Food, festivals, and plenty of fun: 20+ things to do this week in Canberra
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This week, head along to the Canberra Moon Festival, enjoy beer and schnapps at the Spring German Market, and browse the Lifeline Bookfair for your next novel.
It’s time to fill your diary and message your friends—here’s what you can’t miss in Canberra!
Special events + festivals
Youth Dance Festival
See how the youngsters do it at the Youth Dance Festival! Designed to provide a platform for young people to express their ideas and opinions, to have their voices heard through dance. With a theme of Transience and Permanence, Ausdance ACT presents a multimedia delivery of film and live performance.
Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September | Canberra Theatre Centre | canberratheatrecentre.com.au
Lifeline Bookfair
Calling all book lovers—your favourite fundraising event is back and better than ever! Raising funds to keep the local crisis support service running, they have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books, including rare books and collectables, children’s books, textbooks and even foreign language books. You’ll also find magazines and pamphlets, sheet music, comics, maps and atlases, talking books, records and CDs, DVDs, games and jigsaws.
As always, entry is via gold coin donation and tap and go will also available. See you there?
Friday 9 – Sunday 11 September | Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) Cnr Northbourne Av &, Flemington Rd, Mitchell | lifelinecanberra.org.au
Canberra Moon Festival
The Canberra Moon Festival is back! City Walk will come alive with the Canberra Moon Festival featuring a series of stunning performances, cultural activities, and gourmet street food to celebrate harvest and reunion.
This is a chance to celebrate being together with the vision of “One Community, One World, One Big Family.”
Friday 9 September – Sunday 11 September | City Walk, Canberra | canberramoonfestival.com.au
Bricks @ Woden
Are you obsessed with LEGO® Masters on TV? Well get excited, local LEGO® creators are displaying their talents at the annual Bricks @ Woden school event.
With over 30 local and interstate exhibitors the show promises to provide interesting and creative Lego displays for all ages—and you can’t miss the huge Vikings display built entirely of LEGO bricks. All money raised will used by the school for projects that directly benefit the students and with a BBQ, stalls and many other family friendly activities, we can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t go.
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September | The Woden School, 127 Denison St Deakin | thewodens.act.edu.au
Great Expectations
It is a classic for a reason and this re-telling will have you going in with great expectations and leaving with them met. Adapted by Kirsty Zane and directed by Rhys Hekimian, the production offers a punchy, sixty-minute adaptation of the 1861 novel which originally ran to over 500 pages. With characters like the terrifying convict Magwitch, abused orphan Pip, jilted bride Miss. Havisham, and her cold ward Estella, it’s a haunting love story and a fierce critique of the classist society Charles Dickens knew.
Saturday 10 – Saturday 17 September | Belconnen Theatre, Belconnen | buddingentertainment.com
Little Village Markets
It’s a marketplace that supports children who like to make, bake, and create groovy things—and the Little Village Markets are back again to raise money for the Gordon Community Centre.
Providing a fun way for children to learn about production, pricing, advertising, and customer service as well as make a little pocket money, pop down to support Canberra’s kiddie sized businesses.
Saturday 10 September | 110 Lewis Luxton Ave, Gordon | facebook.com/thelittlevillagemarkets
Korea Day
Korean Community will host an event “Korea Day” to celebrate its biggest day at Glebe Park. From a Korean traditional performances, activities and experiences, you can take your little one to Taekwondo lessons, get in dressed in Hanbok (Korean traditional costumes) and take a photo, tase the sweet and savoury food, learn to make your own Kimchi, listen to live music and share the joy!
The event is free and family friendly. Everyone is welcome to join the fun.
Saturday 10 September | Glebe Park, Canberra | facebook.com
Love Your Sister Family Fun Day with Samuel Johnson
It’s been five years since Canberra lost Connie Johnson to breast cancer. And to mark the five-year anniversary, to acknowledge that “cancer is a formidable foe” and needs to be kicked in the arse with more funding for research—and just because Samuel Johnson will never stop fighting to stop other families from facing the gaping hole that Connie has left in hers—he is coming back to Canberra. And quite frankly, he wants your cash.
But in exchange, Love Your Sister is going to put on a hum-dinger of a Family Fun Day with music, food trucks, market stalls, a live petting zoo and fun and games for kids of all ages. 100 per cent of all donations will go directly to medical research and every dollar helps.
Sunday 11 September | 435 Northbourne Avenue, Lyneham | mycause.com.au
Makers-Con at the Old Bus Depot Markets
Hobbyists convene! This is the ultimate event for pop culture fans and enthusiasts. Uniting stalls and attractions that showcase a range of hobbies (including several specialist stalls that range from costume design, steampunk, comic books, and a whole lot more), expect attractions, demonstrations, a cosplay competition and high-quality handcrafts.
Sunday 11 September | The Old Bus Depot Markets, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | obdm.com.au
Spring German Market
Hello fresh German sausages, homemade cakes, wine, beer and schnapps. The Spring German Markets are bringing together their beloved community stallholders (along with some new stalls), handmade crafts and other specialties for the ultimate day out. There will also be a free jumping castle for the kids and entertainment for all!
Sunday 11 September | Harmonie German Club, 49 Jerrabomberra Hill Road, Jerrabomberra | fb.me
A Vegan State Of Mind
A Vegan State Of Mind is a one of a kind symposium in Canberra. It aims to encourage the community to live sustainably and will teach people how to live a kinder and more compassionate life. There will be food, drink, live music, talks and market stalls!
Sunday 11 September | Glebe Park, Canberra | facebook.com
Food + Wine
Signature Experience Tour at Parliament House
Discover exclusive behind-the-scenes access to rarely-seen private, official and ceremonial spaces in Parliament House, along with a traditional high tea with a contemporary twist.
Visit behind-the-scenes functions that support parliament every day—including private courtyards, and the Press Gallery—and finishing off your experience with a high tea service with matching refreshments (alcoholic or non-alcoholic). Bookings are essential.
Monday 5 September until Monday 7 November | Australian Parliament House | aph.gov.au
Workshops, webinars + more
Contemporary Australia Architecture Speaker Series
The Contemporary Australia Architecture Speaker Series is an annual lecture series that has run for more than 20 years. Showcasing the latest work of renowned Australian architects—Kate Fitzgerald (Withering Smith), Koichi Takada (Koichi Takada Architects), Jo Best (Troppo) and Aaron Roberts & Kim Bridgland (Edition Office)—the series takes place over the course of four weeks every Wednesday, online and onsite at the National Gallery’s James Fairfax Theatre.
Wednesday 7 until Wednesday 28 September | National Gallery of Australia | nga.gov.au
An Evening with Samuel Johnson
A rare opportunity to hear Samuel Johnson combine real-life stories and filmed pieces to reflect on the people and events that inspire him, and some behind the scenes insights about the challenges and triumphs of his journey with his charity, Love Your Sister, you can’t miss this.
Friday 9 September | Eastlake Gungahlin, 51 Hinder Street, Gungahlin | mycause.com.au
Canberra Girls Grammar School Open Day
The Canberra Girls Grammar School Open Day will feature tours of the school, a brief presentation from the Principal and Heads of School, a student-led Q&A session, and an opportunity to meet key educators.
Families can select to attend the Senior School campus (from 9:00am to approximately 11:15am), the Junior School campus (from 11:15am to approximately 12:30pm), or both.
Thursday 8 September, from 9 am – 11.15 am (Senior Campus) and 11.15 am – 12.30 pm (Junior Campus) |48 Melbourne Avenue Deakin (Senior) and Grey Street, Deakin (Junior) | Register at cggs.act.edu.au.
Stage + screen
The Art of Friendship
Art is a comedy set in Paris which revolves around three friends and raises questions about art and friendship. Moving from disagreement on the questionable purchase of a completely white painting their arguments become less theoretical and more personal. They border on destroying their friendships.
Tuesday 6 September – Sunday 11 September | The Street Theatre, Canberra | thestreet.org
How to Vote
This outrageously funny new play delves into the cut-throat world of Student Politics in the context of the post-COVID 19 neoliberal university institution. This world premiere whip-smart political comedy is set in an election year (topical!) in a city that’s definitely not Canberra (it’s totally Canberra!).
Wednesday 7 September – Saturday 10 September | Canberra Theatre Centre | canberratheatrecentre.com.au
Our Country’s Good
First performed at the Royal Court, London and winner of the Olivier Play of the Year Award in 1988, this is the story of the first piece of western theatre performed in Australia. Set in 1789 in the rudimentary penal colony that became Sydney, a young lieutenant works with convicts to bring Farquhar’s The Recruiting Offcer to life under the eye of Governor Phillip. Facing opposition from colleagues and disruptions from his motley crew of actors, one of whom is about to be hanged, Lt Clark and his riotous charges learn more about the redemptive power of theatre than they ever imagined.
Thursday 8 – Saturday 24 September | Naoné Carrel Auditorium, Canberra REP Theatre | canberrarep.org
Bianca Del Rio: Unsanitized
Get your vaccinations and cocktails because everyone’s favorite “clown in a gown”, Bianca Del Rio, is coming to Canberra with her new comedy tour “Unsanitized”! And this time, she’s vaxxed; she’s waxed, and she has more attitude than ever.
Friday 9 September | Canberra Theatre Centre | canberratheatrecentre.com.au
My Fair Lady
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady is one of the most beloved musicals in show business. It tells the tale of a cockney flower girl transformed into an elegant lady by phonetics professor Henry Higgins.
Eliza Doolittle is a young flower seller with an unmistakable Cockney accent which keeps her in the lower rungs of Edwardian society. When Professor Henry Higgins tries to teach her how to speak like a proper lady, an unlikely friendship begins to flourish.
Until Sunday 25 September | The Q, Queanbeyan | theq.net.au
Running touch ANU
Following an incredible summer festival run, hitting Wildlands, For The Love, and more the Melbourne-born showman brings his headline tour across Australia ahead of his debut album “Carmine”.
Brimming with grit and glamour, the Carmine tour represents the beginning of a new chapter for the enigmatic artist: the advent of Running Touch’s second life as a juggernaut of intelligent, heart-rending dance music. Be prepared to be enthralled by the powerful on-stage presence of Running Touch.
Saturday 10 September | Kambri Precinct, ANU | moshtix.com.au
Exhibitions
‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza
Some narratives are so sweet that you almost don’t notice the creeping bitter aftertaste and ‘Art‘—a comedy by French playwright Yasmina Reza—is such a tale.
Its French charm, sulfurous view of male relationships, and savage wit have been brought to life by director Shelly Higgs, unfurling on stage at The Street Theatre on Tuesday 6 September and staying with audiences long after that.
Tuesday 6 until Sunday 11 September | The Street Theatre, 15 Childers Street | thestreet.org.au
Nurture: Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre annual members exhibition
The Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre annual members exhibition will showcase contemporary expressions of craft and design uniting time-honoured techniques with modern interpretations. This is a showcase exhibition demonstrating the trends in contemporary craft and design in Australia by practitioners from the ACT and surrounding region.
Thursday 8 September – Saturday 22 October | Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit | craftact.org
Props, Masks & Magic
Grainger Gallery presents Andrew Antoniou’s “Props, Masks & Magic,” which explores the acclaimed artist’s love of theatre which has given him “the format of the stage and its accompanying language of props, sets and costume on which to compose these characters that represent aspects of the psyche.”
Andrew has a long association with Canberra, having taught at the Canberra School of Art from the early 1990s, and is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and Canberra Museum and Gallery. This will be his first show in Canberra in 15 years.
Until 11 September |Grainger Gallery, Fyshwick | graingergallery.com.au
Fuse
The Fuse Glass Prize finalists will come to Canberra Glassworks in an exhibition that showcases the skill and creativity of glass making today. The Prize is a non-acquisitive biennial prize for Australian and New Zealand glass artists and the richest in Australasia. It provides a platform for artists to push themselves and their work to new limits and focuses public attention on the importance of glass as a medium for contemporary artistic expression.
Until Sunday 25 September | Canberra Glassworks, Kingston | canberraglassworks.com
Of Soap And Stone
Bringing together the work of three early career artists—Kati Gorgenyi, Fran Romano and Melinda Brouwer—Of Soap And Stone showcases an immersive and reflective experience which engages with notions of remembrance, memorialisation, and the ephemerality of life. The exhibition experience will be enhanced by an interactive public program. On weekends, artists will encourage gallery visitors to engage with the artworks and themes by making clay votives. These offerings will become part of the exhibition, developing into an ephemeral installation that will remain in the gallery courtyard to decompose.
Until Sunday 11 September | ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson | anca.net
An Aboriginal Culinary Journey
See First Nations objects from the National Museum of Australia’s collection alongside a newly commissioned range of appliances featuring stunning designs from contemporary artists in An Aboriginal Culinary Journey: Designed for Living.
Part of the Breville Art Series, this exhibition is a partnership between First Nations peoples, Breville and the National Museum of Australia, producing objects for the heart of the home that celebrate contemporary design and reflect 65,000 years of ongoing Indigenous culture.
Until Sunday 18 September | National Museum of Australia | nma.gov.au
Patterning: Surface Design Projects
Local artist, Annie Trevillian’s latest works are on display at the Megalo Print Studio. The exhibition brings together a range of surface design projects, highlighting in particular the Dhulwa and Gawanggal community design projects, together with recent studio-based fabric works. Drawing inspiration from the landscape, motifs and patterns from the natural world weave in and out of Trevillian’s studio practice.
Presented together with studies and images, primarily watercolours of local flora and fauna drawn from the site, the exhibition reveals an iterative design process through which Trevillian joyfully re-interprets her natural surroundings.
Until Saturday 8 October | Megalo Print Studio, 21 Wentworth Ave, Kingston | megalo.org
Music
HINDSIGHT – Song Cycles from the 19th and 21st Centuries
The Wesley Music Centre Lunchtime Concert series is delighted to finally present a much-anticipated recital that was cancelled last year because of COVID. Soprano Rachel Mink accompanied by pianist Aaron Chew will perform song cycles from two very different generations: Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39 and selections from Susan LaBarr’s Little Black Book.
Wednesday 7 September | Wesley Music Centre, 20 National Circuit, Forrest |wesleycanberra.org.au
Beddy Rays at UC Hub
Following the recent release of their punk rock party starter Sort It Out, fun-loving larrikins Beddy Rays are coming to UC Hub. Renowned for their raucous and undeniably boisterous live show, expect a show you won’t forget.
Friday 9 September | 11 Kirinari Street, Building 1, Bruce | moshtix.com.au
