Tuesday 28th January

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Hello Canberra,

📆 Today: Lunar New Year Celebrations + Canberra's Local Heroes

🌦️ Weather: 37°. A cool change in the afternoon with a slight 40% chance of showers.

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🧧 Lunar New Year in Canberra

Celebrate the Lunar New Year this weekend in Dickson. Woolley Street will be closed to traffic for a day full of festivities to welcome in the Year of the Snake. Highlights include Lion Dance performances, Kung Fu demonstrations, an after-dinner street parade and, of course, a huge range of delicious food and drinks. The Dickson Lunar New Year festival runs from 10am to 10pm this Saturday. Details here.

There are also a couple of other events happening around Canberra for the Lunar New Year:

Lunar New Year Concert: The internationally acclaimed Hong Kong String Orchestra will make its highly anticipated Australian debut to welcome the Year of the Snake next Wednesday. Details here.

Hyatt Buffet and Lion Dance: Enjoy an indulgent seafood buffet at the Hyatt Hotel, accompanied by a live lion dance performance by the Prosperous Mountain Lion Dance Troupe. Details here.

Lion Dances: Canberra's Prosperous Mountain Dragon and Lion Dance troupe will also be performing all over Canberra. The full list of performances can be found here.

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News: Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello are Local Heroes

Congratulations to Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello, co-founders of Café Stepping Stone, for being named Australia's Local Heroes at the Australian of the Year Awards! Café Stepping Stone is a social enterprise that provides employment opportunities primarily for women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, as well as others facing significant barriers to employment. There are two Cafe Stepping Stone locations in Canberra: Dickson and Strathnairn. More.

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This Weekend: 🕺 Mooseheads Over 30s

Moosehead's is throwing its first-ever over-30s day club event. This is for everyone who's ever said, "I'm too old for Mooseheads"! Turn back time and relive the glory days with a playlist of the biggest 90s, 00s, and 10s hits and themed cocktails like "The Lot 33", "The Northbar" and "The ICBM". It's happening this Saturday. Details here.

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🎨 Arts Around Canberra

Your weekly wrap of arts around Canberra:

Music To Celebrate: Salut! Baroque is celebrating 30 years of presenting Baroque music performed by some of Australia's finest musicians. This Friday's program will include some of The Four Seasons by Giovanni Guido, written around eight years before Vivaldi's most famous composition, and Jan Rokyta's enchanting Balkanology, inspired by traditional Romanian and Turkish. Details here.

Bubble Boy: Queanbeyan Players presents Bubble Boy The Musical—a hilarious coming-of-age story of a boy, a bubble, and a cross-country quest for true love. It's playing at the Belconnen Community Theatre from February 14. Details here.

Music by the River: The Canberra Symphony Orchestra will be performing at the ninth iteration of Queanbeyan's Music By the River. The program features some of Disco's greatest hits. It's happening this Saturday. Details here.

SoundOut: Now in its 16th year, SoundOut is one of the gateway exploratory music-art events, providing a much-needed avenue for brilliant musical endeavors from around the world and Australia. The festival, held over three days at the Drill Hall Gallery, will feature over 22 sets and 17 hours of music. Details here.

Between Touch and Memory: Sienna Curby's exhibition of paintings at the COX Gallery is inspired by quiet moments of touch in old family photographs. It's on now until February 13 in Kingston. Details here.

For the Term of His Natural Life: Lost for decades and painstakingly reconstructed, For The Term of His Natural Life is a silent film adaptation of Marcus Clarke's epic novel. The story includes a dramatic prison escape at Port Arthur and a controversial cannibalism subplot. This Friday, the film will be screened at the NFSA to complement CMAG's current exhibition, Nolan: For the Term of His Natural Life. On display until February 23 2025, the exhibition features all 31 of Nolan's crayon pastel drawings inspired by Clarke's novel. Details here.

Mockingbird Theatre Singles Night: Canberra-based theatre company Mockingbird Theatre presents an evening of exciting monologues from plays from around the world. Details here.

The Cosy Collection: Julia Butler of French Rose Studios presents her first solo exhibition. The Cosy Collection is inspired by the cosy moments of life and is opening at The Front Gallery in Lyneham this Friday. Details here.

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Something to do: 📦 Volunteer at the Bookfair

The Lifeline Bookfair is coming up in a couple of weeks. The event is the primary fundraiser for the Lifeline crisis support helpline. Volunteers are essential to its success, and there's a particular need for heavy lifters to help move boxes of books. Details here.