Sondheim meets social media, 114 short films hit Canberra screens and book lovers get a trail of their own in arts editor HELEN MUSA’s latest “Artsweek”.

Daramalan Theatre Company reimagines Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods Jr for the digital age, with familiar fairytale characters navigating social media, online dangers and contemporary pressures in an intimate chamber production. Joe Woodward Theatre, Daramalan college, October 10 to 17.

The Canberra Short Film Festival, now in its 31st year, will screen 114 short films across eight days at Dendy Cinemas and Smith’s Alternative. Dendy Cinemas and Smith’s Alternative, October 10 to 17.

A new Canberra Bookshop Trail launches for Love Your Bookshop Day, with visitors able to collect a trail map and explore stores including Paperchain, The Book Cow, Impact Comics, Asia Bookroom, the NLA Bookshop, Harry Hartog and bookshops at the National Portrait Gallery and National Arboretum. October 10.

Film producer, distributor and historian Andrew Pike will become the first Canberra speaker to deliver the annual Rod Wallace Memorial Lecture. NFSA, October 6.

The annual Russell Taylor Oration will be delivered by Julie Ann Guivarra, Chief Executive Officer of the National Indigenous Australians Agency. AIATSIS, October 8.

Playwright and author Suzie Miller will appear in the ANU Meet the Author series. Kambri Cinema, October 8.

The book launch of Many Voices One Medicine: Conversations with North American, Guatemalan & Australian First People healers, as told to Canberra writer Valerie Albrecht, will be at The Embassy of Guatemala, October 8.

Canberra writers Christopher Nailer and Nina Kavunenko will launch The Kyiv Poems, a collection of 66 poems inspired by the war in Ukraine. White Eagle Polish Club, October 11.

Stage

• Youth Cabaret presents The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, a musical comedy performed by young Canberra performers. Mill Theatre, October 8 to 17.
• ANU Za Kabuki returns with Yukio Mishima’s The Sardine Seller’s Net of Love, offering an accessible and highly stylised interpretation of the classic work. Canberra Rep Theatre, October 9 to 11.
• The Independents: Festival of New Works returns with four original productions by Canberra and Sydney artists, spanning theatre, dance, physical performance and storytelling. This year’s program includes Michael Simic’s In the Belly of the Whale, Little Dove Theatre’s The Fool, TOI’s ICHOR and Frumpus’ Landed. Canberra Theatre Centre, October 9 to 16.
• Burn The Floor’s show Luminous, Starring top international champion dancers, showcases a melting pot of dance styles with rebellious energy and groundbreaking choreography. Canberra Theatre, October 9.
• An acting workshop led by NIDA trained actor Ryan Hayward will explore the motivations, impulses and unseen forces that shape character and performance. Hayward brings professional screen experience including Inception and Winners & Losers. Rebus Theatre, October 10.

Concerts

• Musica Viva Australia welcomes pianist Paul Lewis, turning his focus to Mozart in a program that has toured internationally before coming to Australian shores. Llewellyn Hall, October 9.
• Race, former member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery, joins musician Michelangelo Russo to launch their new Fatalists album, I Made It All Up for You. Smith’s Alternative, October 10.
• Somesh Putcha, drummer, composer and second generation Telugu Australian, joins European touring pianist Dan Costa for Ever Playful, the debut album of a musical project drawing on Putcha’s diverse experiences. The Street Theatre, October 10.
• The Southern Concert presents an afternoon of sacred cantatas by various Baroque composers. St Paul’s Anglican Church, October 10.
• The ANU Classical Chinese Music Ensemble celebrates its 20th anniversary with Echoes of Twenty Springs, the World Renewed, featuring traditional Chinese music followed by a festive afternoon tea. Big Band Room, ANU School of Music, October 11.
• The Canberra Symphony Orchestra presents its Chamber Series with the Archduke Trio. National Gallery of Australia, October 11.
• The ANU Choral Society presents Bach vs Handel, inviting audiences to vote on who did it best across categories ranging from romance to sheep. University House, October 11.
• The Merry Muse returns with Peter Campbell and Coolibah Coolective. Canberra Irish Club, October 11.
• Tobias Cole leads Sing the Space, a 30 minute vocal experience inside James Turrell’s Skyspace, with no bookings required. National Gallery of Australia, October 11.
• Ariana Odermatt returns to the Wesley Lunchtime Concert series with New Zealand mezzo soprano Teresa Block for Amore, Arie e Amici, a program of arias by composers including Handel, Marcello and Vivaldi. Wesley Music Centre, October 14.

Galleries

• As part of the Canberra Art Biennial, Megalo’s International Artist in Residence, Tisna Sanjaya, will join Elly Kent from the ANU Indonesia Institute for an artist talk at Megalo Print Studio, October 8, and then a performance at 5 Nangari Street, City East, Room G.01, October 10.
• See What I See is NatureArt Lab’s way of way of marking In celebration of National Biodiversity Month and continues at M16 Artspace, Griffith, until October 18. Meantime, NatureArt Lab is also hosting hosts Karen Holloway’s Wonders of Wattle In Watercolour workshop at Garden House in Commonwealth Park, October 9.
• The 2026 Queanbeyan Palerang Arts Trail will bring together more than 40 venues and activations across three weekends, Bungendore, October 10 and 11; Queanbeyan, October 17 and 18.
• Kate O’Connor presents Flora and Fauna, Binalong in Bloom and Birdsong, a large scale solo exhibition of mixed media paintings and digital animated projections, using saturated colour, gestural mark making and fragments of language. Hotel Binalong, October 10 to November 7.
• The Canberra Potters Members Exhibition 2026 brings together work created over the past year, showcasing the breadth of contemporary ceramic practice in the Canberra community. Canberra Potters Gallery, October 9 to November 1.
• Australian Parliament House presents People, Place, Portraits, a major exhibition curated by Big hART, bringing together 17 painted portraits by leading Australian artists alongside digital portraits. Australian Parliament House, October 12 to July 11.

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