Established in 2006, the Melbourne Art Foundation Commission program provides living artists with an opportunity to realise a large-scale work for unveiling at Melbourne Art Fair, which is later gifted to a prominent institution. 

Previous partners in the program have included Govett Brester Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, AGWA, ACMI, HOTA Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, NGV, QAGOMA, the University of Queensland Art Museum, MCA, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia; and artists Dawn Ng, Yona Lee, Julie Rrap, Kaylene Whiskey, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Ronnie van Hout, Michael Parekōwhai, David Griggs, Peter Hennessey, Jon Campbell, Ian Burns, and Mikala Dwyer.