Over the past year, things have been a little quieter than normal over at the Heide Museum of Modern Art and its famed sculpture garden. But the precinct is starting 2021 with a bang, launching a brand-new nine-week music and culture festival.

Kicking off this Sunday, January 17, the inaugural Heide Summer Festival will see the parkland grounds come alive with a series of live tunes, performances and dance, held in collaboration with a range of local cultural organisations.

A program of January Sunday sessions is being put together by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, with gigs from the likes of star saxophonist Solomon Sisay (January 17) and Yorta Yorta musician Allara Briggs Pattison (January 31). Then, there'll be a two-week program by Songlines Music Aboriginal Corporation (February 7 and 14), featuring Emma Donovan and The Putbacks, the all-female Djirri Djirri Dance Group and local Aboriginal storyteller Uncle Larry Walsh.

A Midsumma collaboration rounds out February with an interactive dance experience by All The Queens Men! LGBTQI+ Elders Dance Club (February 27), and an afternoon of sounds from Diimpa and Forest Collective (February 28). And the festival wraps up with a dose of contemporary Balkan brass courtesy of Opa! Bato, on March 7.

Some festival events are free, though you'll still need to register for all tickets via the Heide website.

Uncle Larry Walsh, by Beata Mazur, courtesy of NITV.

Top Image: Heide x Midsumma, courtesy of Heide Museum of Modern Art