Arts & Culture

In cars with fogged-up windows by the road's edge from Goulburn to Crookwell they wait excitedly for Desley Rowley’s champagne coach. The bus stops for ticket-holders to Crookwell Amateur Dramatic Society’s music hall productions. The 56-seater has a bottomless glass of champagne, served with Desley’s famous Cote d’Or chocolates and fresh strawberries. Theatre-goers from Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra climb aboard...

To say Braidwood artist and educator Janita Byrne is qualified for the job is a severe understatement. Her unique capturing of the Australian landscape, often enlivened by undulating mountains and verdant bushland, serves a calming treat for the senses. And now, everyone will have the chance to enjoy an exclusive selection of her paintings,  exhibiting in Canberra at the Australian...

Among the acts shaking the silk-walls of the iconic Victoria Spiegeltent in Canberra this April, will be the unique and high-energy Aboriginal dance group, Djuki Mala. Hailing from North East Arnhem Land, Djuki Mala, or as you might know them - The Chooky Dancers, have been delighting audiences around Australia and internationally with their cross-cultural moves and stories since 2007....

Jaws are dropping as residents and visitors to Merimbula watch Simon Thomas work his magic, creating a massive marine mural on the side of Club Sapphire. A huge Humpback Whale is the start and will be the focal point of a scene that develops over the next four weeks as Simon manours his scissor lift up and down the vast brick and...

Already had enough of the footy?! Feel like getting some art into this weekend? There's plenty of talent on show around the region...  The Q, Queanbeyan, 251 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan. ‘Earthly Treasures of our Shire’, is an exhibition by Jerrabomberra artist Cheryl Hodges. This botanical artist won the QPRC Regional Art Awards - Exhibition Award in 2017 with her painting ‘Castanea sativa’...

April is the best time to get out and enjoy our region, and while the Easter weekend is busy, a quick holiday or family break either side of it reaps great rewards. Lisa Herbert has been exploring the nature and nurture of South East NSW... Mountain View Farm  Address: 11 Mount Dromedary Trail, Tilba Tilba Ph: 0423 025 686 Website/Bookings...

What do you do if you grew up in the Bega Valley with the dawning realisation that you might be gay and fought isolation and bullying only to move back as an adult to find things haven't changed as much as you'd like? If you are Headspace peer worker Carly McDonald, you decide it's high time that some of the...

Teachers struggling to help students with their reading need only look at 16 Indigenous students at Queanbeyan South Primary School who have set a new benchmark for improving their reading. Now, the national program is looking to help more pupils in Canberra and the surrounding region. Indigenous Reading Program chief executive Dan Billing says the children’s results in 2018 were...

Twilight shopping at the Monaro Mall. Blokes in high-waisted pants and hats, yarning in Garema Place. New townhouses with tiny trees and kids on tricycles. And a planning meeting for the Down to Earth festival at the Cotter with Jim Cairns and his electoral assistant, Junie Morosi. I'm at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, looking at the riches of the...

Entries are now being accepted for the popular Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden photographic competition. Now in its sixth year, entrants have a chance to win cash prizes and their image included in the garden’s 2020 calendar. Garden manager Michael Anlezark said the annual exhibition had continued to grow since the competition seed was sown in 2013. “It’s a great showcase...

Project 8, an inspiring music and digital media program is coming to Bega, Eden and Cobargo starting with the fast approaching Easter school holidays. Coordinator Gabrielle Powell, says the upcoming workshops will cater for the next generation of creative spirits and are geared towards promoting positive messages about staying safe and having fun. “The best alcohol and drug harm minimisation messages...

High-rating Australian television series Travel Guides comes to Canberra tonight (2 April) for its last episode of the season – shining a national spotlight on many of the bush capital’s top attractions, including Jamala Wildlife Lodge, Parliament House, Floriade, GoBoat and the Australian Institute of Sport. The funny Nine Network reality series last week topped its time slot with 915,000...

The iconic Eden Killer Whale Museum will soon boast two new gallery areas and storage space that will "be full in no time" according to chairman Jack Dickenson, with help from a $640,000 Federal Government grant. The two new galleries will be built as extensions to the current museum and one will likely house the museum's most famous resident (and perhaps the town's)...

The 2019 Two Fires Festival will be celebrating 'Food Health and Healing Land' in Braidwood on Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of April. This family-friendly event is an opportunity to learn about and experience native and local food, art and literature, local activism, indigenous culture and regenerative farming. Since its beginning in 2005, the Two Fires Festival celebrates...

A Mogo couple has opened their hearts to the community by turning their wedding into a music festival and an emotional celebration of local Indigenous culture. Stuart Absolon dreamt they were running a music festival, he said it was so real it felt like it was a sign. “We also wanted to get married so we figured if we made a...

Bermagui's Simone Ellis seized an opportunity offered by an Instagram post, added crowdfunding and a whole heap of rope, packed a surfboard bag with her high-end fashion designs and headed to the runways of New York Fashion Week (NYFW) recently. As an independent fashion designer, Simone showcased eight of her extraordinary designs at the 'Flying Solo' show, one of the...