Arts & culture

Dire Theatre Co. puts pool in theatre to make a climate change splash

Theatre goers, get your togs on. To tackle human denial and our ability to ignore the rising water amid the climate crisis, Dire Theatre Company is setting up a big blue portable stunt for their satirical new show, Don’t Piss in the Pool, which...

Genevieve Swart

10 hours ago

Arts & culture

Talking Books in March with Collins Thirroul

The new picture book Searching for Treasure combines an abundance of information about marine life on our local beaches from award-winning writer Johanna Bell with the lush, joyful illustrations of Emma Long. These two creators are in Thirroul for...

Collins Booksellers Thirroul

February 2025

Arts & culture

Behind the Curtain: Life in theatre’s happy place

Arcadians Theatre Group regular Louisa Raft will experience plenty of stage-related flashbacks when she performs in Hello Dolly next month. The 16-show stalwart has just two lines of dialogue as Mrs Rose this time – a much more manageable role than the whining Ermengarde she played 31 years ago, when the group last did the musical world’s tribute to matchmakers.

Brian Kelly

February 2025

Arts & culture

Kirli Saunders’ new show debuts at IPAC tonight

Tonight marks the debut of Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly), a new work that’s “confronting” yet weaves in ”big joy” by First Nations artist Kirli Saunders.

Tyneesha Williams

February 2025

Letter to the editor

Artist in France: ‘I was very lucky to be the only Australian selected’

By Wollongong artist Salwa Woodroffe In the Champagne-Ardenne area of France, the stunning Chateau d’Orquevaux in the village of Orquevaux north-east of Paris offers a residency for visual artists, sculptors, writers, poets, musicians and film...

The Illawarra Flame

February 2025

Arts & culture

Bangarra’s ‘The Light Inside’ opens at IPAC

Bangarra Dance Theatre’s The Light Inside is a mesmerising cross-cultural collaboration that pushes the boundaries of Indigenous storytelling. The work honours the First Peoples of the Oceania region, and explores cultural resilience and togetherness between Aboriginal Australians, Torres Strait Islanders and our Māori neighbours.

Tyneesha Williams

February 2025

Arts & culture

MerrigongX champions fresh local theatre in 2025’s innovative program

Merrigong Theatre Company has announced its 2025 MerrigongX artists’ program and audiences can expect the unexpected. “You don’t always know what you’re going to get when you see a MerrigongX show,” says Annie Clapton, the company’s producer of new work.

Tyneesha Williams

February 2025

Arts & culture

The Weekend edition is out

The Illawarra Flame

February 2025

Arts & culture

What’s On at the Writers Centre in February

It’s back to school for kids on the South Coast, which means the South Coast Writers Centre’s Young Writers Groups are up and running again! Starting the week of 10th February, join experienced mentors Rhys Lorenc, Rebecca Monteleone and Bron...

Elizabeth Heffernan

February 2025

Arts & culture

Singer returns home to Wombarra for ‘Ocean Whisperings’

Launching 2025’s Emerging Concert Artists series, mezzo-soprano Olive Cullen will be returning home to Wombarra to present works from Penelope, a song cycle by composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, with lyrics by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. It’s an apt...

Felicity Woodhill

February 2025

Arts & culture

Siege hero cop now fights for PTSD sufferers

Illawarra’s Ben Besant, the hero cop who ended the 2014 Lindt Café siege and then in the decade since has fought to have his identity made public, is now hoping to help others with their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). OR: Illawarra’s...

Marcus Craft

February 2025

Arts & culture

Smash-hit Love Stories to premiere in Wollongong

Best-selling author Trent Dalton is bringing the stage version of his book, Love Stories, to Wollongong for its NSW premiere. The play will be at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC) for a two-week season, from February 27 to March 8. Trent...

Marcus Craft

January 2025

Arts & culture

Casting call: Audition to be in SPAT’s new tap-dancing show

If acting is not your thing but you would like to get involved, we welcome additional tap dancer who just want the opportunity to dance. We also need help with costumes, set design and construction, backdrops, props, and front of house. If any of...

Lauren Mitsak

January 2025

Arts & culture

Power surge at Clifton Contemporary Art Fair 2025

It was a night of drama. A gale had been blowing all day, rain falling in horizontal squalls. It was impossible to put out the promotional banners and flags. Inside, a dedicated crew of professionals up ladders and on the ground had been battling to...

Caroline Baum

January 2025

Arts & culture

Illawarra Folk Festival goers praise ‘beautiful’ family-friendly event

The 38th Illawarra Folk Festival returned to Bulli Showground last weekend with another fantastic line-up of bands. Festival goers shared their thoughts with the Flame on Saturday, January 18.

Tyneesha Williams

January 2025

Arts & culture

Catch Beau Ritchie’s short film ‘Bait’ at Flickerfest 2025

Short Film ‘Bait’, created by Young Mount Warrigal local Beau Ritchie, has been selected to screen at the Academy® Award and BAFTA Qualifying Flickerfest Short Film Festival 17 - 26 January 2025, held at Bondi Beach, Sydney. Beau wrote...

Tyneesha Williams

January 2025

Arts & culture

Art on the Edge at Clifton

Building on the success of the first Clifton School of Arts (CSA) Art Fair, held in 2022 as the community emerged from the Covid pandemic, the event is back for 2025. Organisers artist Vyvian Wilson and CSA president David Roach have tweaked the...

Caroline Baum

January 2025

Arts & culture

Local award-winning short film to screen at Flickerfest

Locally made short film ‘Over’ has been selected to screen at at the Academy® Qualifying Flickerfest Short Film Festival 17 - 26 January 2025, held at Bondi Beach, Sydney. ‘Over’ stars young actor James Carey, whose character takes a stand...

Tyneesha Williams

January 2025

Arts & culture

Act now: Join Stanwell Park Arts Theatre’s singers and shows

SPAT’s Christmas panto Santa’s Secret, written by our very own Sage McAteer was a fitting close to our 50th anniversary celebrations. In the five sold-out performances, Santa and his helpers time travelled back to several of the previous pantos...

Lauren Mitsak

January 2025

Arts & culture

What’s On at the Writers Centre in 2025

The South Coast Writers Centre has a fantastic calendar of events lined up for the start of 2025. On 21 and 22 January, join authors Pat Simmons and Liv Lorkin at Coledale Hall for the SCWC School Holiday Program. Pat will be reading from her books...

Elizabeth Heffernan

January 2025

Arts & culture

Elon Musk, Gauguin and are we Australia fair? The 10 best podcasts of 2024

I’ve only heard this happen once before, when American oral historian Studs Terkel interviewed survivors of Hiroshima to open his acclaimed documentary Born To Live

The Conversation

December 2024

Arts & culture

See the Australian Folk Band of the Year at January’s local festival

By Illawarra Folk Festival honorary publicity officer Nick Hartgerink The 38th Illawarra Folk Festival at Bulli Showground gets underway on January 17, and organisers received a timely boost when one of the festival’s headline acts, Austral, was...

Nicholas Hartgerink

January 2025