The next Friends of the ANU School of Music concert will be an evening of music featuring performance students from the ANU School of Music in a program that includes works by Francesco Geminiani, Claude Debussy, Ross Edwards, Dora Pejacevic and many others. The performance will be at the Embassy of Croatia Jindalee Crescent, O’Malley on Monday March 31 at 7pm. More information is available from the Friends of the ANU School of Music website.

The Braddon Busking Festival is back for 2025, and this year it will also feature the Artist Gathering, a showcase of local artists presenting their works. Returning for its fifth year the Busking Festival will host around 30 buskers of different ages and styles, from groups to solo performers, all performing around the Braddon area. Visitors can vote for their favourite performer, and a panel of judges will also assess performers. The festival will take place in Lonsdale, Mort, Elouera and Girrawheen Streets Braddon on Sunday March 30 from 9am-4pm. For more information visit the Braddon Collective website.

At the Canberra Contemporary Platform there’s The Fraudulent Isotopic Analysis:  a painting series by Visaya Hoffie that reflects on shifting notions of identity, belonging and place. The exhibition will be on display until Sunday March 16. The Canberra Contemporary Platform is at Furneaux Street, Manuka. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.

The Luminescence Chamber Singers present an evening of Gesualdo Tenebrae. Conducted by Roland Peelman. The concert will be at Wesley Uniting Church on Saturday March 29 from 7:30pm. Further information is available from the Luminescence Chamber Singers website.

The Grainger Gallery has three new exhibitions: Lost & Found by Penelope Boyd; The Blooming by Sally Kent; and Through My Eyes by Narelle Zeller. The Granger gallery is at Dairy road Fyshwick opening hours Wed-Sun 11am-5pm and for further details visit their website.

The National Capital Orchestra will begin its 2025 Harmony season with a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. The program will also feature The Space Between Stars by Australian composer Ella Macens and Carl Maria von Weber’s vibrant Bassoon Concerto. The concert will take place on Sunday April 6 from 3pm at the Snow Concert Hall in Red Hill. More information is available from the National Capital Orchestra’s website.

The Canberra Museum and Gallery presents Resonant Spaces, a solo piano concert series. This is an opportunity to experience live music and visual art together, as each artist responds to the works of Sidney Nolan as part of CMAG’s Nolan50 exhibition. Their contemporary musical interpretations reflecting Nolan’s themes of landscape, myth, and identity in distinct and compelling ways. There will be two concerts. Firstly David Bridie from Not Drowning, Waving and My Friend the Chocolate Cake will perform on March 28 from 7pm. Then, Sophie Hutchings the winner of the 2024 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album, will perform on Friday 4th April from 7pm. Each performance will be followed by a discussion with curator Ross Heathcote. The Canberra Museum and Gallery Cnr London Circuit and City Square in Civic and more information is available from their website.

The next Lakeside at 5 live music series will be the Rachael Thoms trio presenting an evening of soulful, sophisticated, playful, and intimate live music that defies genre, style and time, which encourages audience interaction and participation. The concert will be at Tuggeranong Arts Centre from 5:30pm on Friday March 28. For information on this event and upcoming Lakeside at 5 sessions visit the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

The Belconnen Arts Centre has five new exhibitions:

Bountiful Botanicals by Members of the Botanical Art Society of Australia focuses on and celebrates biodiversity in the crops that have been closely associated with the human species over thousands of years.

In Through the Small Window, Lesley Andersen is responding to patterns found in ordinary household textiles to create small works that evolve through the methodical and rhythmic process of piecing together shapes, colours and textures built from hand-made oil and cold wax papers.

In Circumnavigating ‘Bush Capital’ from the (bike) saddle Sophie Baker literally looks down on The Capital from mountain bike paths to create works that observe the interconnectedness of our environment, its creatures and people.

Nana Saab’s Study for Stars reclaims industrial materials to transform them into something that is completely transcendental.

Botanical Systems by Paul Summerfield is an exhibition of digitally created textural details, light-filled spaces, dappled shadows, technobabble seeped in tradition and imagined ancient cultures.

All five exhibitions will be on display from Friday March 28 until May 18. Belco Arts Gallery hours are 10am–4pm, Tuesdays–Sunday.

At the National Library of Australia there’s Remembering the fires: How one community has recorded their memories: a special event that will explore some of the ways in which southern NSW community members have told and preserved their bushfire stories. There will be a screening of documentary The Day She Stole the Sun, followed by a panel discussion with Rhonda Ayliffe from the Cobargo Bushfire Resilience, Crewcible Studio’s James G Logue, and oral historian Dr Mary Hutchison. The event will take place on Saturday March 29 from 11am-2pm . For more information visit the National Library of Australia website.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra presents Night and Now: two nights of thrilling orchestral masterworks rich in passion and vivid imagination featuring the works of Tchaikovsky, Kats-Chernin and Charles Ives. The concerts will take place at Llewellyn Hall on Wednesday March 26 and Thursday March 27 at 7:30pm. For more information visit the Canberra Symphony Orchestra website.

At the Civic Art Bureau Lizzie Hall and Kate Stevens Elegy is a response to personal and collective grief in a way that reflects their daily conversations on paint and life. The Civic Art Bureau is in the upstairs area of Smiths Alternative in the Melbourne building. Opening are Thurs-Sat 12pm-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm.

Craft and Design Canberra has three exhibitions. Firstly, My unStill Life by Cam Michael delves into the interplay between work and home life, celebrating the value of the familiar.

Then, The Omega Series by Pamela Irving re-contextualises discarded objects and materials into new forms.

And lastly, 2025 Emerging Contemporaries is Craft + Design Canberra’s prestigious award exhibition celebrating the next generation of designers and makers.

All three exhibitions run until Saturday April 5. Craft & Design Canberra is in the North Building on London Cct in Civic. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday 12pm -4pm.

At the Australian National Capital Artists Gallery Not quite square by Gayle Stockley is a body of work about beauty in geometry and simplicity. The exhibition will be on display from Wednesday 12th March until Sunday March 30. The Australian National Capital Artists Gallery is at Rosevear Place, Dickson. Gallery hours Wednesday to Sunday 12–5pm.

The Mockingbird Theatre Company presents The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Adapted by Simon Stephens from the best-selling book by Mark Haddon is a story about difference, about being an outsider, and about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will be staged at the Belco Arts Rehearsal Room from Thursday March 20 until Saturday April 5. For more information and performance times visit the Belco arts website.

At the Megalo Print Studio Visible but Intangible: A print exchange portfolio by the Sydney Printmakers is an exhibition encompassing the work of 38 contemporary printmakers based in Sydney whose works span the full gamut of possibilities in printmaking. Visible but Intangible will run until Saturday March 29. The Megalo print studio is at Wentworth St, Kingston. Opening hours 9.30am-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday.

At Photo Access’s Huw Davies Gallery counter-sites, curated by Karl Halliday & Madeleine Sherburn, is an exhibition program bringing together the work of seven artists whose lens-based practices dismantle, dissect and destabilise the complex relationship between photography and place. counter-site will be on display from Thursday March 6 until Saturday April 5. Photo Access is at Manuka Circuit, Griffith. Gallery hours are Tuesday -Saturday 10am-4pm.

The 36th French Film Festival is coming to Canberra. The festival will showcase the best in contemporary French cinema featuring a diverse array of 42 movies from biopics to heart-warming comedies to gripping dramas.The festival will screen at the Palace Electric cinema in New Acton from Thursday March 6 until April 9. For further information and the schedule of screenings go to the Palace cinemas website.

At the Drill Hall Gallery Analogue by Jonas Balsaitis shines a light on one of Australia’s most profound, yet under-represented, experimental artists.This exhibition brings together Balsaitis’s three Metron paintings for the first time since their initial display in 1971, alongside his films and a suite of paintings spanning over three decades. The exhibition will run until April 13. The Drill Hall Gallery is at  Kingsley St Acton, Opening hours are Weds-Sun 10am -5pm.

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.

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.

Then at the Canberra Contemporary Manuka Blaze 2025  is an exhibition by six 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 April 17. The Canberra Contemporary Manuka is at Furneaux Street, Forrest. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am – 5pm.

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

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 February 7 until April 5. More information is available from the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

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.

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.