THE 21^st National Multicultural Festival kicks off with “Treasures of a Nation: Chinese New Year Concert 2017,” at Llewellyn Hall, 7.30pm, Thursday, February 16.  The Chinese Orchestra takes the stage alongside kora player, Miriam Lieberman and Persian music band, the Sarv Ensemble led by Canberra based musician Salar Ayoubi in a spectacular concert. Bookings to ticketek.com.au or 132 849.

VISITORS to the Multicultural Festival will be able to find their favourite performers and stall holders on a new app, via both iOS and Android, details at multiculturalfestival.com.au/app

Classes and Workshops:

REGISTRATIONS for the first Arts Exchange Workshop of 2017, “Using Art for Expression”, are now open. Playing Field Studio, 2 Kingsley Street, Acton. Saturday, February 18 from 10.30am-12.30pm (please arrive at 10.20am for 10.30am start). Bookings are essential to workshops@playingfieldstudio.org.au

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 or phone 6260 7005.

THE Young Music Society (YMS) is throwing its doors open to the public for its YMS “Try An Instrument Day” for young people to try out different instruments. Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen, this Sunday, February 19, 1pm-4pm. FREE – no appointment necessary – just turn up.

THE Canberra Men’s Choir is a not for profit, community male voice choir is sponsoring its “All Men Aloud” workshop at Downer Community Centre on March 3, 4, and 5. The deadline for registrations is February 17 to cmchoir@tpg.com.au or call Richard on 0407 909 602.

MUSIC for Canberra has new classes this term in the Rock Academy, training and children’s and youth choirs as well as Vivace and Allegro choirs for over 55s. All details at musicforcanberra.org.au mchoir@tpg.com.au or 0407 909602.

Arts business:

CRAFT ACT: Craft + Design Centre is seeking an experienced curator to lead its exhibition program and growing retail activities, which includes the annual “DESIGN Canberra”. Submissions close midnight on Sunday, February 19 to craftact.org.au, inquiries to 6262 9333.

PHOTOACCESS is calling for expression of interest for its “Dark Matter” and “In Focus” residencies, with applications due Tuesday, February 21, inquiries to photoaccess.org.au

THE “Meet + Make EXPO”, to run at Bungendore Showground in May 6 will be a community showcase of makers, artists, writers, poets, musicians and performers in the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council local government area. Applications due by Friday, February 24 to qprc.nsw.gov.au and inquiries to cultural.services@qprc.nsw.gov.au or call 6285 6170.

THE Australian Copyright Council will be presenting its annual seminar series “Understanding Copyright” at the Canberra Museum and Gallery on February 20 and 21. Details and bookings copyright.org.au

BILK Gallery in Manuka is now seeking proposals and expressions of interest for a limited number of exhibitions in 2017 and 2018. These could be a solo exhibition, installations, experimental works or group exhibitions – specific to jewellery and objects in metal or glass. Proposals can be sent until February 28 to bilk.com.au

EXHIBITION applications for M16 Artspace’s 2018 Gallery program are now open. M16 welcomes applications from artists and curators from Canberra, interstate and overseas. Applications to m16artspace.com.au

Dance:

TALENTED young people from in and around Canberra will form the Quantum Leap ensemble (ages 15-26), and collaborate with three choreographers. QL2 Artistic director Ruth Osborne will oversee the project and Pip Buining will be dramaturg. This show will be performed at the Canberra Playhouse in late July. To register phone 6247 3103.

AUSDANCE ACT Open Class is continuing with our regular Wednesday classes from 10am-11.30am for advanced to professional level dancers held at the Belconnen Arts Centre, and now a new evening class on Thursday evenings from 6.50pm-8.20pm for intermediate to professional level dancers of all ages. Inquiries 6247 3103.

Concerts and Gigs:

CANBERRA Symphony Orchestra’s Shell Prom Picnic Concert for this year, Conductor Graham Abbott, has a distinctive Canberra flavour with Guitar Trek as guest artists. Formed 30 years ago by ANU guru Tim Kain, the present-day group also includes Minh Le Hoang, Matt Withers and Bradley Kunda, who plan to lead the band in specially arranged classics and favourites. At lawns of Government House, 6pm, Saturday, February 18, bookings to cso.org.au or tickets available at the gate from 4.15pm.

THE Song Company begins 2017 with a program highlighting the peculiar life and accidental death of musical genius and uncompromising Marxist-Leninist Cornelius Cardew, performed with multimedia artist Adrian Self as an “operetta-esque happening”. There’ll be works by Cardew, John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Street Theatre, 7pm, Friday, February 17, bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

RÜFÜS, the alternative dance group from Sydney who’ve been nominated for 5 ARIA awards,will be at UC Refectory tomorrow, Friday, February 17, bookings to tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=67766 or 1300 762545.

MELBOURNE’S infused 5-piece Justin Yap Band will be at the National Multicultural Festival as part of tis “Let Love” tour this Saturday, February 18. Free event.

ROCK ‘n’ Roll fans can breathe easy while enjoying “The Everly Brothers & Buddy Holly Together In Concert”, performed by the Robertson Brothers with West End star Scot Robin playing Buddy. Canberra Southern Cross Club, Friday, February 17, bookings to cscc.com.au or 6283 7200.

JOHN Paul Young and The Allstar Band are touring with “The Vanda & Young Songbook”, a concert celebrating the songs that gave Australia its soundtrack from the 60s to the 80s. Think “Friday on My Mind” and “Love Is In the Air”. Canberra Theatre Centre, Saturday, February 18, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

THE Phoenix Pub in Civic has Marlon Brando, Propeller and B.L.T. today, Thursday, February 16 at 9pm. Tickets at the door.

SYDNEY blues-funk-rock trio Chase The Sun has released a new single “Live It Up” and will be at the Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah, 2pm then 5.30pm this Sunday, February 19, tickets at the door.

Theatre:

“ALWAYS…Patsy Cline”, at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, will feature numbers like “Crazy”, “I Fall to Pieces” and “Sweet Dreams” that still pull at the heartstrings. To February 18, bookings to theq.net.au or 6285 6290.

 “LENNON Through a Glass Onion,” John Waters’ and Stewart D’Arrietta’s postscript to The Beatles era, is a story and 31 songs including “Imagine”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Revolution”, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and the like. It’s still on the road after many years, appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe last August. Canberra Theatre on Friday, February 17, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700

Exhibitions:

“FOOD, friend or foe, guardian, mascot or symbol, animals appear everywhere in our society,” say staff at Tuggeranong Arts Centre as they launch into the 2017 theme, “animals connect us to the wild and anchor us in the domestic.” “3 Memories, 3 Animals and a Hunk of Wax” is a reflection on animals, death, experience and curiosity by Julia Higgs, while “Seek” is an exhibition and retail event by animal rights advocate Gabriella Tagliapietra. At 137 Reed Street, Greenway until February 25.

The 24rd Bald Archy prize exhibition of satirical art is at Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson. Until March 14, 10am to 4pm.  Entry $8/$6.

“COINCIDENCES” is an exhibition by John Wardle Architects is at the Nishi Gallery, 17 Kendall Lane, New Acton, until Friday, February 17. A series of prominent photographers each visited two John Wardle Architects buildings and took a single image of each site.

PAINTING and photographic works by Jenny McEwan Mason & Nathan Kellett are showing in Gallery One & Two at Strathnairn Arts Gallery, Holt, to March 5.

PHOTOACCESS presents two new exhibitions, by local artists, “Move up to the Views” by David Flanagan and “Finlandia Hymn” by Anja Longhead, in the Huw Davies Gallery, Manuka Arts Centre, running to February 26.

THE next exhibition, at Kyeema Gallery is “Desert Dreamings”,  is a selection of works by Indigenous artists of the central and western deserts in WA, SA and the NT, with two paintings by a well-known Alice Springs artist, Sarah Brown. All proceeds go to the Pukatja Fund to establish the first community-based renal dialysis centre at Ernabella. Capital Wines Cellar Door. 13 Gladstone Street, Hall Village Court, Hall, February 17 toMarch 12, Thursday to Sunday, 10.30am-5pm.

CHRISTINE Scott and Meredith Pammenter-Legg have an exhibition, “Land and Sea: states of mind”, running at Form Studio and Gallery 1/30 Aurora Avenue, Queanbeyan until February 22. This exhibition brings together two artists who draw inspiration from the natural world reflecting ways of looking, understanding and interpreting the magnitude and minutia of land and sea.

CRAFT ACT has joined forces with the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning USA, to create a great exhibition inspired by glass history, current makers and its future and curated by Mel George. Also opening “Code X: Contemporary Book Binding”, in association with 2017 Australian National Conference of Bookbinders, which will be held in Canberra, to March 27, Craft ACT, the North Building, Civic.

M16 ARTSPACE at 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith, has three new exhibitions to February 26: “Orpheus Island” by Kurt Brereton; “Polarising Colour”, a sound and light installation by Canberra artist David Keany and Ukrainian sound artist Giorgiy Poltapalsky; and “The Plate Show”, where 21 Canberra artists “bring a plate”.

BEAVER Galleries have two new exhibitions. Dianne Fogwell’s “Renascent paintings and works on paper” features layered linocuts that engage with the cyclical passage of decay and renewal within her local environment, while Andrew Baldwin’s “Impermanence”explore notions of impermanence and emptiness. At studio 81 Denison Street, Deakin. Tuesday to Friday, 10am – 5pm & Saturday and Sunday 9am–5pm. February 16 to March 5.

ANCA Gallery in Rosevear Street Dickson has “I see Re(a)d” is a group exhibition featuring the works of Sophie Bishop, Mimi Fairall, Michelle Hallinan, Kelly Hayes, Jess Higgins, Rebecca Setnicar and Diana White, all recent graduates from the ANU School of Art Printmedia and Drawing Workshop. The show runs until February 26.

“ENGAGE: Community Posters” is running at Megalo, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston, to March 4, Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm. In 2015 Megalo sought financial support to run three targeted community workshops in Screen Printed Posters and Design to coincide with Youth Homelessness, Reconciliation and Mental Health Weeks in 2016 and the results are on show.

“ELISABETH Cummings – Interior Landscapes” sees one of Australia’s most distinguished artists showing at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Kingsley Street (off Barry Drive) Wednesday to Sunday, 10 to 5pm. Opening 6pm, tonight, Thursday, February 16. All welcome.

NATALIE Maras (former Artist in Residence at the CSIRO National Research Collections) is presenting fine handmade polymer and mixed media works at the Australian National Botanic Gardens until March 13. For the duration of the exhibition, Maras will be teaching a variety of adult and family workshops. Bookings are essential to anbg.gov.au

NANCY Sever Gallery is presenting as its first exhibition for 2017 Suzanne Moss’s “Make Light of It”. A brilliant academic student in the visual arts, in 2014 she was artist-in-residence at Hill End and in 2015, at Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany. Several paintings in this exhibition were inspired by the 13th century Persian Sufi mystic, Rumi. 4/6 Kennedy Street, Kingston. Runs until March 5, 11am to 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

PAINTERS Margaret Carr and Isla Patterson have an exhibition called “Pathways of our Lives” at the Bungendore Fine Arts Gallery, 42b Ellendon Street, Bungendore. Running through February and March, 7 days, 10 am to 4.30pm.

“DEFINING Moments” is an exhibition acknowledging the moments of success and of disaster that demonstrate the pivotal role each has played in the journey of husband and wife, by glass artists Matthew Curtis and Harriet Schwarzrock. At Canberra Glassworks, 10am to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday until March 26.

BILK Gallery’s bi-annual glass miniatures exhibition is at the gallery in Palmerston Lane Manuka until February 25.

IN “Life & Landscape”, well-known Canberra painter Val Johnson reflects the variety of work done over the past two years. Subject matter is based on travels overseas, to the Australian outback, and on the coast. At Yarralumla Gallery and the Oaks Brasserie until February 25.

FEBRUARY’S artist at Ginninderra School House Gallery , Gold Creek, Nicholls is Elena Macintyre, whose exhibition, “Stop a Moment, Smell the Flowers”, watercolour and ink on glass runs until February 26.

THE National Portrait Gallery’s summer exhibition, “The Popular Pet Show”, on display until March 13.

“VERSAILLES: Treasures from the Palace” is still at the National Gallery of Australia, until April 17.

THE Photography Room at Kingston Bus Depot presents three new exhibitions by artists Sean Davey, Spiro Miralis and Dimitri Mellos running until March 12.

THE Royal Australian Mint is now showcasing the story of Stuart Devlin, Geelong-born designer of Australia’s circulating coins and goldsmith and jeweller to Queen Elizabeth II in an exhibition called “The Designer with the Midas Touch”. Until April 2017.

AMIEL Courtin-Wilson’s winning digital video work “Charles” 2015, will be on display with six other finalists in the Digital Portraiture Award 2016 exhibition which is open to the public at the National Portrait Gallery until Sunday, April 9.

“THE Sell: Australian Advertising, 1790s to 1990s” at the National Library of Australia until April 25. FREE exhibition.

THE Australian War Memorial has “The Holocaust: witnesses and survivors”, a show that includes over 85 collection items from both institution.