Australian Performing Arts Collection

The Australian Performing Arts Collection (APAC) at Arts Centre Melbourne is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia. Formerly known as the Performing Arts Museum (PAM), it holds more than 780,000 items documenting the history of circus, dance, music, opera, and theatre in Australia, as well as the careers of Australian performers overseas. Located in Melbourne, Victoria, the collection was established in 1975 and serves as a vital repository for the nation's performing arts heritage, supporting research, exhibitions, and loans to institutions across Australia and internationally.

The collection was established in 1975 as part of the Melbourne Arts Centre, which was then under construction. Architect Roy Grounds, appointed to design the Arts Centre in 1959, had reportedly intended a performing arts museum to be part of the complex but did not allocate dedicated space in his original brief, instead planning display cabinets for the foyers. A committee formed in 1975 advised on sources and types of material, and after considering names including Museum of the Performing Arts and Stage Museum, Performing Arts Museum was chosen in 1977. The museum was officially launched by Premier Sir Rupert Hamer on 30 October 1978 at a display held at the nearby National Gallery of Victoria, where Mobil Oil managing director George Pusak presented a cheque of $300,000. The NGV also hosted PAM's first major exhibition in 1981, before the museum officially opened in 1982 with exhibitions on Dame Nellie Melba and Bourke Street. In its first year it attracted 47,000 visitors and mounted four major and six smaller exhibitions. Frank van Straten, who began as Archivist in 1979, served as Director from 1984 to 1993, followed by Janine Barrand from 1994 to 2021. In August 2022, Karen Quinlan became CEO of Melbourne Arts Centre and announced plans to expand the collection's visibility. In 2025, the collection's 50th year, Quinlan established a new dedicated display space in Hamer Hall, with conservation and photography labs and a curatorial studio. In December 2025, Victorian Arts Minister Colin Brooks announced that the State Theatre would reopen in October 2026, six months ahead of schedule, renamed the Ian Potter State Theatre after its major donor.

The Australian Performing Arts Collection focuses on circus, theatre, opera, dance, and music. It was considered unique at its founding because it did not specialise in a single genre but collected across all performing arts. Collections began being acquired before the Melbourne Arts Centre was completed, with official acquisition beginning in 1979. Early major acquisitions included the J C Williamson Theatre Archive and the Dame Nellie Melba Collection. The collection now holds over 680,000 to 780,000 items, with major acquisitions from Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave, Barry Humphries, Bell Shakespeare, the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Australian Opera, and The Australian Ballet. In 2001, APAC acquired records, costume and set designs, audiovisual materials, and papers of the New Theatre, Melbourne (1936-2000), and the personal papers of theatre director Dot Thompson. Since 2017, the collection has supported the Australian Music Vault, a permanent exhibition in collaboration with the music industry.

Notable holdings include collections relating to musicians Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, the Australian Archives of the Dance, The Australian Ballet, Circus Oz, and Juke Magazine. The Dame Nellie Melba Collection and the J C Williamson Theatre Archive were among the earliest major acquisitions. The New Theatre, Melbourne archives (1936-2000) and the personal papers of theatre director Dot Thompson, acquired in 2001, form significant documentary holdings. Exhibitions drawn from the collection have featured subjects including AC/DC, Kylie Minogue, Geoffrey Rush, Peter Allen, and Nick Cave. In December 2025, APAC opened its first exhibition in the new Hamer Hall space: DIVA, developed with London's Victoria and Albert Museum and the Auckland Museum, incorporating Melbourne collection material on Dame Nellie Melba, Kylie Minogue, Olivia Newton-John, and Reuben Kaye.

The collection is housed at Arts Centre Melbourne, located at 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Originally, architect Roy Grounds planned display cabinets in the building's foyers rather than a dedicated museum space. For decades, exhibitions were held in galleries throughout the complex, including Gallery 1, Gallery 2, the St Kilda Road Foyer Gallery, and the Smorgon Family Plaza. In 2025, a new dedicated display space was created in Hamer Hall, in space formerly occupied by restaurant Fatto. This new facility includes room for conservation and photography labs and a curatorial studio. The broader Arts Centre Melbourne site is also undergoing conservation work, with the State Theatre scheduled to reopen in October 2026 as the Ian Potter State Theatre.

The Australian Performing Arts Collection is located at Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004. The research centre is open Monday and Tuesday from 10am to 4pm by appointment; visitors must provide three weeks' advance notice and outline their research topic by letter or telephone. The collection is closed on public holidays. The Collections Coordinator provides basic research assistance free of charge, with charges for more in-depth research by arrangement. Researchers may photograph items for their own research purposes under an access agreement. Under CEO Karen Quinlan, APAC plans to host two exhibitions annually in its expanded Hamer Hall space, drawn primarily from the collection, and is developing a loans program to share holdings with other Australian institutions.