Posted on
What’s on this week in Canberra? Plenty, as always.
From the Grigoryan Brothers to Come From Away and much more, here are 20+ events to level up your calendar.
Russell Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party
You read that right—Russell Crowe is bringing his Indoor Garden Party to Canberra. Featuring The Gentlemen Barbers and special guests, it’s basically a festival where he gathers people he admires, and they put on a show (his words, not ours). All we really know is whether he’s telling the story, or people are telling a story about him, life’s always interesting if you’re Russell Crowe.
Tuesday 6 June | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
Come From Away
The worldwide smash hit, Tony and Olivier award-winning musical Come From Away, is coming to Canberra. Sharing the remarkable true story of the small town that welcomed the world, Come From Away follows the incredible real-life journey of 7,000 air passengers who became grounded in Gander, Newfoundland in Canada in the wake of the September 11 tragedy. Telling a story of unity and kindness in adversity, capturing the generosity and hospitality of the small community of Gander, who invited the “come from aways’” into their homes, this musical is not to be missed.
Thursday 8 June until Sunday 9 July | Canberra Theatre Centre, London Circuit, Canberra City | Book here.
Kids In The Shed
This is your chance to celebrate being a kid and doing what kids do best… having fun! Bring your kids, parents and grandparents to this super fun family day out at the markets. There will be plenty of things to buy, including handcrafted toys, kids’ room accessories, artworks and lots of bright, modern handmade clothes.
Sunday 11 June | The Old Bus Depot Markets, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | obdm.com.au
Stage and screen
The Waltz
Hilarious, thought provoking, tender and heart wrenching, The Waltz by David Cole is coming to The Q this June. Telling the story of two ageing radicals and former members of The Push (a large, loose group of libertarians and nonconformists), the play asks “How do two people who have protested against everything face the essential unjustness of death?”
You’ll have to watch it to find out the answer.
Friday 9 and Saturday 10 June | 253 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan | Book here.
Music
ANU Laptop Ensemble Showcases
Get ready for 14 (that’s right, 14) concerts of new electronic music written and performed by students in the Australian National University Laptop Ensemble (LENS)!
Until Tuesday 6 June | Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music, William Herbert Place, 100, Canberra City | Book here.
Beethoven Septet and Louise Farrenc Nonet: New Perspectives
It’s not easy to write for a combination of winds and strings, to get the balance right and to give every instrument its due. Beethoven did it beautifully, of course in his Septet of 1800—and now Louise Farrenc (an acclaimed pianist and the second-ever female piano professor at the Paris Conservatory) is taking up Beethoven’s mantle with her rich, exquisite Nonet.
Tuesday 6 June | Albert Hall, 100 Commonwealth Avenue, Yarralumla | Book here.
Austrian Canberra Choir: You Raise Me Up
In this special lunchtime concert, the Wesley Music Centre will be celebrating the Austrian Choir Canberra’s contribution to our cultural life as they draw from their unique Austrian heritage. Expect 40 minutes of uplifting choral, solo, duet, strings and pipe organ!
Wednesday 7 June | Wesley Music Centre, 20 National Circuit, Forrest | Book here.
This Is Us: A musical reflection of Australia with the Grigoryan Brothers
Award-winning guitar duo Slava and Leonard Grigoryan are returing to Canberra to perform their original compositions live in the spectacular Gandel Atrium. Taking audiences on an unforgettable musical journey through Australia’s unique history and heritage (and inspired by objects from the National Museum of Australia’s collection) This Is Us evokes and explores the breadth of the Australian experience—from Kimberley spear points to Sir Donald Bradman’s famed cricket bat.
Saturday 10 June | National Museum of Australia, Lawson Crescent, Bundeela | Book here.
Exhibitions
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.
Until Tuesday 6 June | Gorman Arts Centre, F Block 55 Ainslie Avenue, Braddon | icrc.org
Professor Hyatt’s Tarot Exhibition
Featuring unique and original artwork by artist John Hyatt (Professor of Contemporary Art at John Moore University), this exhibition will highlight the often-overlooked status of tarot cards as art pieces in their own right, and explore an art form that is truly interactive with the viewer by its very nature. The best part? Full tarot decks will be available to buy and two local Tarot readers will be dropping in throughout the exhibition to do Tarot readings.
Tuesday 6 June until Tuesday 4 July | Smiths Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, Canberra City | hyattstarot.weebly.com
Fiona Richmond: Revival
In her inaugural exhibition, artist Fiona Richmond explores a dimension of her inner world that “has been unattended to during all the conventional diversions of life.” Using medium to large formats, Richmond’s art is all about creating joy with bold colour in the simple forms of everyday objects and plant life.
Wednesday 7 June until Sunday 2 July | 90 Stockdill Drive, Holt | More information here.
Banksia Views
A showcase of works from the Painting with Parkinson’s program, this exhibition will reflect on member’s experience with the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the Banksia Centre over the Painting with Parkinson’s 25-year history (as well as featuring recorded soundscapes from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra).
Wednesday 7 until Thursday 29 June | Visitor Centre Gallery, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Clunies Ross Street, Acton | parksaustralia.gov.au
Sensory Bodies
This will cause discomfort and delight. This exhibition is an adventure through other peoples senses.. Created by Zev Aviv, Isabelle MacKay Sim, Gemma Wheildon, Megan Wilkinson, Samantha Rachele, Samuel Parkhill, Alexander Sarsfield, April Widdup, Beatrice Tucker, Mimir Soboslay Moore, Meg Dalton, ZHI and Genie Stuart, it’s centered around the idea of personal sensory experience as a thing to be celebrated.
Thursday 8 June | M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith | m16artspace.com
Bushranger Blue
We all know the legend and lore of bushrangers. Evolving from a personal exploration of isolation and grief, that surfaced during Rory King’s travels of remote Australia; ‘Bushranger Blue’ is an inquiry into the perennial themes of loneliness, death, and longing. Making no attempt to paint an accurate narrative of the history of the Australian bushranger, instead the exhibition see’s images that speak of a yearning for deep connection in the face of isolation.
Thursday 8 June until Sunday 2 July | M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith | m16artspace.com
Mutual acts: ecologies of a garden
Created by Lani Shea-An, this series of works employ abstract and figurative painting processes, collage, and printmaking to explore the connections and emotions that the plant kingdom evokes. It depicts her own experiences of joy and wonder in nature, particularly in reference to what she has learned through gardening.
Friday 9 June until Sunday 2 July | M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith | m16artspace.com.au
Grit and Gold: Tales from a Sporting Nation
Bringing us a celebration of Australia’s rich sporting heritage and its effect on our culture over the years, through collection of books, magazines, paintings, drawings and photographs, the exhibition retells the stories that have brought joy, sorrow and everything in between to every Australian household (and sports pub) on game day and beyond.
Friday 9 June until Saturday 5 November | National Library of Australia, Parkes Place West, Parkes | nla.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
How Cities Work
From sewers to skyscrapers, this interactive family exhibition reveals the secret workings of our busy urban centres. Bringing to life the best-selling book of the same name, visitors big and small will be able to traverse a spectacular cityscape full of tactile and sensory activities, including a lively hands-on construction site, a futuristic design station and a towering two-metre-high cityscape.
Saturday 10 June until Sunday 8 October | Canberra Museum and Gallery, Corner London Circuit and Civic Square, Canberra City | Book here.
Ji + Senapati: Duo Porcelain Exhibition
The joint winners of 2022 ceramics category, the works of Sandy Ji and Roshni Senapati are finally being shown to Canberra audiences. Both artists have created a new body of work each which means audiences will have access to new and exciting pieces to kick off their art collection.
Until Sunday 18 June | Gallery of Small Things, 27 Wade Street, Watson | galleryofsmallthings.com
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.
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.
Until Monday 2 October | National Portrait Gallery, King Edward Terrace, Parkes | portrait.gov.au
Sport
Raiders v Warriors
Start your weekend right by being at GIO Stadium to cheer on the Raiders as they host the New Zealand Warriors!
Friday 9 June | GIO Stadium, Battye Street, Bruce | Book here.