M16 Artspace is showing Hands on Studio’s 25th birthday exhibition. Founded in 1996, the studio, home to more than 120 artists with varying disabilities, is a leader in the field of arts and disabilities in the Canberra region and is guided by the principle that art is fundamental to human expression and that all people are entitled to its tools of communication. Also showing are M16 Artspace’s studio artists’ exhibition curated by Al Munro and Naomi Zouwer, and in Chutespace, “Facing – Unglazed painted pottery”; the exhibitions are all open at 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith, from noon, Friday, July 2, then run 12-5pm, Wednesday to Sunday, until July 18.

IN “The Perfect Brooch” exhibition, Gallery Bilk shows work by 25 contemporary jewellers from around the world responding to the question, “What, for a jeweller, would constitute the perfect brooch?” Opening this weekend at 403 Captains Flat Road, Carwoola, 4km from the roundabout. Prepare to turn left after the second 90km sign. There is an electric gate with a big “B for Bilk”.

“3%” is an exhibition by Mandy Ord, Jodie Ohm Zutt and Dennis Mortimer, who all attended the Canberra School of Art during the early 1990s. “3%” refers to a statement made by former art school director David Williams when he told first year students “…five years after graduating, only 3 per cent of graduates will have an art practice and only 1 per cent of the 3 per cent will be living wholly off their art practice.” Ord creates woodblock prints exploring the idea of the doodle. Zutt presents large oil paintings on unstretched canvas and Mortimer shows works from his “Silent Canary” environment project. At 87 Collett Street, Queanbeyan, 10am-3pm, Wednesday to Saturday, July 2–24.

CANBERRA REP’s fourth production for this year will be Beatrix Christian’s “The Governor’s Family”, directed by Tony Llewellyn-Jones. The play explores family secrets and the manner in which the fictional governor of NSW, circa 1897, handles the outcome of a rape case. Canberra REP Theatre, Acton, July 2-17. Bookings at canberrarep.org.au or 6257 1950.

EFTAG (Eurobodalla Fibre and Textile Artists’ Group) is holding its annual members exhibition with the theme, “Connections to… our Place”. The show will be opened by Ngarigo and Walbunga woman, Iris White, at the Mechanics Institute, Page Street, Moruya, 6pm, Friday, July 2. The exhibition will then run 10am-4pm, Saturday, July 3 to Sunday, July 11.

The latest COVID-19 outbreak across states and territories across the nation has resulted in events being cancelled or postponed, including: 

• “HOME and Hearth’: Music played at home”, a concert of Schubert lieder, Haydn and Pleyel with the ensemble Thoroughbass featuring soprano Danielle Grant, violinist Tara Hashambhoy and pianist Diana Weston, will be postponed to 3pm, July 31, from July 3. At Wesley Music Centre, inquiries to diana.thoroughbass@gmail.com
• The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Classics concert, “Old Friends”, scheduled for 2pm and 4.30pm this Sunday, July 4, have both been postponed. The CSO will advise patrons once they have a new date.
• The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Australian Series concert on July 22 has been cancelled.
• “The Drummer Queens”, scheduled for July 2-3 at the Canberra Theatre, has been cancelled.