CANBERRA Youth Theatre’s cast of actors from 13 – 24 years has teamed up with director Tamzin Nugent, to close CYT’s 2014 production season with the ACT premiere of “Where in the world is Frank Sparrow.”

WRITTEN by Aussie playwright, Angela Betzien for Graffiti Theatre Company in Ireland. It’s billed “Romeo & Juliet Meets Underbelly”. At C-Block Theatre, Gorman House Arts Centre, Batman St. Braddon, 23 October to 1 November.

YASSarts SPRING! Final Weekend is almost here, and there’s lot’s on: Oct 25-6, Cooma Cottage Photographic Exhibition and Sculpture in the Paddock at ‘Cooma Cottage’, 756 Yass Valley Way, Yass; Art @ the Tennis Club Exhibition, Tennis Club, Fifield Lane, Yass; Oct 25, Yass Music Club (yassmusicclub.com) at The Katherine Holmes & Mary Reid Memorial Concert featuring Megan Corson.

LENNOX Gardens will shimmer to life under the light of 2,000 candles as Japanese and Australian cultures unite at the 12th annual Canberra Nara Candle Festival. There’ll be ikebana and drumming workshops, calligraphy, origami, lantern making, kite flying, martial arts and sumo wrestling demonstrations. The line-up of Japanese entertainment includes sensational drumming ensemble Wadaiko Rindo. Canberra Nara Peace Park, Lennox Gardens, (behind Hyatt Hotel Canberra) 4.30pm to 9pm on Saturday 25 October.

THE ‘FracturedScapes’ exhibition at Di Tesserae, X Gallery, Bungendore until December 1, is causing much interest, particularly the work of Caitlin Hughes, who lost her home and studio in the Blue Mountains bush fires a year ago. FracturedScapes is an exhibition of contemporary mosaic works by Hughes, Kate Butler and Kelly Wild, each of whom brings a distinctive Australian response to the medium of mosaics.

THE JAC, led by alto saxophonist and composer Jake Baxendale, features some of New Zealand’s finest musical talent from the jazz, classical and metal scenes. They released their debut album Nerve on the Rattle Jazz label earlier in 2014 and followed with a New Zealand tour and a packed Wellington Jazz Festival show. At Smith’s Alternative Bookshop, today Thursday October 23, 8pm, $15/10 on the door.

SOUTHSIDE Community Services Inc is holding a fundraising Ladies Fun Day Clothes Swap/Sale in Griffith Neighbourhood Hall on Saturday October 25, 10.30am – 2.00pm. Suggested donation for entry $5.

SHAKESPEARE’S comedy about arranged marriages, the authority of fathers and husbands, the obedience expected from daughters and wives is captured as a tango in Daramalan Theatre Company’s version of “The Taming of the Shrew”. 23 – 25 October at 7.00pm for 7.30 (arrive early for pre-show entertainment and Bar / Cafe service) and at 1.00pm on Saturday 25 October. It costs $22 and $16 (Concessions) with family and group concessions also available.

THREE Belconnen Arts Centre shows have just opened.

IN ‘Lost and Found’, Deborah Faeyrglenn & Cheryl Jobsz create an experience of refuge, where what is lost is also found. Lost moments, stories and objects find a place. Jobsz is a custodian of memory and story, encapsulating found objects, text and ephemera using suitcases as places of refuge. Faeyrglenn’s constructed fabric forest is embedded with text and natural ephemera – a portal into the communal world of trees – the forest as refuge where we lose and find ourselves. Belconnen Arts Centre Gallery, 24 October–16 November.

IN ‘Magpies of Canberra’ Frank Knight, well–known Australian wildlife artist, shows us “the way they pretty well ignore us humans and get on with magpie business under our noses.” Foyer, Belconnen Arts Centre, 22 October–9 November.

IN ‘Cloth, Paper, String’ Jo Hollier and Barbara Dawson’s exhibition of prints, drawings, textile and stitch explores eco dyeing and contact plant printing. The artists combine to express the synergy between their individual methods, each demonstrating a connection with place and the environment. 24 October–9 November Belconnen Arts Centre Arts Lounge.

GALLERY@BCS presents BCS Children’s Week Exhibition, a mixed media exhibition by BCS childcare programs October 21-31, in gallery@bcs, Belconnen Community Centre, Swanson Crt, Belconnen Mon-Fri 9am-4:30pm. BCS Children’s programs will celebrate Children’s Week with an exhibition showcasing a variety of items including visual and audio elements in relation to the theme “You have the right to speak and be heard.”

IN Martin James and Hardy Lohse’s collaborative exhibition, ‘Certified Australian’, the two take aim at the current Australian Government’s policies on Border Protection and what these measures mean not only for asylum seekers who try to reach our shores by boat, but for current Australian residents and citizens of particular backgrounds and religions. At ANCA Gallery 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson until Sunday 9 November 12pm-5pm, Wednesday-Sunday

MULTI-AWARD winning comedian Ronny Chieng will be at Canberra Zierholz @ UC today , Thursday 23 October with his smash hit solo show, Chieng Reaction, as well as promote the release of his debut Live comedy album, The Ron Way. Bookings to oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545

THIS Sunday 26 October from noon to 4pm Belconnen Arts Centre with Belconnen Community Service, will be hosting the first Spring Winds Festival on the banks of Lake Ginninderra, adjacent to Belconnen Arts Centre. Free event.

THE Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society’s October 23rd lecture is “Adventures amongst the nomadic tribes of Iran & Afghanistan: Searching for the woven art of the nomads, by Brian MacDonald, elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for his work amongst the Persian tribes. 2 pm on Thursday 23rd Oct, at the Airport International Motel ( now Comfort Inn Airport International), 57 Yass Road, Queanbeyan. Members and Visitors welcome. Visitors $ 25.00, Members FREE of charge.

PhotoAccess in Manuka Arts Centre is firing, with three shows right now. Member-photographer Julie Garran began posting a photo every day on social media in Feb this year. She’s exhibiting more than 200 of them – so far – in “A photo every day.”  Meantime cross-media artist and researcher Tracey Benson’s project “Words for Water” ponders the most abundant molecule on Earth and engages with our smart phone if you want.

The 2014 Australian Photographic Society – Photographic Society of America Prints Exchange is an exhibition of four little photographic gems each by Melbourne photographer Priyaji Peiris, and Californian photographer Joseph Hearst.

STRATHNAIRN Arts’ Open Day, including open studios, will be running this Saturday 25 October at 90 Stockdill Drive, Holt , all welcome.

THE singers of The Song Company and Chamber Ensemble, Ironwood will combine to present Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor featuring one voice per part vocal scoring. Widely regarded as the Mount Everest of vocal music, the Song Company will present this epic work in a stripped back format – almost one per part in the strings, and one per part for woodwind, brass and singers. Saturday 25 October, St Christopher’s Cathedral, 6.00pm, details at songcompany.com.au/

THE next round of exhibitions at M16 Artspace is generally titled “MOMENTS: Four exhibitions that divulge moments in time, imagination and place” and includes Painting the Town by Julie Spencer, Observation by Michele England, Lumiere by Ned Hatch, and A Sense of Place by Meelan Oh and Sacha Nixon. 23 October – 9 November noon – 5.00pm, Wednesday – Sunday. Opening today, Thursday 23 October 6pm, all welcome.

THE 2014 Wesley Music Scholars’ Spring Concert will be held this Sunday 26 October at 3pm in the Wesley Music Centre. Alys Rayner and Esther Wong (violin), Zanele Ramsay, Katrina Wiseman and Louise Keast (sopranos), Sarah Campbell (mezzo-soprano), Joshua Knol (baritone), Emma Rayner (cello and piano), Matthew Ventura (flute and bassoon), Ciaran Edwards-McKeown (guitar), Rowan Phemister (harp), and Caleb Wong (cello and piano) will perform works by Mozart and Rossini, traditional folk songs, music for harp and guitar by Giuliani and for harp with guitar by Salzedo and Tournier, and the 1st and 3rd movements of the Schubert Quintet in C Major. Tickets at the door.

0

DEAN Bourne (Roy Orbison) and Fallon (Del Shannon) will be playing together a 50th anniversary show at the Canberra Theatre this Saturday, 25th October to mark the release of the iconic worldwide hit song by Roy Orbison, “Pretty Woman”. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

BJORN Again is are widely considered to be one of the most successful tribute bands of all time. They’re at Canberra Theatre this Saturday, 25th October, booking sot canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.