On Opening Night we celebrate artists, audiences and Melbourne itself. Rain or shine, it all kicks off at 6pm and gracing the stage at Federation Square are various bands, musicians and singers whose cultural backgrounds and musical influences make for a remarkable global tour and celebration: ska, reggae, jazz, Latin-fusion, brass, percussion, choral, hip hop, traditional and contemporary music by musicians whose contribution to Australia's music scene is ever-expanding and not to be missed.

A fascinating exhibition of photographs and objects inspired by Steven Sebring's time with Patti Smith during the filming of their extraordinary documentary Dream of Life.

21:100:100 features 100 works by 100 sound artists produced in the 21st century. This exhibition is the first significant survey in Melbourne to explore and chronicle the extraordinary developments that have occurred in contemporary sound art.

Sound artist Alex Stahl joins forces with Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, the dynamic duo behind last year's Musicircus, to create an engagement with the soundworld of the common myna. Beyond the steel and stone across the river, listeners are invited to explore other bridges: mapping connections between free speech and free music, human and avian migrations, performer and audience, natural and constructed environments.

A remarkable exhibition from this major New Zealand artist that explores ideas about photography and the way it is viewed.

From Jane Birkin to Cat Power, David Byrne to Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, Italian photographer Rita Antonioli has captured a swath of iconic figures and alt heroes. This exhibition presents a selection of these and more from Antonioli's vast catalogue.

Get a no-nonsense, fresh take on the Festival with this unique awards ceremony where the only opinions that matter are those of the kids!

Rather than commemorating a particular hero or an important historical event, these animated monuments turn instead to the people who live in, work in and come to explore Melbourne: the people that bring the city to life.

Saturday 25th October is the final night of the Festival - the Festival that was, the artists who made it and the conclusion of four incredible programs under the Artistic Directorship of Kristy Edmunds. Closing Night is the ultimate in Festival revelry, and this year will be no exception. Come to the Artist Lounge and join artists and staff in raising a glass to Kristy and the 2008 Festival.

Lynette Wallworth returns to Melbourne Festival with the Australian debut of her new work. An intimate interactive installation that responds to touch, Evolution of Fearlessness is a sequel to Wallworth's Unheard Voices: Invisible by Night. Together the two works deal with loss and its aftermath, survival and, beyond that, hope and strength.

UK performance makers Lone Twin team up with Melbourne-based junkyard theatre trio The Suitcase Royale for a series of public performances throughout the city. Lone Twin gather an eclectic sense of local events; part news, part hearsay, part factual narrative, part fictional construct then The Suitcase Royale impart the bulletins, suggesting the familiar cries of Melbourne's newsboys.

Matthew Sleeth's use of serial photographic images seeks to bring order to the chaos around us. Pattern Recognition features a photographic series drawn from contemporary life, including abandoned umbrellas, fire extinguishers, security cameras and Ground Zero. In the process of making these images, Sleeth draws attention to the history of photography's relationship to collecting, cataloguing and obsession.

Bring the kids to this giant-sized game of life and plunge into a brilliantly fun, oversized adventure. Who will win? The Big Game is a gigantic, fun, interactive performance and play space for families. Kids participate as tokens in a huge board game, rolling enormous dice, stepping on game tiles and meeting larger-than-life characters that take them from start to finish.

The Meaning of Moorabbin is Open For Inspection is staged as an open inspection. Using photography, film, video and design, this is an extraordinary theatre and installation work that plays with Australian notions of family and suburbia.

Behind the scenes, the artists of the 2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival are actually not all out shopping. From school performances to community workshops, master classes to patron suppers, this is your chance to see a rare side to some extraordinary artists. The In Conversation series is also back in 2008, hosted by Festival Artistic Director, Kristy Edmunds. As those of you who've witnessed them before can attest, some of the most enlightening and inspiring discussions happen everyday of the Festival in The Famous Spiegeltent between 1 and 2pm.