Monday 3rd March

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Hello Canberra,

📆 Today: It's Monday, March 3.

⛅️ Weather: 28° and partly cloudy.

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This Weekend: 🎻 Symphony in the Park

The CSO's Symphony in the Park is always a popular highlight of the Enlighten program. Melbourne soul and funk band The Bamboos will perform alongside the 40-piece Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Bring a picnic blanket or some chairs and enjoy a free concert in the open-air arena. The Little Burley Markets will also host a pop-up market in Commonwealth Park, with plenty of food and drink options on offer. Details here.

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This Weekend: 🚂 Up Close with a Steam Train

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Steam Train Rides happening this long weekend—there are still a few tickets left! But if you're not interested in the shuttles to Bungendore, there's a cheaper way to get up close to the impressive steam locomotive.

See the locomotive up close when it refuels between trips at the Canberra Railway Museum. Volunteers will be on hand to answer any questions, and the storage yard—usually closed to the public—will be open. Seeing the locomotive is included with your museum admission. Details here.

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Coming Up: 🎥 Lights! Canberra! Action!

The Lights! Canberra! Action! short film festival is happening this Friday evening in the Senate Rose Gardens at Old Parliament House. Local filmmakers had just 10 days to create their films, incorporating 10 items from around Canberra. See up-and-coming filmmakers share their perspectives and interpretations of this year's theme—Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Bring a chair or picnic basket and enjoy a night of film under the stars. Details here.

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🖼️ Arts Around Canberra

Here's this week's arts roundup:

War Memorial Installation: Glass artist Annette Blair was commissioned by the National War Memorial to create Quiet Skies, as the Sun Rises and Quiet Skies, as the Sun Sets, two glass sculptural installations suspended in the Memorial's newly built spiral stairwells. Each artwork is composed of approximately 900 handcrafted glass eucalypt leaves. Details here.

Bernard Ollis Time Travelling: Time Travelling presents a vibrant and evocative collection of works that transport viewers across eras and places, blending time periods with Bernard Ollis's signature whimsical style. Details here.

Pluckers and Scratchers: Apeiron Baroque perform music from the early Baroque (c.1700) through to the early Romantic (c.1850) using period instruments in historically appropriate styles. Their season kicks off on March 23 with Pluckers and Scratchers, featuring Hannah Lane and Laura Vaughan, showcasing the unusual sound world of Viola d'amore, Gamba, Harp, and Harpsichord. Details here.

They will also perform a special children's concert before the main show. This 30-minute session includes music and an instrumental show-and-tell in a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere. Details here.

Kulata Tjuta Tirkilpa: Kulata Tjuta is a cultural maintenance project that teaches the skill of carving punu kulata (wooden spears) across generations. What began in Amata has grown to involve over 100 Aṉangu men from the APY Lands. The latest installation, Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa, is the most significant yet, blending traditional craftsmanship with large-scale artistic expression. Details here.

Subterra: Subterra unearths the space where roots tangle, life and death converge, and art and science intertwine. Dan Power's interdisciplinary works explore this boundary space to highlight an ecology that has a place for grief and hope simultaneously. Details here.

Shabaka: Genre-defying UK jazz musician Shabaka will be performing works from his new album at GangGang this Sunday. Details here.

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Coming Up: 🔮 Canberra Crystal Show

The Canberra Crystal Show is on at EPIC from Tuesday to Sunday this week. Explore a massive range of crystals, including pendants, tumbled stones, towers, spheres, skulls, and Amethyst & Citrine geodes. Entry is free. Details here.

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Tidbits and News

Long Weekend: A reminder that next Monday is a public holiday. It's the Canberra Day Long Weekend.

Raiders Win: The Raiders opened their season with a dominant 30-8 win over the Warriors in Las Vegas. Match report.

Canberra's Next Formula 1 Star? Could the Canberra region produce another Formula 1 champion? Ten-year-old go-karting prodigy Lazarus Añonuevo is making waves in the motorsport world. A two-time state champion and winner of the 2024 Australian Karting Championship Most Improved Cadet of the Year Award, he's now heading to Italy to train and compete on the world stage—one step closer to his dream of driving for Ferrari in F1. More.

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International Women's Day

International Women's Day is this Saturday. Here are some of the events happening around Canberra that are also raising money for a good cause:

Sip and Celebrate at the QT: The QT Hotel is hosting an International Women's Day event this Thursday, featuring a signature cocktail, bubbles, and a selection of canapés, followed by a three-course meal. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Karinya House, an organisation supporting women in Canberra and the surrounding region with safety, shelter, and a positive support network. Details here.

Celebrating Canberra Women in Jazz: The Canberra Women's Big Band will perform this Saturday at the Harmonie Club. Enjoy fantastic works by local hero Sally Greenaway, Miho Hazama, Patty Darling, and more, along with sing-along classics from Beyoncé, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Dua Lipa, and others. All profits and raffle fundraising will be donated to Karinya House. Details here.

Soroptimist International Breakfast: The women's organisation and charity, which focuses on the well-being and education of women and girls, is holding its major fundraising event of the year—a breakfast for International Women's Day. Guests will enjoy a cooked breakfast, coffee, tea, croissants, and a raffle, plus live music by AIR & GRACE. Funds raised will provide scholarships for refugee women studying at Canberra Institute of Technology. Details here.

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Classifieds

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