The title of this year’s Canberra International Music Festival is mulanggari which means ‘alive’. The festival ffeatures a program of classical, contemporary classical, indigenous, choral, Jazz, and popular music. mulanggari will take place at various locations around Canberra from Tuesday 30th April till Sunday 5th May. For the full program visit the Canberra International Music Festival website.

The next Jazz Haus Canberra concert will be the Trish Delaney Brown Quintet singing songs from Trish’s 2017 ARIA shortlisted album The Game as well as favourite jazz standards and newer compositions from her upcoming EP. The performance will be at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre on Saturday 4 May from 7pm. More information is available from their website.

Photo Access’s Huw Davies Navigating Histories. Weaving together stories from the past with their present-day echoes, Navigating Histories explores themes of displacement, resilience, and identity. The four artists consider individuals and communities in transition through video, installation and documentary photography.   Navigating Histories will be on display from Thursday 2nd May till 1st June. Photo Access is at Manuka Circuit, Griffith. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm

At Strathnairn Arts there’s Nature’s Way by Liz Hanna, Catherine Ellerton, Janine Gould. By painting the beauty and fragility of nature, the artists aim to share the message with viewers that landscapes, waterways, oceans, birds, insects, animals and plant life must be protected at all costs. The exhibition will run until Sunday 19th May. Strathnairn Arts is located at Stockdill Drive, Holt. Gallery hours are 10-4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra is again Going Down South to perform Grieg’s exuberant but icy String Quartet No. 1 in G minor and Percy Grainger’s rhythmically diverse Irish dance, Molly on the Shore. The concert will take place on Thursday 9 May from 6pm at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre. Further information is available from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra website.

At the Megalo print studio Desire Lines – (a path taken informally over a set route) is a solo exhibition by Gadigal/Sydney-based artist Pia Larsen exploring colour and space and the politics of the female gendered body. The exhibition will run until Saturday 11th May. The Megalo print studio is at Wentworth St, Kingston. Opening hours 9.30am – 5pm, Tuesday – Saturday.

At the Suki & Hugh Gallery regarding dreams as water moons by Peter Jordan & Sara Freeman. The Suki & Hugh gallery is at Gibraltar Street, Bungendore and opening hours are Monday & Friday 10am – 2pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm and Sunday 11am-3pm

The Canberra Rep theatre presents The Actress. In this play the stage has been Lydia’s home and now it’s time to say goodbye. Her past connections bring love, laughter, insults, and embraces to her dressing room as this colourful, complicated actress says farewell. The Actress will be performed from Thursday 2nd May until Saturday 18th May. The Canberra Rep theatre is at Repertory Ln in Acton. Further information and performance times are available from their website.

At the Grainger Gallery there are two new exhibitions: Sarah McDonald’s Whispers of the Ancient Land and Kirsty McIntyre’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. The Granger gallery is at Dairy Road, Fyshwick opening hours Wed-Sun 11am-5pm.

At Manning Clark House (MCH) heritage uncovered, an exhibition of the works of 28 artists from around the region and beyond. The artists were asked to respond to the brief of heritage, but not just built heritage — also indigenous, environmental, and political – and the result is a diverse collection of works in ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, glass, textiles, photography, drawing, jewellery, metalwork and assemblage. heritage uncovered will be on display until Sunday 5th May. Manning Clark House is at Tasmania Circuit, Forrest. Exhibition hours are Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 2pm.

At the Canberra Contemporary Arts Space Manuka, Trust Me is a multimedia exploration of Kamberri/Canberra-based artist Toni Hassan’s personal and collective geography of her life-altering experience of cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2023 that includes paintings, a video work, photographs, found-object installations and textiles using reclaimed materials. Trust Me will run until Sunday 5th May. The Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka is at Furneaux Street, Forrest. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.

The next Geoff’s Jazz will be Greater Zetland featuring Sydney-based pianist John Harkins and his quartet playing an unrelenting, non apologetic jazz, played with the intent of swinging hard. The performance will be on Wednesday May 1 at 7pm at Smith’s Alternative. For more information go to the Smith’s Alternative website.

The next ANU Meet the Authors event will be James Bradley in conversation with Beejay Silcox on his new book Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, which through the lens and narratives of the ocean, offers vital new ways of understanding and being in the world, and, correspondingly, how we anticipate our climate future. The event will take place in the ANU Cinema on Tuesday 30th April from 6pm.To find out more information and to register visit the events section of the ANU website.

The Queanbeyan Quilters 2024 Exhibition will feature over 100 quilts, quilting demonstrations, a quilt raffle, a members’ Sales Table and a Quilters’ Marketplace featuring local businesses. The Exhibition will be held in Queanbeyan’s Bicentennial Hall on Saturday 27th April 10am-5pm and on Sunday 28th April 10am-3pm. More information is available from the Queanbeyan Quilters Facebook page.

Craft and Design Canberra has two exhibitions. Talisman, Tool and Touchstone is solo exhibition of contemporary metal work created as part of the practice-based component of Dr. Oliver Oakley Smith’s PhD, drawing on the long tradition of animal symbolism crafted in metal. Then South Facing showcases the work of Julie Bradley and Holly Grace completed as part of the annual Craft + Design Canberra Artist-in-Residence program at Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage in the Namadgi National Park. Both exhibitions run until Saturday 11th May. Craft & Design Canberra is in the North Building on London Cct in Civic. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday 12pm -4pm.

The next Jazz Haus Canberra concert will be the Trish Delaney Brown Quintet singing songs from Trish’s 2017 ARIA shortlisted album The Game as well as favourite jazz standards and newer compositions from her upcoming EP. The performance will be at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre on Saturday 4 May from 7pm. More information is available from their website.

The Kyeema Gallery at Hall has What you see,what I see? by Marie Carver and Natalie Will. The exhibition runs until Sunday 5th May. Gallery hours 10:30am to 5pm, Thursday to Sunday. For further information go to the Capital wines website.

Apeiron Baroque presents Shipwrecked. Countertenor Tobias Cole will be joined by a small band of strings and harpsichord to present stormy vocal works by Baroque composers Ariosti, Vivaldi, Handel, and Hasse. The performance will take place at the Wesley Music Centre on Sunday 21st April from 4pm. For further information visit the Apeiron Baroque facebook page

The next Braidwood Concert Series will be Wilbur Whitta’s ‘Wildfire’ Jazz Quartet launching their new album. The concert will be at St Andrews Anglican Church, Elrington St, Braidwood on Saturday 20th April from 2pm. For further information on this performance and upcoming concerts visit the Braidwood Concert Series Facebook page.

The M16 Artspace has 4 new exhibitions. Firstly, The Daylight Moon by Francis Cal explores the interplay between reality and imagination through hyperreal photography. ThenLife in the Old Dog, Yet is a photographic exhibition by Brian Jones that challenges stereotypes of senior citizens. Next, Everlasting Happiness by Deborah White uses humour and fantasy to create a utopian non-place of the imagination. And lastly, the artworks in Helen Heslop’s Dark Silhouette trace the ‘abuse cycle’ in intimate partner relationships. All four exhibitions run from Thursday 18th April – Sunday 12th May. M16 Artspace is at Blaxland Crescent, Griffith and Gallery hours are Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5pm.

The next Lakeside at 5 live music series will be Rachael Thoms on vocals, Lachlan Coventry guitar, and Chris Pound on bass for an evening of spontaneous and interactive creativity, where you’ll be able to write your favourite jazz tune on a “post-it-note” and the band will select songs at random. The concert will be at Tuggeranong Arts Centre from 5:30pm on Friday 26 April. For information on the event and upcoming Lakeside at 5 sessions visit the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

At the Australian National Capital Artists Gallery Michele England’s latest solo exhibition Il faut cultiver notre jardin’ showcases her decision to ‘green’ her studio processes and transition to more sustainable materials and traditional techniques. The result is a series of paintings and mixed media pieces that chiefly use egg tempera and studio-made inks on earth friendly boards and papers.. The exhibition runs from Wednesday 24th April until Sunday 12th May. The Australian National Capital Artists Gallery is at Rosevear Place, Dickson. Gallery hours Wednesday to Sunday 12–5pm.

At the Canberra Contemporary Arts Space, Lakeside Places and Spaces brings together artists who explore the places and spaces around them through installation, sculpture, painting and augmented reality. The exhibition unfolds as a dynamic dialogue between the tangible and intangible spaces we inhabit: our homes, our online realities, as well as the metaphorical spaces we occupy. Places and Spaces will be on display from Friday 20th April – 22nd June. The Canberra Contemporary Art Space Lakeside is at Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 5pm.

At the Canberra Contemporary Arts Space Manuka, Rehang by Bruce Reynolds is exhibiting paintings made of lino on wood panels depicting modernist sculptures. They seek to reexamine our relationship to history via our memories of the three dimensional. Rehang will run from Friday 12 until Sunday 21st April. The Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka is at Furneaux Street, Forrest. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.

At the Canberra Glassworks: Told. Retold. Untold. is a site-specific exhibition by artist Rosalind Lemoh. The narrative of the Kingston Power House unfolds not only as an exploration of architectural history but as a profound reflection on broader societal themes. The exhibition runs until Sunday 28 April. Canberra Glassworks is at Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Gallery hours 10am-4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

Belco Arts has five new exhibitions:

Firstly, in Life Drawing Lee Crisp draws on her life experience as an artist and her love of art history, to look at the contemporary lives of women from the perspective of the embodied subject.

Then Emergence of Materials and Self by Natalie Hill is a collection of Intuitive impressionistic abstracts born of high energy and playing with a multitude of glorious materials.

Hold III: is a Ceramics open exhibition where ceramic artists from throughout Australia have been invited to investigate the beauty and sense of intimacy experienced when eating or drinking from an exquisitely crafted plate or vessel.

Next, Place by Alexander Thatcher is a playful exhibition that holds homage to the artist’s love for creating tiny ceramic architecture and their passion for clay.

And, lastly, Dog by Lisa Jose presents a series of linocut portraits of pet dogs that asks the viewer to contemplate preconceptions about their place in society.

All four exhibitions run from Friday 5 April until 19 May.

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

At the Canberra Museum and Gallery Sydney Nolan; The Foundation Collection. This permanent exhibition of iconic images includes some of Nolan’s earliest paintings from the Kelly, Burke and Wills and St Kilda series; alongside fine examples of the artist’s central Australian landscape and carcass works. The Canberra Museum and Gallery Cnr London Circuit and City Square, Canberra City. Opening hours are Monday-Friday: 10am-4pm & 12-4pm Saturday-Sunday: 12-4pm.

Tuggeranong Arts Centre has three new exhibitions. Firstly, Sitting Standing Turning presents an eclectic range of work from the breadth of Robbie Karmel’s practice, including drawing, handmade furniture, printmaking, and performance. Next, Abode explores what abode means to the three presenting artists. Is it a place of comfort and pleasure, or of fear and isolation? Their visual responses include video, sculptures and paintings. And lastly, Glass by Louis Grant uses glass, a fluid medium that is constantly in a state of becoming, to speak of social and psychological spaces that can themselves be seen as ‘unstable compounds’. All three exhibitions run from Friday 5th April until 8th June. More information is available from the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.

At Strathnairn Arts From the outside to the inside by the Allsorts Collective explores the relationship between public and private spaces through a series of works in acrylic, watercolour in and pastel. The exhibition will run Wednesday March 27 to April 21. Strathnairn Arts is located at Stockdill Drive, Holt. Gallery hours are 10-4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

Photo Access’s Huw Davies Gallery has two new exhibitions. On What Grounds by Janhavi Sharma examines the role of gender in shaping our memories and the process of forgetting. Then Volver (The Return) by Judith Martinez Estrada is a photographic, video and installation-based body of work depicting the documentation and interpretation of the artist’s ancestral apartment in Madrid. Both exhibitions will be on display until Saturday April 27. Photo Access is at Manuka Circuit, Griffith. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm.

The M16 Artspace has three new exhibitions. Firstly, Hard Yakka by UK Frederick is an exploration of the humble yet iconic flannel shirt. Then Guy Morgan’s inaugural solo exhibition features his entire Evaporation series – comprising oil and acrylic paintings, archival prints and his award-winning ArtScreen 2023 project entitled Written with a finger on a steamed-up window. And Layered Land by Barbara Dawson is a series of drawings and textiles that investigates the way a place is remembered. All three exhibitions run from Friday March 22 to Sunday April 14. M16 Artspace is at Blaxland Crescent, Griffith and Gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday, 12-5pm.

At the Australian Centre on China in the World Assemble explores the act of ‘making sense’ of layers and fragments, of memories and stories, told or untold. Curated by Dr Olivier Krischer, the exhibition brings together eight Hong Kong-born artists from different generations of the diaspora. Assembly will be on display until 24 May. The Australian Centre on China in the World is at The Australian National University.