The next Lakeside at 5 live music series will be Canberra’s very own Two Blondes and A Bloke presenting their own take on popular songs that have contributed to The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Featuring the talents of blues mama Gaye Reid and songstress Lisa McClelland with piano man John Black. The concert will be at Tuggeranong Arts Centre from 5:30pm on Friday February 28. For information on the event and upcoming Lakeside at 5 sessions visit the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

At the Canberra Museum and Gallery Outer Space: Stromlo to the Stars celebrates the 100-year anniversary of Mount Stromlo Observatory. Immersive digital interactives, unique objects, and oral histories bring to life the groundbreaking discoveries and hidden history of this remarkable institution. Outer Space: Stromlo to the Stars will run until November 16. At the Canberra Museum and Gallery, cnr London Circuit and City Square, Canberra City. Opening hours are Monday-Friday: 10am-4pm & 12-4pm on Saturday-Sunday.

The latest Canberra Rep theatre production is the world premiere of Baby Jane. A classic Gothic thriller, about two reclusive sisters living together in a decaying Hollywood mansion – one a former child star of early vaudeville desperate to reclaim her early fame, and the other, a successful Hollywood actress whose career tragically ended after a terrible car accident. Baby Jane will be performed from Friday February 21 until Saturday March 8. The Canberra Rep theatre is at Repertory Ln in Acton. Further information and performance times are available from their website.

At the Kyeema Gallery at Hall, Geoff Naylor’s Landscapes in Oil, Moments in time, Landscapes near and Far features sceneries ranging from the Australian snowy mountains, to warm coastal waters, to the canals of France and beyond. The exhibition runs until Sunday March 2. Gallery hours 10:30am to 5pm, Thursday to Monday. For further information go to the Capital wines website.

The Wesley Music Centre presents Piano Four Hands. Arnan Wiesel and Aaron Chew will play romantic and 20th Century four-hands works by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Ligeti, Stravinsky and J.S.Bach/Kurtag. The concert will take place at the Wesley Music Centre on Sunday February 23 at 3pm. To find out more information visit the Wesley Music Centre’s website.

At the Q theatre – the Queanbeyan performing arts centre presents Sarah Turns 100 To celebrate Sarah Vaughan’s 100th year anniversary, vocalist Leisa Keen and the Blamey Street Big Band will bring to life the bebop style and exact scat solos for which Sarah was so renowned. The concert will be on Saturday March 1 at 3pm. Further information is available from the Q theatre website.

At the National Library of Australia there’s The Excellencies of Musick: Highlights from the Jamie and Michael Kassler Collection. Enter the musical world of Stuart and Georgian Britain, a world of concert-going, music-makers and thinkers, of printers and publishers. The exhibition features rare prints, rare books and manuscripts dating from 17th to early 19th century Britain. The National Library is open from 9am-5pm daily and for more information visit the National Library of Australia website.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra presents Folk Melodies: a toe-tapping celebration of folk melodies and story-song featuring the music of Haydn and Dvorak. The concert will take place at the Albert Hall on Sunday 16th February at 2pm. For further information visit Canberra Symphony Orchestra website.

This year’s Shakespeare by the Lakes will feature the action-packed tragedy of Macbeth. Come and see the infamous witches weave their dark prophecies as Macbeth rises to power amidst a whirlwind of murder, secrets, and the occult. There will be four free performances on Friday 21st February at the Patrick White Lawns (in front of the National Library), then Saturday 22nd February and Sunday 23rd February at Tuggeranong Park, and lastly Saturday 1st March at Haig Park. To find out more information and to register for one of these performances visit the Lakespeare website.

At the Canberra Contemporary Platform Waves of Kinship  by Marzena Wasikowska is an exhibition of new photo-based work inspired by fieldwork and studio meditations on the built environment, waterscapes and global warming, as well as her immediate family. Waves of Kinship will be on display until Sunday 23rd February. The Canberra Contemporary Platform is at Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 5pm.

Then at the Canberra Contemporary Manuka Blaze 2025  is an exhibition by 6 early career artists that collectively delves into issues of cultural heritage, identity, societal norms and underrepresented experiences. Blaze 2025 will be on display until Sunday 17th April. The Canberra Contemporary Manuka is at Furneaux Street, Forrest. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am – 5pm.

The Wesley Music Centre’s, Lunchtime Concert Series returns with a performance by Rachel Mink and the renowned Ellery String Quartet. The concert will take place on Wednesday 19th February from 12.40pm. For further information visit the Wesley Music Centre’s website.

At Strathnairn Arts Claire Osman’s Threadology is an exhibition of sculptural works that explores the intersection of the natural environment and the digital world through the medium of textile and punch-needle pieces. Threadology will be on display until Sunday 2nd March. Strathnairn Arts is located at Stockdill Drive, Holt. Gallery hours are 10-4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

The next ANU Meet the Authors event will be Arnold Dix in a conversation with Alex Sloan on his new book The Promise. How an everyday hero made the impossible possible: the true story of Arnold Dix a farmer and a part-time truck driver whose name reached global recognition when he played a pivotal role in rescuing 41 Indian workers trapped after a tunnel collapse in the Himalayas. The event will take place in the ANU Cinema on Tuesday 18th February from 6pm.To find out more information and to register visit the events section of the ANU website.

At the Suki & Hugh Gallery Outside In is a showcase of recent figurative paintings by Edward Essing and Astro Spiller. The Suki & Hugh gallery is at Gibraltar Street, Bungendore and opening hours are Monday & Friday 10am-2pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm and Sunday 11am-3pm

Art Song Canberra‘s first concert of 2025 will be Songs of Eve. Jane Sheldon and Jack Symonds will present a curated song recital that celebrates the divine in nature. The concert will be at the Wesley Music Centre, on Sunday 16th February at 3pm. More information is available from the Arts Song Canberra website.

Tuggeranong Arts Centre has three new exhibitions. Firstly, in Moonshake, Steven Holland brings together a recent series of yellow-snake dream drawings with a selection of his bronze Serpent sculptures. Next,“unconditional” by John Brookes is a mixed-media examination of love’s many forms… joyful, painful, life-affirming, difficult at times, but invariably unconditional. And lastly, there’s Studio&’s debut exhibition. Studio& is a collaborative supported studio for neurodivergent young adults and the exhibition celebrates two years of making together. All three exhibitions run from Friday 7th February until 5th April. More information is available from the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

The Belconnen Arts Centre has four new exhibitions:

Firstly, Neither Here Nor There by Liz Faul celebrates native fauna through detailed portraits of birds, mammals and insects, combined with collaged papers.

TILT is the final exhibition in a two-year collaboration between artists Alex Asch and Mariana del Castillo. Tilt explores ideas around identity, memory, belonging and ownership.

Then in 3000 days … and counting … Sharon Field set herself the challenge to do a drawing/painting a day for the next 3000 days on a series of scrolls, the purpose of which is to provide a visual record of the plants we are in danger of losing.

And, lastly, Escape. Control. Delete by Kristie Watts is a process and conceptual based installation making the statistics of violence against women in Australia visible.

All four exhibitions will be on display from Friday 7th February until 23rd March. Belco Arts Gallery hours are 10am – 4pm, Tuesdays – Sunday.

Canberra Potters will be hosting Australia’s premier satirical art prize, the Bald Archy Prize. Celebrating the lighter side of art, the portraits will make you think, make you talk and most of all make you laugh. The exhibition will run from Friday 7th February to 23rd March. Canberra Potters is at Aspinall St Watson. Gallery hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday and 11am to 3pm Sunday.

At the Australian National Capital Artists Gallery there’s the Emerging Artists Support Scheme Award Exhibition Group Show, which is awarded annually to ANU School of Art & Design graduates whose work demonstrates creative distinction. The exhibition will be on display until Sunday 16th February. The Australian National Capital Artists Gallery is at Rosevear Place, Dickson. Gallery hours Wednesday to Sunday 12–5pm.

At the Canberra Glassworks there’s History, the paraphernalia of my interior life, a solo show by Martyn Thompson that integrates the artist’s new glass work with textiles, furniture, and objects from his studio. The exhibition will be on display until Sunday 23rd March. Canberra Glassworks is at Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Gallery hours 10am-4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

M16 Artspace has three new exhibitions:

Firstly, …Is somebody gonna match my freak? by two multidisciplinary artists Asil Habara and Sophie Dumaresq is a tongue-in-check nod to the two artists’ shared sense of humour and interest in online popular culture and the very real-life currents behind viral trends.

Then, Creek by Kirsten Wehner explores life along Weston Creek, asking what it might mean to care better for this disordered place.

And, lastly, Claire Fletcher’s Red Light District (2025) presents a mass-produced contorted inflatable adult doll that by being put on display for public consumption and scrutiny becomes a literal embodiment of female objectification.

All three exhibitions run until Sunday 16th February.

M16 Gallery hours are 10am–4pm, Tuesday–Sunday.

At Photo Access’s Huw Davies Gallery: VIEW2025. This annual exhibition spotlights regional emerging artists — the future leaders of Australian photo media practice — and is accompanied by a publication offering insights into current photographic trends across analogue, digital, and experimental forms. The exhibition will be on display until Saturday 22nd February. Photo Access is at Manuka Circuit, Griffith. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm

At the National Museum of Australia, Pompeii  is an exhibition that combines moving soundscapes and large-scale digital projections with over 90 fascinating objects, to recreate life in the ancient city presenting the people of Pompeii as they were before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. On display will be stunning frescoes spanning more than 3 metres, magnificent mosaics, jewellery, sculptures and moving replicas of casts of people who died in the disaster. The exhibition will run from Friday December 13 until May 4. Further information is available from the National Museum of Australia website.

At the National Archives of Australia, 20 Years of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year: showcases the winning entries from each year of the competition. Visitors can explore how photographic techniques have evolved over the past two decades, from when digital cameras were limited to today’s advanced technologies like smartphones and drones, illustrating how photography is a powerful medium for capturing and understanding our natural world. 20 Years of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year is on display at the National Archives of Australia each day from 9am to 5pm until April 27.

The Grainger Gallery has three new exhibitions: After images of Familiar Tales by Jessica Murtagh; Origins and Destinations by Liz Priestley; and Ancient Rhythm by Melody Suranyi. The Granger gallery is at Dairy Road, Fyshwick. Opening hours Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm and for further details visit their website.

At the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House Behind the Lines 2024: the year in political cartoons. This year’s exhibition theme is ‘No guts, no glory’, reflecting a year where the Olympic and Paralympic Games were held, and in Australia’s daily news sporting analogies were drawn between politics and the issues affecting our everyday lives.  Behind the Lines 2024 will run until December 2025.

At the National Gallery of Australia the exhibition Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia is a celebration of First Nations art and cultures, providing a visual dialogue into Australia’s complex histories with over 260 historical and contemporary works of art by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia. Ever Present will be on display until August 2025. Gallery hours are 10am-5pm daily.