Beginning Thursday night with mayor Daniel Moloney and RMIT's Professor Michael Buxton, a planning expert, discussing sustainable growth amid Ballarat's booming population, the program also includes question and answer sessions with experts on Ballarat's heritage, the arts, and rebounding post-pandemic.

Next week, architect Wendy Jacobs will feature with Michael Whitehead, who will talk about restoring his 1867 Baptist Church - they'll be followed by Creative Cities coordinator Tara Poole and artist Paige Duggan discussing finding Ballarat's creative identity, and next month, Sovereign Hill chief executive Sara Quon and Mitchell Harris Wines' Alicia Linley, speaking about how businesses can thrive as restrictions ease.

The institute's Phil Roberts said getting the public talks up and running again has been important, because it's a return to the BMI's roots.

"We're a cultural institution, and part of the idea is to have talks for the public and educate the public, this is very much in line with the idea of the mechanics institute," he said.

"We have, in Ballarat, our institute is probably the best example in Australia of a mechanics institute - there's only half a dozen of the originals left, but we've got a treasure here in Ballarat."

The first talk in particular is something on many people's minds, he added, and having heavy hitters like the mayor and Professor Buxton - from RMIT's School of Global, Urban and Social Studies - promises to be fascinating.

"It's well over 1000 (people) a year increase, and getting closer to 2000 - over 20 years, if you think about it, that's quite a big increase in population, so Ballarat needs to be planning very carefully," he said.

Pre-bookings are preferred via Eventbrite - tomorrow's talk at the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute on Sturt Street begins at 5.30pm, with doors opening at 5pm.

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