Arts & Culture

In 2003, Max Cullen and his artist wife, Margarita Georgiadis, walked away from the glitz and glamour of Sydney and moved to a run-down theatre out bush. Their former city neighbours relished the peace and quiet after living next to what was the 3 am 'local' for Cullen and Georgiadis's actor and artist friends. But ironically, the couple has also settled into...

Launching an album in March 2020 at the same time the pause button was pressed on concerts, tours and live shows around Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t ideal. Two years of preparation went down the tube. But in bushfire-struck Tooma, a small NSW community south of Tumbarumba, singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden still walked onstage with her band and raised...

If you have a knack for words, plenty of rhyme and rhythm, are aged between 13-18 years, and live in the Riverina and South West Slopes, this might be the ticket to greatness. Just access to a computer and seven weeks of your time is all that stands between you and a possible future as a poet. Free workshops are...

For those about to rock, the Royal Australian Mint has immortalised Aussie rock legends AC/DC in a high voltage set of coins available to collectors and the general public. The band that has made millions of dollars from no less than 16 studio albums and decades of global touring is being saluted by the Mint, which is celebrating milestone anniversaries of six classic...

Rainbow yarnbombing decorations installed on big trees by the waterfront in Merimbula disappeared early last week after being up for only three days. The vandalism likely took place on Sunday night (4 October) or the early hours of Monday morning (5 October). Jenny Manley, of Tura Beach, led 25 knitters who made the artwork in support of Merimbula's Rainbow Wave...

The Eurobodalla’s River of Art Festival is over for another year, but works from the Revive public art project endure through six murals painted in Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Tilba Tilba. Revive 2020 was curated and led by professional artist Tim De Haan (aka Phibs), with mural artists Cheryl Overton, Claire Foxton, Happy Decay, Krimsone, Evelyn Joy and Michelle...

Lindy Hume has been appointed creative director of the Four Winds Easter Festival for 2022 and 2023. The annual festival at Barragga Bay, 8km south of Bermagui on the NSW South Coast, presents five days of music, including performances at the iconic 2000-person capacity Sound Shell amphitheatre, and a series of intimate concerts at the Windsong Pavilion, a purpose-built 2000-seat...

Artists involved in this year's River of Art festival on the NSW Far South Coast are among those left picking up the pieces from a fire that destroyed two businesses and impacted several others in Narooma on the evening of Sunday, 20 September. Seven artworks depicting local scenery were on exhibition in the windows of The Hair Room when it burnt...

At the age of 25, Dean Cross had ticked off all the things he’d ever dreamed of in a career. The Indigenous Australian visual artist had travelled the world, performing in theatres in London's West End and New York as a contemporary dancer. Encouraged by a couple of niggling injuries, his thoughts turned to a second career in visual arts....

The Harden-Murrumburrah people have spoken and the historic flour mill that sits at the centre of the twin towns in the NSW South West Slopes is set for a colourful overhaul. Just last month About Regional brought you news of a project which would see the mill join six NSW counterparts as part of the Australian Silo Art Trail, with...

The River of Art festival runs from Friday, 18 September to Sunday, 27 September, and is an annual celebration that brings colour and renewal to the NSW South Coast, from Durras to Bermagui. The festival, which honours the South Coast’s creative arts scene, has been challenged by COVID-19 but not defeated by it, and still features many of the event's popular...

Organisers of an annual music, arts and lifestyle festival on the edge of Burrinjuck Dam in Wee Jasper say their event is safe despite objections from NSW Police. Yass Valley Council has given Dragon Dreaming Festival the go-ahead between 2021 and 2023 with entry to 4500 patrons, nearly double the ticket holders who attended back in 2014. The organisers asked...

Stephen Gard reveals the tales and tragedies of bygone heroines who once lived along the Old Hume Highway, from Yass to Bookham, and Bowning to Jugiong, in the latest volume of his book, Once Upon a Hume. The latest volume is the fourth in the series that travels the old highway – once known as the Great South Road – from person to...

Bega Valley Shire Council is asking Bemboka residents to choose a permanent site for an award-winning sculpture gifted to the village. Residents can vote on a choice of two sites for the sculpture, Landed, by 13 September. Landed was created by Moruya artist Thomas Westra, and won the Sculpture Bermagui competition in 2019. It features an eagle landing with legs stretched...

A community group in Yass hopes to save the town's Liberty Theatre by purchasing the iconic building through a cooperative. The Friends of the Liberty Theatre group proposes to purchase and restore the 700-seat Art Deco theatre through philanthropic funding. “It could be used by the community as a cinema, using the drop-down screen and digital projection; for live theatre...

The Batemans Bay Makers & Growers Market has relocated to a new space with a whole new vibe in Batehaven. With so many businesses stalled during this topsy-turvy year, the NSW South Coast makers and growers have bucked the trend by creating a new market space, bringing together a diverse range of locally grown fresh food, baked goods and quality...