HELEN MUSA spins all around the local arts world. Here’s Arts in the City, full of news of her latest circumnavigation.

The Immersive World of Thom Roberts is the first solo exhibition for contemporary Australian artist Thom Roberts, whose portraits merge human beings, including himself, with trains and buildings. Roberts personally identifies as the CountryLink Express train and the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. National Portrait Gallery, April 12-July 20, free entry.

American cartoonist, New York Times bestselling author and creator of the Apple TV series Strange Planet, Nathan W Pyle will be in conversation with Matthew Hardy at Canberra Theatre on April 6.Through behind-the-scenes reflections, Pyle reveals just how he brought his idiosyncratic universe to life and the habits that can help anyone create their own universe. 

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, who mixes classical cello, throat singing, percussion and improvisation, is the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s next guest. He’ll perform his own works alongside a new commission from Australian composer Nigel Westlake, some Stravinsky and excerpts from cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima’s double concerto, When We Were Trees. Llewellyn Hall, April 7.

Canberra Big Band Collective has In Full Swing performing signature swing tunes with old favourites and some new ones, along with TraXion Big Band, who’ll play modern, big-band tunes. Live at the Polo, Polish White Eagle Club, Turner, April 6.

Irma Gold’s latest novel, Shift, is set around “the messy process of art-making, and the mess of love and family” in the very township in South Africa where the famous Freedom Charter was signed 70 years ago. Launch by Canberra author Karen Viggers, The Street Theatre, April 9. 

The Australian Bee Gees Show, a tribute act that has been performed for almost 30 years in more than 60 countries, will be at The B, Queanbeyan, April 10.

Applications for 2026 National Library of Australia Fellowships and Creative Arts Fellowships are now open. The philanthropically-funded fellowships offer successful applicants $35,000 each to support a residency at the NLA, as well as access to the library’s collections, increased borrowing privileges, a dedicated desk and an allowance for digital copies of collection materials. The Creative Arts Fellowship for Australian Writing is open to creative writers in any literary genre to develop works inspired by the library’s collections. Both close at library.gov.au on May 5.