Arts & culture

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Arts & culture

SPAT show taps into local talent

Tap Cats of the Sunshine Coast is now in rehearsal! SPAT is proud and delighted to be premiering this play written by Stanwell Park author Christine Sykes (pictured). Christine adapted the play from her novel of the same name, which was inspired by...

Nuwa ganda (look up): Handwoven flying foxes headed for Wollongong Botanic Garden

There’s a breadth to Dr Virginia Keft’s work that I’ve had trouble condensing into a few hundred words. She’s a proud Muruwari woman, a multidisciplinary artist and the owner of Illawarra’s longest-running belly dance company, Cinnamon Twist. Her arts practice is wide ranging, and she is currently exhibiting her wearable artwork Women’s Business in Germany, while April will see her take part in Sculpture in the Garden.

Amanda De George

Made From Scratch: ‘Quality is very much in the mode of Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates’

The variety style of entertainment that leaped from British music halls to 1970s prime-time TV hasn’t died, it has merely graduated in low-key form to a midweek slot – to Wollongong Town Hall, at least. Made From Scratch brings together a melange...

SmartFone Flick Fest: Industry experts give free film classes at Coledale

By Angela Blake, founder and director of SF3 SF3 – aka the SmartFone Flick Fest – is one of the biggest smartphone film festivals in the world. 2025 is our 11th season and we are a huge celebration of indie filmmaking and our filmmakers range...

The Illawarra Flame

Emily Wurramara brings ‘power and vulnerability’ of NARA to Wollongong’s Music Lounge

ARIA-winning Warnindhilyagwa singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara will bring her NARA Encore Tour to Wollongong audiences this Friday, March 21, at The Music Lounge as part of Great Southern Nights. Known for her authenticity, storytelling and powerful connection to her roots, Emily is excited to perform on Dharawal Country.

Tyneesha Williams

Danny Ivanovski: Sculptor creates steel tribute to trees felled by cedar getters’ saws

Working in steel, local artist Danny Ivanovski has transformed it from an element of destruction to creation in his series exploring the history of a rainforest tree. ”My final sculpture is a red cedar tree stump that I fabricated by cutting, bending, and heat-treating the mild steel. This was the very material that was used by the Cedar Getters to cut down these trees,” he said.

Amanda De George

‘We Are Kin’: See photo exhibition at Wollongong Library

Wollongong City Libraries are partnering with local photographer Ruth Barbato to host the exhibition We are Kin

Festival fun: Photos from the first Yours & Owls event at Flagstaff Hill

Held over the weekend of March 1 and 2, the 2025 Yours & Owls Festival welcomed 30,000 punters to its prime new location at Wollongong’s Flagstaff Hill.

Tyneesha Williams

Shellharbour band Silvia Lane drum up support for new EP with live gigs

Once their EP lands later this year, it won’t be long before local band Silvia Lane featuring Shellharbour lads Jack Micallef and Jake Sutton perform to sold out crowds - if the buzz around them is anything to go by. While they have only been...

Lesley Roulston

Behind the Curtain with So Popera

“Our motto has always been ‘It isn’t hard to try’ – we are fortunate that people on our productions are all talented in electronics, engineering etc, so we all put our heads together,’’ says Amy of the process that has produced...

Writers Centre to host first Vintage & Art Bazaar at Coledale hall in May

The inaugural South Coast Writers Centre Vintage & Art Bazaar will be held in May at Coledale Community Hall. The Bazaar will bring together stallholders sharing a range of art, handmade goods, rare vintage and unique retro products. The Bazaar...

Elizabeth Heffernan

Stephanie Quirk: Finding belonging through memory

A childhood memory of running through a clothesline full of freshly washed sheets was the inspiration for artist Stephanie Quirk’s entry into this year’s Sculpture in the Garden. The artist, educator and mother of two will be featured in the inaugural Ephemeral Prize, with finalists chosen for how their work responds to the Wollongong Botanic Garden site.

Amanda De George

AUSTI dance company opens Illawarra Moving Arts Hub at Coalcliff hall

With its new sprung floor ready to support dance, yoga and Pilates classes, Coalcliff Community Hall is now officially the Illawarra’s Moving Arts Hub. AUSTI. Dance & Physical Theatre hosted a celebratory studio launch at the hall on Friday, 21 February, with the Member for Heathcote, Maryanne Stuart, as the special guest. AUSTI’s founding artistic director, Michelle Maxwell, thanked everyone who helped the young contemporary dancers set up their first permanent home in the company’s 14-year history.

Tyneesha Williams

Wollongong Art Gallery reveals ‘huge year of exhibitions’

For more information on the Gallery’s 2025 program visit the Wollongong Art Gallery website

Wollongong City Council

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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