MELBOURNE.- Presented by the Melbourne Art Foundation, Melbourne Art Week is an exciting week of Art events, including a comprehensive education program featuring free Lectures, Forums and Artist Talks, free Guided Tours, the launch and gifting of the Melbourne Art Foundation Commission, Project Rooms, Music Music Music! Fair Shake music night, and most importantly the biennial Melbourne Art Fair, Australiaʼs premier contemporary art fair, exhibiting over 80 galleries and 10 project rooms at the World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building and surrounds from 4 to 8 August.

Another key initiative at the Melbourne Art Fair 2010 is the Richard Larter Education Space, a unique Education Space featuring figurative and abstract works by leading Australian artist Richard Larter, providing a fun and active learning space and a significant opportunity to engage directly with, and learn from, practising artists. Everyone is welcome to participate, from children to adults. Join artist Lisa Radford and others and be inspired to make your mark!

One of the highlights of Melbourne Art Fair is the Melbourne Art Foundation Commission, a spectacular large-scale work positioned centre-stage under the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building and gifted to an Australian Art Gallery or Museum at the conclusion of the Fair.

Rarely is such a diverse collection of artists represented under one roof. The Melbourne Art Fair offers a fantastic chance to view and purchase quality artwork by some of the best-known artists working today. Over 3,000 contemporary artworks including Paintings, Works on Paper, Sculpture, Photography, Digital Media and Video, are showcased from more than 900 artists represented by over 80 leading contemporary galleries from all states and territories of Australia and beyond.

Whether youʼre a casual art fan, serious collector or student of art, Melbourne Art Fair offers something for everyone. Enjoy a leisurely stroll through galleries exhibiting an impressive collection of contemporary art. Expand your art knowledge with a free Guided Tour. Take advantage of the unique opportunity to engage with artists and curators at the free Lectures and Forums. Experience the Project Rooms where you can view artworks from a new generation of artists. Visit the Richard Larter Education Space and make your own mark! Join the Collector Program and meet fellow collectors, artists, curators and art lovers.

Melbourne Art Fair 2010 features 10 Project Rooms profiling the work of innovative and independent artists by presenting new work in a series of spaces in and around the Royal Exhibition Building. Project Rooms create opportunities for developing artists to present innovative and experimental work within the context of a major international visual art event, highlighting the diversity of current contemporary art practice, alongside a strong and vibrant gallery scene.

Galleries exhibiting as part of the Project Rooms program include Artspace Auckland, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown and from Melbourne - Centre for Contemporary Photography, Gertrude Contemporary, Hell Gallery, Sticky Institute, TCB Art Inc, Twitcher, curated by Peter Fay and Wendy Foard and Experimenta on the forecourt. Offsite we also have a Project Room at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins featuring the work of artist Emily Ferretti.

All components of the Melbourne Art Fair directly benefit living artists. Over its 22 year history, the Melbourne Art Fair has generated a wealth of national and international commercial and critical attention for artists and galleries.