggan and Robbie Melville
• 8pm-9pm: Live music with Aimee Brûlée and Geoff McArthur
• 9pm-10pm: Live music with Paper Mouse
  
• 6pm-9pm at the Art Gallery of Ballarat: Candi Wade – solo acoustic guitar player and singer who has been playing and performing from a very young age

***Please note, this schedule is subject to change***

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Saturday 29 January

• 11am-2pm: Australian Open tennis on the big screen
• 2pm-3pm: Music workshop with Gamelan Dananda
• 3pm-4pm: Roving music performance from Gamelan Dananda
• 4pm-5pm: Live music from Shadow Feet
• 5pm-6pm: Live music from Plum Green
• 6pm-7pm: Live music from ZÖJ
• 7pm-8pm: Roving music performance from Gamelan Dananda
• 8pm-10pm: Australian Open tennis on the big screen
  
• 6pm-9pm at the Art Gallery of Ballarat: Cassells Acoustic – a solo acoustic project founded by Jordan Cassells, blending the unique sounds of alternative/folk acoustic into encapsulated stories of personal life events

***Please note, this schedule is subject to change***

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Sunday 30 January

• 12pm-2pm: Odes to My Lunch – hilarious dedications to your favourite midday meal as spoken word poet Megan J Riedl and her musical friends
• 2pm-3pm: The Tennis Pros roving circus performance
• 4pm-5pm: The Tennis Pros roving circus performance
• 4pm-6pm: The Breakup Mixtape – songs of love, passion, loss and heartbreak throughout the ages by Ballarat’s Sarahlouise Younger, Jessica Ryan and Sarah Barlow
• 6pm-7pm: 4pm-5pm: The Tennis Pros roving circus performance
• 7pm-10pm: Australian Open tennis on the big screen

***Please note, this schedule is subject to change***

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Meanwhile, Ballarat’s line-up of summer activations also includes:

• free concert series Summer Sundays at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens (9-30 January)
• Ballarat Laneways installations (17 January-27 February)
• Picnic in the Park at Victoria Park (26 January)
• the pop-up Ballarat Boom Box (January-April)

Main image: Meda Design Au