“SAFETY Net”, the short film featuring young Canberran Will Best, will be screened in competition for Best Short Film at the “Wh?nau M?rama: New Zealand International Film Festival” in Auckland on Saturday, July 25. Although shot in western Sydney, its director Anthea Williams originally hails from Aotearoa. Alas, because of travel restrictions, Will can’t be there.

ARTSACT tells us that work is now finished on stage 2 of Belconnen Arts Centre, a $15 million upgrade which sees exhibition space increased by more than 160 square metres and the construction of a new, flexible performance space which can hold up to 400 patrons. There are theatre dressing rooms, bathrooms and a green room, a new rehearsal space,
a loading dock and an events kitchen.

SUKI & Hugh Gallery has a change of exhibition, with “Dead Leaf Dreaming: Vignettes” showcasing new works in watercolour and graphite by Sharon Field. This is the third show at the gallery by Burra resident Field, a much-awarded nature artist and volunteer firefighter, who says that while some of these plants and insects have a toughness that we can barely begin to imagine, they are still fragile. The title of each work is drawn from poems by Dorothea Mackellar. Showing at 38A Gibraltar St, Bungendore, 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday, until July 19.

ART Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand has announced new dates for the postponed Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2020 exhibition, to run from September 26 to January 10. Previously scheduled to open last month, the exhibition was postponed due to COVID-19. The eligibility period has been extended, with works created between April 3, 2019 and August 14, 2020 now eligible for the Archibald and Wynne and works created between April 3, 2018 and August 14, 2020 now eligible for the Sulman. Details here.

ACTING teacher Peter Wilkins, whose “Acting For the Fun of It” course we often preview, tells us that an unprecedented 21 people have signed up for his “Acting Shakespeare” classes, including teachers, students, a stonemason, public servants, unemployed people, an artist and an architect. “Some simply want to do something during the challenging circumstances of the public health crisis,” the amazed Wilkins says.

MELBOURNE Symphony Orchestra has been busy during lockdown on the “AFL Club Anthem Project”. It’s a musical tribute that saw MSO musicians come together to record club anthems on their centuries-old instruments. Some date back further than the AFL itself, with the oldest Brisbane’s use of “La Marseillaise” from 1792 and Geelong’s use of “The Toreador Song” from “Carmen”, written in 1875. “You would be amazed how many musicians and staff in the MSO are passionate footy fans,” conductor Ben Northey says.