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This week in Canberra, we’re reflecting on Reconciliation Day, laughing along at some top-tier comedy shows, and exploring the endless exhibitions that are on around town.
Read on for 25 things to do.
Special Events and Festivals
Reconciliation Day
Head along to the National Arboretum to enjoy a family-friendly program designed to promote conversations and foster a deeper understanding of our national story and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievement, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
Monday 29 May | National Arboretum Canberra, Forest Drive, Molonglo Valley | More information here.
Storytelling Workshop with Adam Duncan—Reconciliation Week
Join Adam Duncan (AKA Biripi man and author of The Bunyip and the Stars children’s book), for a special story time! In this workshop, children will also contribute to a collaborative artwork.
Tuesday 30 May and Thursday 1 June | National Museum of Australia, Lawson Crescent, Acton | nma.gov.au
Kitty Flanagan Live!
You’ve seen her on Fisk, Utopia and Have You Been Paying Attention, but did you know she’s coming to Canberra? Kitty Flanagan Live! is Kitty’s brand new show full of hard laughs, good times, handy hints and a catchy little tune about underpants. Sounds like a good time to us.
Tuesday 30 May until Sunday 4 June | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
Troy Kinne—Made Wrong
Multi award winning stand up, Troy Kinne is hitting the stage with his new show, Made Wrong. Expect him to share too much information about…well…all things wrong with him. But hey, if it means you get to walk away feeling better about yourself, then he’s happy to take one for the team.
Saturday 3 June | The Street Theatre, 15 Childers St, Canberra City | Book here.
Festival of Everyday Art
The Festival of Everyday Art will transform the streets into a giant outdoor art gallery using the power of white gallery labels and your imagination! Perfect for the family, join workshops, treasure hunts and self-guided trails through the city, check out an exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery, and win prizes! And the best part? All of the events are free.
Until Sunday 16 July | Various locations | facebook.com/PeopleLabCBR
Food and Wine
Exploring Shiraz
Love a glass of red? Learn all about shiraz in the Canberra wine region during this special event. They’ll cover shiraz wine styles, winemaking techniques, shiraz viognier, food and wine pairing—and you get to do all this by tasting through a hand-picked selection of quality Canberra wines, plus one or two Aussie and international ring-ins!
Saturday 3 June | Canberra Region Visitors Centre, Barrine Drive, Acton | piqueniquewine.com.au
Stage and screen
The Trials
First performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in January 2022, followed by a West End run at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August, Canberra Youth Theatre will stage the Australian premiere of one of the most urgent and galvanising plays of our time.
Confronting, shocking, and searingly relevant, The Trials grapples with the burning questions of our age – what kind of planet are we leaving for our children? Will they condemn us for not taking action when we had the chance? And will they be justified?
Until Sunday 28 May | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
Sweet As Screening
Sweet As is the coming-of-age story of Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan), a Western Australian teenager living in a remote town, dealing with the harsh realities of rural life and a dwindling relationship with her mother who is battling addiction. In this screening, watch as the deeply charged and tumultuous rollercoaster unfolds.
Friday 2 June | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, McCoy Circuit, Acton | Book here.
Documentary Screening: Still We Rise (2022)
Join the National Library of Australia for a free special National Reconciliation Week screening of the documentary Still We Rise. Bringing together historical and contemporary voices and perspectives on First Nations Australian Justice and Land Rights, this is not to be missed.
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this documentary contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.
Friday 2 June | National Library of Australia, Parkes Place West, Parkes | Register here.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Australia’s biggest and best comedy festival is hitting the road again! Featuring the best and brightest of the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, get ready for a stellar line-up with Roadshow favourites alongside the most talked-about breakthrough stars of the moment. Get some mates together, book your tickets and head out for a much-needed comedy fix when the Roadshow hits Canberra!
Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
Music
Camerata in Concert: Ingham
Join Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra for an unforgettable evening of beloved and joyous classical music. Featuring a joyous program featuring works by Dvorak, Vivaldi and more, this one night only concert is something the whole family will enjoy.
Friday 2 June | JF Kelly Theatre, 17 Townsville Street, Fyshwick | camerata.net.au
Exhibitions
Sculpture for Clyde
Okay, this isn’t technically in Canberra—but after a three year COVID hiatus Sculpture For Clyde is back in Batemans Bay. The 10 day event will be consolidated for the first time on the Batemans Bay foreshore with the indoor sculptures and student sculpture exhibition in a large marquee, while the outdoor sculptures will feature along the foreshore. The event will also be Sculpture for Clyde’s largest event with over 110 sculptures for exhibition and sale.
Until Sunday 4 June | Batemans Bay Foreshore | sculptureforclyde.com.au
War in Cities
War in Cities is an exhibition presented by the International Committee of the Red Cross that explores the devastating impact on civilians when wars are fought in urban landscapes. Objects collected from battlefields, historical and contemporary audiovisual materials will tell a story about the staggering toll of urban warfare on people, the humanitarian needs that arise, and also people’s resilience.
Wednesday 31 May until Tuesday 6 June | Gorman Arts Centre, F Block 55 Ainslie Avenue, Braddon | icrc.org
Kathleen Potts: Gather In The Scene
In this solo exhibition presented at Strathnairn Arts, Kathleen Potts showcases a body of new work in paint and drawings. Exploring impermanency and using landscapes familiar to the residents of the ACT (such as Shepherds Lookout, Uriarra Crossing, and Dickson Wetlands), through her artwork Potts investigates how personal narrative is influenced by the subjective memory of place. Her goal? To evoke curiosity and stir emotion.
Saturday 3 June until Monday 25 June | 90 Stockdill Drive, Holt | strathnairn.com.au
Gulgawarnigu—Thinking of Something, Someone
In partnership with Big hART, the National Portrait Gallery is presenting this exhibition of digital drawings, three-dimensional material renders, animations and photo composites. In it the artists share explosive and diverse works to show who they are, where they are and what the future of portraiture can look like.
Saturday 3 June until Monday 2 October | National Portrait Gallery, King Edward Terrace, Parkes | portrait.gov.au
Dream City Demolition
Presenting a series of new works by Katie Hayne documenting Canberra’s changing urban places through painting and installation, this exhibition draws attention to the materiality of places and questions the environmental impact of concrete and urban renewal.
Until Sunday 4 June | M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Cres, Griffith | m16artspace.com
The Grand Scheme
Focusing on one of the world’s engineering wonders and its impact on various aspects of life in the surrounding Snowy Mountain Region of NSW, The Grand Scheme by Chris Round presents a contemporary documentation of the Snowy Hydro Scheme, exploring the delicate relationship between nature and our intervention upon.
Until Saturday 10 June | PhotoAccess, 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith | gallery.photoaccess.org.au
Huon
This exhibition explores the conflict between environmental preservation and industrial development on the southwest coast of Tasmania. Through the use of medium format film, Noah Thompson highlights how such apparent dichotomies affect the state’s socio-political and physical landscapes.
Until Saturday 10 June | PhotoAccess, 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith | gallery.photoaccess.org.au
Between Presumption and Melancholy
Between presumption and melancholy by Toni Hassan presents a series of video works that show conversations between women in the capital region about their experience of Australia’s Black Summer. The idea is the artist opens space for an embodied and cathartic experience around climate grief and negotiates what people bring to this unfolding reality within their own bodies.
Until Saturday 10 June | PhotoAccess, 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith | gallery.photoaccess.org.au
On Becoming: Jessika Spencer at the COX Gallery
This exhibition by proud Wiradjuri woman, Jessika Spencer is her first solo exhibition. Combining traditional materials and forms with contemporary ones, binding them together with weaving techniques that have been passed onto her, On Becoming is an an extension of herself: the softness, the strength and the resilience. Made on Ngunnawal, Ngambri Country, and her ancestral homelands of Wiradjuri Country deep in the Riverina, the exhibition is about growth, evolution, shedding and transforming.
Until Friday 16 June | COX Gallery, 1/19 Eastlake Pde, Kingston | coxarchitecture.com.au
Sue Lovegrove— Slow Water Paintings
Tasmanian artist Sue Lovegrove’s paintings embody the experience of being immersed within a landscape, harnessing the rhythm and flow of water and capturing the shimmering patterns of light and shadow that dance across the rippling surface.
Until Sunday 27 June | Beaver Galleries, 81 Denison Street, Deakin | beavergalleries.com.au
Lucy Simpson: Baayangalibiyaay
Yuwaalaraay wirringgaa Lucy Simpson is Creative Director and Principal Designer/Maker behind Gaawaa Miyay, a First Nations design studio inspired by country, relationships and notions of continuity and exchange. In this exhibition she shares a story of materiality and memory which looks to the glassmaking process to record, absorb, reflect and transform its body.
Until Sunday 16 July | Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | canberraglassworks.com
Sport
ACT Brumbies v Melbourne Rebels
The ACT Brumbies are facing the Melbourne Rebels in Round 15 of the Harvey Norman Super Rugby! See you there?
Friday 2 June | GIO Stadium, Battye Street, Bruce | Book here.
Workshops, webinars and more
Book Launch: What Birdo is That? A Field Guide to Bird People
Join Professor Libby Robin as she launches her latest book ‘What Birdo is That? A Field Guide to Bird People’, a book that draws heavily on the National Library’s collections. Revealing how bird-people in Australia have gone about their craft across the years, the stories n the book come from wild places—at sea as well as on the land-from dusty archives, from restoration projects, gardens and urban wastelands. This field guide to Australia’s bird-people provides a basis for understanding the complex relationship between people and birds in a land of extremes at the forefront of changing climate and habitats.
Following the discussion in the Theatre, Professor Robin will be available for book signings in the Foyer.
Wednesday 31 May | National Library of Australia, Parkes Place West, Parkes | Book here.
Creative Catalysts Workshop with Odette England
Designed to help photographers and artists of all levels break free from creative blockages and spark their imagination through fun and playful techniques, in this workshop participants will learn how to generate fresh ideas and concepts for their artistic projects, guided by the renowned photographer Odette England. As she shares her insights and expertise, this workshop is perfect for unleashing your creative potential and fuel your artistic journey.
Sunday 4 June | PhotoAccess, 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith | Book here.