28/03/2026
OPEN STUDIOS & OPEN ARMS
A piece we’ve been working on, highlighting the deep connection within the Dandenong Ranges artist community.
Tomorrow is the last day of Dandenong Ranges Open Studios (DROS) 2026. Across two weekends, more than 60 artists from across our region open their homes, studios—and their arms—to visitors.
It’s a tightly held, close-knit community. From emerging artists in their teens to those with decades of practice behind them, the Dandenong Ranges have long offered both haven and refuge from the grittiness of inner Melbourne.
On the lands of the Wurundjeri people, this place is both inspiration and home—where artists exist not only as individuals, but as families, collaborators, mentors, benefactors, and kin. Last year, the event welcomed almost 8,000 visits to studios—many within the artists’ own homes.
When you support the arts, you support a way of being—one that brings richness, provenance, and history to our shared culture.
In the words of Salman Rushdie:
“Art is not a luxury. It stands at the essence of our humanity, and it asks for no special protection except the right to exist.”
