News of the blues leads this week’s “Arts in the City” column by arts editor HELEN MUSA.

CANBERRA Blues Society will celebrate International Blues Music Day with seven hours of live blues music from nine acts, including winners of the 2023 Sydney Blues Society “Favourite Emerging Act” award, Bonnie Kay & the Sweet Patooties and headliners the Ray Beadle Band and Frank Sultana, who took out first place in the Solo/Duo category of the 2023 International Blues Challenge Final in Memphis. Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah. Stalls from 1pm, music 3pm-10pm. Saturday, August 5. Book at Humanitix.

“COIL” by the re:group performance collective, will create a live cinema experience set in a ’90s video rental store. Combining verbatim interview material and real-time filmmaking, it uses bespoke video DJing technology to create an entire cast from a solo performer, Steve Wilson-Alexander. The Q, Queanbeyan, August 8-9.

SUPER-active Canberra conductor Leonard Weiss will join the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as assistant conductor for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, assisting all programs with chief conductor Jaime Martín and principal conductor-in-residence Benjamin Northey. Also next month he’ll be at the MSO’s Australian Conducting Academy with Northey, then in September will be assistant conductor for Xian Zhang with soloists Esther Yoo and Joyce Yang.

MANCHESTER-based writer-director Javaad Alipoor’s production, “Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran”, is an immersive digital play blending theatre on a big screen with interactive content on mobile phones. The Street Theatre, August 12.

NEW Canberra company, Itazura Co, is staging the premiere of “Kiku” (“listen” in Japanese), a short dance film directed by Natsuko Yonezawa that brings together six, over-50 women who express individual journeys of ageing. Its original choral soundtrack, composed by Rebecca Hilliard, is sung by members of the ANU Chamber Choir and the Luminescence Children’s Choir. Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, August 11.

THE 18th Latin American Film Festival returns to the ANU Film Group with 15 films screening over two weeks in August and September. Part One opens at Kambri Cinema at ANU on August 9 with “Los Ajenos Fútbol Club” from Colombian director Juan Camilo Pinzón. All screenings are free and open to the public.

AUSTRALIAN dance company Burn the Floor, collaborating with First Nations star Mitch Tambo, his vocalist wife Lea Firth and dancer Albert David, will be at Canberra Theatre, August 9.

FRANKIE’S Guys and their live band, promise to transport audiences back to the golden era of live music, with more than 20 classics, including “Big Girls Don’t Cry” to “Walk Like A Man”. The Playhouse, August 9.

DIRECT from Dublin, “The Rhythms Of Ireland”, choreographed by Irish dance champion Michael Donnelan makes a journey through the history of Ireland in music and dance. Canberra Theatre, August 7.