FRESH from Las Vegas, Alyssa Kitt is coming to Canberra to dance at a burlesque show. Joining Kitt on the stage are local performers including Mandy Bandersnatch, Artemis Seven, Jazida, and Tammy McNair as MC. “Decadence and Debauchery”, Polish Club, 38 David Street, Turner, from 7.30pm, August 26. She is also running a one and a half hour dance workshop titled “Big Bad Booty” on the same morning. Bookings to canberramusiciansclub.org.au

Events:

THE inaugural 10 day “Sculpture on Clyde” festival running August 25 to September 3 will see artworks stalled along the foreshore near the bridge at Batemans Bay, making them also visible from the sea. The top acquisitive prize is worth $20,000.

Talk:

AUTHOR Graeme Simsion will be telling stories for adults in “Tales After Dark” at Civic Pub from 7.30pm, this Thursday, August 24. Bookings to eventbrite.com.au

SPIRAL is a non-denominational group of people who meet to hear from guest speakers. This week’s guest is Kate Armstrong, curator at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. The talk will be held at the Uniting Church in Gillies Street, Curtin, 10am, Thursday August 24. It’s a free event and inquiries to 6281 7684 or yeatsb@iinet.net.au

ADFAS Molonglo Plains has Nigel Bates discussing how “The Nutcracker”, after a disastrous start, now takes its rightful place on stage with Tchaikovsky’s music, storytelling, design and dance. Comfort Inn Airport International, Queanbeyan, 2pm, Thursday, August 24 . Inquiries to Lucy on 0437 538529.

Workshops and classes:

THE Groove Warehouse has Japanese percussion/Marimba legend Kuniko Kato (Japan) in a two-day residency, on August 31 and September 1, as part of her 2017 Australian national tour. Details and bookings to groovewarehouse.com.au/events.html or 6260 2847.

CIT Adult Short courses are held every first weekend of the month all year round at Canberra Glassworks. Costs apply and to find out more, email education@canberraglassworks.com.au

Arts Business:

CHRIS Latham’s “Flowers of War” project continues, with “Monet’s Flowers of War”, featuring Jane Rutter, flute, and projections of Claude Monet’s WWI paintings, coming up at the NGA on September 29 and 30, and much more in following months. Bookings to theflowersofwar.org

SOUTHERN Tablelands Arts is running a “Website Building for Creatives” course on practical web building skills for artists, creatives and NFP arts organisations, in local government areas including Queanbeyan-Palerang, September 2 and 9. Bookings to trybooking.com/QXYT

CREATIVE Partnerships Australia is offering 12 arts fundraising mentorships for Australian arts organisations in 2017 and 2018. Over 10 months, mentors and mentees will work together to set organisational fundraising goals while developing skills and methodology. Applications close on August 18. Further details via creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au

GARY France’s Groove Warehouse in Hume is expanding its percussion business and now offers daytime adult classes and keyboard lessons at 5/1 Sawmill Circuit, Hume. Information and enrolments to groovewarehouse.com.au

“MAMMA Mia!” The musical, inspired by ABBA’s classic songs, has seen over 60 million people all around the world pack in for the show. Tickets are now on sale for a new Aussie production that will premiere at the Canberra Theatre from November 24 to December 10. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

ENTRIES are open for the Digital Portraiture Award 2017, to go on show at the National Portrait Gallery from December 1. Entrants have until midnight on September 17 to submit their digital portraits. The winner of the Award will receive $10,000 cash and an artistic residency valued at $15,000 at State Library of Queensland’s community makerspace, The Edge. All details at dpa.portrait.gov.au

THE 10th Queanbeyan Art Society’s Charity Fine Art Show will take place in City Walk Canberra between King O’Malley’s Pub and the merry-go-round, from September 23 to October 2. Entries are now welcome, inquiries to the president of the society, Barry Cranston, at 0439 392709.

YOUNG Canberrans with ideas for projects, events or activities, which focus on social inclusion can now apply for the ACT government’s Youth InterACT grants of up to $1500. The grants are available for initiatives that will support young people in Canberra. Initiatives previously funded include an event celebrating Pacific Island culture and workshops creating art from recycled materials. The grants are open to Canberrans aged 12-25 and organisations that support young Canberrans. Applications will close at midnight on September 3. Information at communityservices.act.gov.au/ocyfs/youth-interact/grants

AINSLIE and Gorman Arts Centres offers supported office accommodation for artists, creatives, as well as arts organisations and music-based organisations and individuals. Inquiries to agac.com.au

Literature:

CANBERRA Writers Festival will run from Friday, August 25 to Sunday, August 27. Bookings and details at canberrawritersfestival.com.au or 132 849.

IN “Poetry and Place”, leading Canberra textile artist Dianne Firth has been inspired by works poetry from 2016’s “Poetry on the Move”, where poets wrote about their experience of nature and landscape in Canberra. Belconnen Arts Centre, August 25 to September 17.

FORTY original artworks from the never-before-seen CBCA Children’s Book Week collection can be seen in the Clive Price Suite, Building 1, University of Canberra, from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday to August 30.

Film:

THE National Film and Sound Archive has a “coming-of-age” restored double feature, “The Year My Voice Broke”, starring Loene Carmen, Ben Mendelsohn and Noah Taylor. Following “The Year My Voice Broke”, will be its sequel, “Flirting” (1990), featuring Thandie Newton, Naomi Watts and a young Nicole Kidman. Arc Cinemas, 5.30pm, Saturday, August 26. Bookings to nfsa.gov.au

CANBERRA International Film Festival is coming up, from October 26 to November 5 at the Arc Cinema, but meantime it’s running a fundraising movie trivia night at Ainslie Football Club, 52 Wakefield Avenue Ainslie, 6.30pm on Wednesday, August 30. Bookings to eventbrite.com.au

THE National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has “Strictly Ballroom: Behind the Curtain”, a new online exhibition to celebrate 25 years since the release of Baz Luhrmann’s debut film in August 1992. Visit nfsa.gov.au/collection/onlineexhibitions

Dance:

“ARCHÈ”, Greek for “the beginning”, is a unique take on “Swan Lake” by Melbourne Ballet Company’s director Simon Hoy. Arche, which is coming to the Q is a nod to the Greek myth of Leda and the swan, it’s choreographed to music by music by Tchaikovsky, Einaudi, Morricone and Elgar. At Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, August 25-26. Bookings to theq.net.au or 6285 6290.

AUSDANCE ACT Open Class is continuing with advanced to professional level classes on Wednesdays from 10am-11.30am at the Belconnen Arts Centre. An evening class on Thursday from 6.50pm-8.20pm at QL2’s Dance Studio, for intermediate to professional level dancers of all genres. This Thursday’s class is “Contemporary”, with Jack Keogh. Inquiries to 6247 9103.

Concerts and Gigs:

CANBERRA Youth Orchestra’s concerto winners will be on show in Concert 3, conducted by Leonard Weiss, Llewellyn Hall, 7.30pm, Saturday, August 26. Bookings to premier.ticketek.com.au

THE Oriana Chorale’s “Northern Lights” concert will feature work by Arvo Pärt, selections from Rachmaninov’s “Vespers”, and works from Scotland, the Baltic States and Scandinavia. “Northern Lights”, Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston, 3pm, Saturday, August 26. Bookings to trybooking.com

COMPOSER and pianist Larry Sitsky will be focussing on the music of Anton Rubinstein when he performs five miniatures followed by the Sonata No.1 Op.12 in “Wednesday Lunchtime Live”, at Wesley Music Centre, 12.40pm, August 23. Tickets at the door only.

The Takács Quartet will be here performing classics by Haydn and Beethoven, as well as a world premiere of a work, Child’s Play, by Musica Viva’s artistic director, Carl Vine. Llewellyn Hall, 7pm, Thursday, August 24. Bookings to musicaviva.com.au

CANBERRA-raised classical guitarist Rupert Boyd will be back home from New York City with his wife, the American cellist Laura Metcalf. Together, they’ll perform in “Boyd Meets Girl”, at Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, 22 Malbon Street,? Bungendore, 6pm for dinner, Saturday, August 26. Bookings to 6238 1688.

LIMESTONE Consort’s next concert will be performed on period instruments as they explore baroque repertoire by Stradella, Rosenmüller, Mondonville and Telemann. Guest artist is recorder player Olivia Gossip. All Saints’ Anglican Church, Ainslie, on 2pm, Sunday, August 27. Exit by donation.

NEXT up in the Kangara Concert Series is “French Impressions” by the Renoir Ensemble – Anna Murakawa on violin, Anneliese McGee-Collett on cello and Kimberley Steele on piano. Cooinda Hall, Kangara Waters, 2 Joy Cummings Place Belconnen, 2pm for 2.15pm, this Sunday, August 27. Tickets at door.

BRINDABELLA Orchestra goes to the movies when it performs songs of cowboys, pirates and secret agents found on the silver screen, at the North Belconnen Uniting Church, Conley Drive, Melba, 2pm, this Sunday, August 27, entrance by program at the door.

ED Kuepper, ARIA award winning artist and founder member of The Saints and Laughing Clowns, will be bringing his one man request show, “Solo and By Request”, to The Street Theatre, Thursday, 8pm, August 24. Bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

ORGANIST Christopher Wrench will be performing works by Buxtehude, Pierné and others at Wesley Uniting Church, 22 National Circuit Forrest, 6pm, Friday, August 25. Tickets at the door.

CLASSICAL guitarist Callum Henshaw’s latest program includes an Australian premiere of a new work by Cuban composer, Leo Brouwer, presented alongside some folk song arrangements by Llobet (Spain), “Stélé” by Houghton (Australia) and the concerto by Arnold (England). Smith’s Alternative, 9.30pm, Thursday, August 24, in double bill with Happy Axe. Tickets at the door.

CARL Rafferty is chasing the winter blues away with “Broadway & Movie Tunes”, performed by Fraser Findlay, Anna Rafferty, Zach Raffan, Tom Azoury and Alice Morgan. At Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, 5pm, August 26 and 27. Champagne at the door, bookings to trybooking.com

PHOENIX Pub in Civic has as follows: Thursday, August 24 at 9pm, Piss Weak Karaoke; Friday, August 25 at 9pm, Fiesta and Los Chavos; Saturday, August 26 at 9pm, Marlon Bando, Needledick, Flight To Dubai, Sleeping Dogs, Dalmacia and Bo Loserr.

“JAZZ at the House” features the Elise Webb Quartet (Bella Groove) at University House, ANU, 8pm, light food from 7pm. Bookings to 6125 5270 or events.unihouse@anu.edu.au

THE Piano Eisteddfod is running at Ainslie Arts Centre from Thursday, August 24 to Sunday, August 27. All program details at nationaleisteddfod.org.au

Theatre:

“INTIMACY” is a work from Melbourne company Ranters Theatre, based on a real-life experience when artistic director Adriano Cortese invited strangers back to his apartment for a party. From the anecdotes, disclosures and life stories, a play was born. The Street Theatre, 15 Childers Street,  until August 27. Bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

BRUCE Hall is staging  “Kill Me, Deadly” by Bill Robens. Set in 1950s Hollywood, this parody of a film noir murder mystery is packed with romance, intrigue, and murder.  Gorman Arts Centre, C Block Theatre, 8pm, August 24-26. Bookings to eventebrite.com.au

Exhibitions:

“WE Collapse, We Build New Cities”, curated by Angus McGrath, features work by artists Emma Caskey, Zoë Croggon, Spencer Lai, Sarah McCauley, Liam O’Brien, Julia Thwaites and Madalyn Trewin that deals with the intersection of the human. The exhibition be held at ANCA Gallery from Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm-5pm until September 10.

“NEIL Roberts: chances with glass” is an exhibition focusing on the much-missed late artist’s relationship with glass as “object, medium and signifier”. Curated by Barbara Campbell and Jane Cush, it runs at Canberra Glassworks until October 15.

“FINDERS Keepers: Collectors and their Stories MoAD at Old Parliament House runs from 9am-5pm, daily, until the middle of 2018. Entry is free after museum admission.

THE Photography Room has “Inside Outside” by Aishah Kenton, “Molded in Mud” by Parisa Applegarth and “Flatbed Suburbia” by Mac Nichols. Kenton’s photograph “Ellie” has been selected as a finalist in the 2017 Maggie Diaz Prize for women photographers. TPR, in Old Bus Depot, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston Foreshore, open Sundays 10am-4pm and by appointment to mail@thephotographyroom.com.au or 0408 662996.

NANCY Sever Gallery is presenting “Byrd: Unreliable Narrator”, an exhibition of recent work by Canberra’s top mural and graffiti artist. The themes of Byrd’s work have grown out of a longstanding relationship with Australia’s natural environment, its fragility, management and the traces of human passage through it. 4/6 Kennedy St Kingston, Wednesday to Sunday, 11am– 6pm until September 3.

IN “Tolwong Road : A story of fire”, Stephen Hartup’s black and white photographs tell the story of bushfire, recovery and regeneration as observed and captured over a three-year period. At X Gallery, 32 Gibraltar Street, Bungendore, opening hours, 11am to 5pm, Friday to Monday.

The 50th Anniversary exhibition for the Queanbeyan Art Society is showing until the end of August at the QAS Gallery, Trinculo Place, Queanbeyan, under the bridge on the Queanbeyan River bank.

PHOTOACCESS has two new exhibitions: “Next Generation: Solomon Islands, After RAMSI” by Sean Davey and “Provenance” by Geoffrey Dunn. The shows will continue until September 10, where they will be “In Conversation with Sean Davey and Geoffrey Dunn”.

ZOE Woods from South Australia is Ausglass Artist in Residence at Canberra Glassworks, where she is to incorporate engraving techniques and experiment with new forms. And, Art Group Creative Fellow Harriet Schwarzrock is now working full time in the Engine Room. Visitors can say hello to Zoe and Harriet in the Engine Room at Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, 10am–4pm, Wednesday to Sunday, until August 27.

TWO exhibitions are opening at Watson Arts Centre this Friday, August 17. The first, “Light and Heat” is a collaboration between two sisters – photographer Jane Kelly, a Sydney based professional photographer, and Canberra ceramicist, Josephine Townsend, a Canberra based ceramicist. The second, Janet Fieldhouse’s self-titled show, is an exhibition of the work of Canberra Potters’ current artist-in-residence. Both will be on display at Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson, until September 10, 10am–4pm, Thursday to Sunday.

M16 Artspace has four new exhibitions until September 3: “ Lines of Site: Finding the Sublime in Canberra”, curated by Grace Blakeley-Carroll, features the work of Jacqueline Bradley, Cathy Franzi, Kirstie Rea, Mark Mohell, Annika Harding, Caren Florance and Melinda Smith; and “The Structure of Things”, by Al Munro. Blaxland Crescent, Griffith.

THE Belconnen Community Gallery “Springboard” series presents “Beauty in Imperfection”, an exhibition of textiles and ceramics by its Emerging Artist Support Scheme prize winner Christine Appleby, at gallery@bcs, Swanson Court, Belconnen, until September 1.

A RARE collection, which features 52 portraits of British street people will be on display for the first time in “Dempsey’s People: a folio of British street portraits 1824-1844”. Curated by David Hansen, the exhibition will bring together 51 works painted by little-known itinerant portraitist, John Dempsey. National Portrait Gallery, King Edward Terrace, Parkes, from 10am–5pm daily, to October 22.

“MELODRAMA in Meiji Japan” features Japanese woodblock (Kuchi-e) illustrations at the Exhibition Gallery on the ground floor of the National Library of Australia, from 10am-5pm, to August 27.

“JUDE Rae, A Space of Measured Light”, is the newest exhibition at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery. It’ll be launched by gallery director Terence Maloon at 6pm, this Friday, August 18. There will also be an in conversation session with the artist at noon on Saturday, August 19. The exhibition runs at Kingsley Street, Acton, until October 15, from 10 am–5pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

“DEFYING Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial” brings the works of 30 contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to the National Gallery of Australia until September 10.

GINNINDERRA School House Gallery has “Life Scapes”, mixed media landscapes, animals and still life by Lesa Potten, who is a veterinary surgeon from Hall, traditional local country scenes and seascapes by Col Nelson of Yass and abstract figure sculptures created from beautiful local Broome W.A. timbers by Mayin Chan, a dentist from Broome. At Sweet Copper Cafe, Gold Creek, Nicholls, Fridays 10am–4pm, Saturdays and Sundays 8.30am–4.30pm, to August 27.

BILK Gallery is showcasing “Place, Knowing and Being”, a recent collection of works by Christopher Robertson, that were submitted as part of his practice lead research for a PhD at the ANU. These works include flatware and furniture as well as a selection of brooches from Robertson’s prior oeuvre. Bilk Gallery for contemporary metal and glass, Palmerston Lane, Manuka until September 3.

CRAFT ACT has a solo exhibition by South Australian designer and maker Christian Hall, which includes furniture, sculpture and jewellery. Craft ACT will also feature “Emerging Contemporaries”, the Craft ACT National Award Exhibition for early career artists. At Craft ACT: Craft and Design

BEAVER Galleries now have works by ceramic artist Avital Sheffer and Nicola Dickson’s most recent work, which has been inspired by the D’Entrecasteaux expedition to Australia and the Pacific in 1792-3. Opens at 81 Denison Street, Deakin, 6pm, Thursday, August 10 and runs until August 27.

MEREDITH Hinchliffe has curated an online exhibition of work by tapestry exponent Belinda Ramson, who died in 2014. This exhibition was mounted at the American Tapestry Alliance, visit americantapestryalliance.org/exhibitions/tex_ata/belinda-ramson/

THE Australian War Memorial has as a permanent exhibition “The Holocaust: witnesses and survivors”, which includes over 85 collection items.

SECOND World War veterans —6500 of them—are showcased in a unique photography installation at the Australian War Memorial, “Reflections – honouring our WWII veterans”. The images will be archived and made accessible to the public as part of the Memorial’s online collection.

STRATHNAIRN Gallery has digital photographic artist Helen Pizzano’s first solo exhibition, Bingi Bingi, showcasing the colour and texture of Bingi Bingi Point on the South Coast running until August 27. All works and wearable art scarves are available for purchase during the exhibition.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” is an exhibition focusing on the 1967 Aboriginal Referendum and the 1992 MABO land rights decision by the High Court. At the National Museum of Australia, until January 30, 2018.

SYDNEY artist Ingrid Bowen has a solo exhibition at Suki & Hugh Gallery in Bungendore. The exhibition entitled “Vast” presents a series of whimsical watercolour landscapes that should resonate with viewers from our region. 38A Gibraltar Street, Bungendore until October 1.