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The long weekend is finally here. How will you be spending it?
From plenty of special events to markets, music, and more here are 25+ suggested ways to fill your days.
Special Events and Festivals
So You Think You Can Drag: All Stars
Canberra’s own epic drag showcase So You Think You Can Drag? is back (with a twist!). The ultimate celebration of Canberra’s drag scene, this will be So You Think You Can Drag’s third event, however, this year the theme is ‘All Stars’, meaning these drag artists have been hand-picked from the past two competitions to bring you nothing but tens, tens, tens across the board, darling! A fun night out for fans of drag, Ru Paul’s Drag Race or really anyone with good taste, So You Think You Can Drag will follow a similar format to the aforementioned iconic TV show, with the All Stars competing in an array of challenges across the evening (as well as plenty of catwalk goodness) with the winner crowned at the end of the night. Start your engines, Canberra. And may the best drag artist win.
Saturday 27 May | Louie Louie, upstairs at Verity Lane Market, Sydney Building, Canberra City | Book here.
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.
Saturday 27 May until Sunday 4 June | Batemans Bay Foreshore | sculptureforclyde.com.au
Fashion Thrift Society
This is Australia’s biggest curated thrift market—and it’s coming to Canberra. Get ready to experience 150+ unique vendors who will be providing a wide range of items, including gender-neutral, male and female vintage, pre-loved, current trends, plus size, designer pieces, handmade clothing, shoes, accessories, home décor, small local companies and art. There will also be a licensed 18+ bar, delicious food trucks, a DJ playing all day bringing the vibes, a tooth gem and body piercing booth, henna tattoo artist, barbers and more!
Sunday 28 May | Budawang Pavilion, Flemington Road, Mitchell | Book here.
Canberra Million Paws Walk
Get ready to pound the pavement with your pooch(es) at the Million Paws Walk. Head along to Patrick White Lawns on Sunday 28 May for a family friendly walk to help raise much needed funds for animals in need. After the walk, stick around to enjoy food, music, retail stalls, prizes and more!
Sunday 28 May | Patrick White Lawns, Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes | Register here.
Reconciliation Concert 2023
Canberra Theatre Centre is proud to present legendary band Yothu Yindi as part of this year’s Reconciliation Concert. The multi-award winning band will share the stage with host Tahalianna Soward-Mahanga, and powerful young Canberran First Nation artists Alinta Barlow and Stewart Barton, in a celebration of their voices, stories and music.
Sunday 28 May | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
The Dancing Queen Dining Experience
Ever been raging with jealousy whilst watching Donna and the gang sing and dance whilst on a heavenly Greek island? Well, rage no more, the Dancing Queen Dining Experience is back for an evening of dancing, dining and jiving. Because whilst being served a mouth-watering dinner in Niko’s Tavern, you will be serenaded by performers and leave begging for a man after midnight! See you there?
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 May | 21 London Circuit, Level 1, 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
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.
Music
Heart Strings and FIRE
Mixing exquisite palettes of colours, with tranquil glasslike shimmering effects from the strings and pulsating, lush arpeggios from the piano, get ready as they Highlands Music Collective pull all their heartstrings for the piano trios by acclaimed Australian composers Elena Kats-Chernin and Canberra’s own, Sally Greenaway. The second half of the program features the Highlands Music Collective as a string quintet with the impressive 19-year-old violinist Cedar-Rose Newman as soloist in Astor Piazzolla’s virtuosic Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Her impressive command of her instrument and deep commitment to Piazzolla’s passionate music will inspire!
Sunday 28 May | Wesley Music Centre, 20-22 National Circuit, Forrest | Book here.
Pictures at an exHERbition
Sally Whitwell’s song cycle Pictures at an exHERbition is a creative redress, a rebalancing of the history books. Presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia, this performance features the world premiere of several newly commissioned songs in the Pictures at an exHERbition cycle. Performed by Luminescence Chamber Singers and Luminescence Children’s Choir with the composer herself at the piano, this is a rebalancing of the history books.
Sunday 28 May | 30 Parkes Place East, Parkes | Book here.
Chopin in Transcription
Join the Friends of Chopin Australia for a beautiful evening of exquisite music with Alexander Yau (piano) and Rachel Siu (cello) performing Chopin’s music for the incomparable combination of piano and cello. After the performance make sure to make time for some complimentary refreshments and the chance to meet the performers!
Sunday 28 May | 15 Cowper Street, Ainslie | Book here.
Exhibitions
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
Haegue Yang: Changing From From To From
This exhibition features recent works by the Seoul and Berlin-based artist that explore interconnectivity and movement. Haegue Yang’s immersive multimedia environments combine diverse materials and cultural traditions with references ranging from science and art history to political events.
Using a range of industrial objects and intensive, craft-based techniques, her works make connections between divergent worlds of contemporary mass production, ancient tradition, and natural phenomena.
Saturday 27 May until Sunday 24 September | National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place East, Parkes | nga.gov.au
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
CO: LAB
CO: LAB is a culmination of a year-long Craft ACT professional development and exchange program that forges new directions in the creative industries. Embracing the spirit of collaboration, artists’ Lisa Cahill and Peter Bollington have worked across disciplines and have gained exposure to commercial environments with other designers and clients. Head along to see their work.
Until Saturday 1 July | 80 London Circuit, Level 1, North Building, Canberra City | craftact.org.au
Speculation Nation: Making Utopia
Speculation Nation: Making Utopia presents the work of crafts practitioners across Australia to ruminate on the thought of a future that see’s Australia as an a diverse, inclusive nation with a First Nations treaty, sustained action on climate change and a thriving green economy. Creating a material response, artists might explore how we can reach this utopia or reflect on these ideas more generally.
Until Saturday 1 July | 80 London Circuit, Level 1, North Building, Canberra City | hcraftact.org.au
The Centenarian Portrait Project by Teenagers
The Centenarian Portrait Project by Teenagers is an uplifting initiative matching teenage artists with western Australia’s most senior citizens. See what 100 years of life looks like in this unique art exhibition and discover how each artist captures a moment of a 100-year life.
Until Sunday 2 July | Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen | belcoarts.com.au
Body of Work
Body of Work charts Annika Romeyn’s artistic journey over recent years, bringing together a selection of ambitious drawings and monotype prints, scaled in relation to her own body. These works aim to immerse viewers in experiences of place and landscape.
This exhibition includes new work created in response to Annika’s time in Mutawintji National Park, on Barkindji and Malyangapa Country, as recipient of the 2022 Broken Hill City Art Gallery’s Open Cut commission, alongside work inspired by travels and residencies from Hill End (Wiradjuri Country), to The Gippsland Lakes (Gunaikurnai Country), Namadgi National Park (Ngunnawal Country), and Guerilla Bay (Yuin Country).
Until Sunday 2 July | Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen | belcoarts.com.au
Hold
Ceramic artists from throughout Australia have been invited to investigate the beauty and sense of intimacy experienced when eating or drinking from an exquisitely crafted plate, or vessel. HOLD celebrates ceramic artists producing functional ware that epitomises the essence of good design, aesthetics, and functionality in their work.
Friday 19 May until Sunday 2 July | Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen | belcoarts.com.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
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
Sport
Medibank Parkrun
Whether you identify as a runner or not, this parkrun is for everyone. Encouraging locals to get active and connect with their local communities through physical activity (including volunteering) head along to get moving—and the enjoy the bespoke lounge pop-up, healthy breakfast snacks, singlet, and t-shirt giveaways, massages and more.
Saturday 27 May | Visit here to find your nearest parkrun.
ACT Brumbies v Chiefs
The ACT Brumbies will be taking the Chiefs in Round 14 of the Harvey Norman Super Rugby! Head along to show your support.
Saturday 27 May | GIO Stadium, Battye Street, Bruce | Book here.
Markets
The Little Burley Market
Say hello to Canberra’s lakeside market. Head along to enjoy multicultural foods, much-loved beverages and brunchables, beautiful blooms, locally made art, fashion, photography and homewares, artisan bread, delectable pastries, seafood, smoked charcuterie, truffles, meats, puppy treats and much more. See you there?
Every Saturday, 9am – 1.30pm | Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes | thelittleburleymarket.com.au
Haig Park Markets
Moments away from Lonsdale street’s boutiques and cafes, the Haig Park Village Markets will delight your senses with delicious cuisines, tasty treats, beautiful blooms, fresh produce, delectable charcuterie and artisan products. It’s a lovely place to enjoy a picnic whilst feasting your senses on the culinary delights on offer or to browse the fabulous local handmade design stalls.
Every Sunday, 8:30 am – 2 pm | Haig Park, Girrahween Street, Braddon | haigparkvillagemarkets.com.au
Old Bus Depot Markets
With more than 100 stalls (including your old favourites), you’ll have the chance to shop for a brilliant variety of Australian-made, handcrafted and premium products. Sneak a walk around the foreshore while you’re down there.
9.30 am – 2.30 pm Sunday | Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | obdm.com.au
Southside Farmers Markets
This village market is located at Canberra College, making it the perfect place to duck in to grab what you need (and maybe a few things you don’t). Order an egg and bacon roll to start the morning as you explore the best of fresh seasonal veggies, handmade pasta and pet treats.
8 am–11.30 am Sunday | 2 Launceston Street, Phillip | facebook.com