Keep the trees cosy this winter with the Warm Trees event at the National Arboretum this weekend. Wrap knitted scarves around the trees, the largest art installation in the world. Photo: VisitCanberra.
Embrace winter this weekend with the opening of National Arboretum’s Warm Tree knitting installation and the Wintervention Festival in Civic. See cold trees wrapped in colourful warm scarves, drop into the Arboretum’s Village Centre and do some knitting, or put your skates on at the open-air ice skating rink in Civic. Wintervention will also feature a Food and Makers market this weekend with great food, local products and live music. You could take the kids to see dinosaurs in their natural habitat at the Botanic Gardens or take them to the Canberra Theatre to enjoy Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts. And David Stratton’s Essential Women retrospective season of films continues this weekend at the National Film and Sound Archive with some great films screening.
All weekend
DinotraX—a dinosaur adventure
Where: Australian Botanic Gardens
When: Saturday & Sunday 8:30 am–5 pm
See dinosaurs in their natural habitat at the Botanic Gardens this July. Become an intrepid explorer and follow a trail through the Gardens to discover dinosaur herds, ancient petrified wood, living fossil plants and flying winged creatures. Pick up a trail map at the Garden’s Visitor Information Centre. The trail will be in place until 28 July.
Essential Women
Where: National Film and Sound Archive
When: Friday, Saturday & Sunday
David Stratton’s curated Essential retrospective season of films continues at the National Film and Sound Archive this weekend. Previously David’s Essential season has focused on the work of one significant filmmaker and so far those filmmakers have all been men—Aki Kaurismaki, Martin Scorsese and Ingmar Bergman, for example. This year rather than highlighting the work of one director, David has selected films made by ten Australian women. This weekend see:
- Waiting (1991) directed by Jackie McKimmie, Friday 10:30 am
- The Babadook (2014) directed by Jennifer Kent, Friday 6 pm
- Bedevil (2014) directed by Tracey Moffatt, Saturday 12 pm
- Blessed (2009) directed by Ana Kokkinos, Saturday 2 pm
- Beautiful Kate (2009) directed by Rachel Ward, Sunday 2 pm
A recurring theme of the ten films is family. Mothers and their children feature in Blessed, The Babadook tells the story of a single mother and her son, Beautiful Kate is about a family reunion, and Waiting is a film about close friends becoming a surrogate for family. Tickets for each session are $15 for adults and $13 for concession, or a season pass is $100 for adults, $90 for concession, book here.
Warm Trees
Where: National Arboretum
When: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 7 am–5:30 pm
The Arboretum’s annual Warm Trees event opens this weekend and is on until 31 July. The largest knitted art installation in the world, the event sees knitters from around Australia and overseas contributing scarves which are then wrapped around trees to brighten up the forests during winter. This year, Warm Trees is being presented by Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra, Pedal Power and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Tiptoe through the world’s largest frieze of knitted tulips, see a giant knitted cargo bike and enjoy bright scarves wrapped around trees in the Himalayan Cedar forest. Throughout July there will also be drop-in knitting and crochet sessions, craft and bicycle maintenance workshops and guided bike rides. Drop-in and knit this Saturday and Sunday 10–11 am, join a guided family bike ride led by Pedal Power this Saturday and Sunday at 10–11 am and 2–3 pm, book here, or explore the National Arboretum with a family orientation session. Pick up a kit from the Village Centre, it costs $15 per family.
Wintervention
Where: Civic Square
When: Friday & Saturday 10 am–10 pm & Sunday 10 am–8 pm
Wintervention, Canberra’s Winter Festival is back for another year in a new location —Civic Square in front of the Canberra Theatre— and runs until 21 July. There will be an open-air ice skating rink, markets, a life-size snow globe and live entertainment including the Stars on Ice show on weekends (2:45 pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 6:45 pm on Friday and Saturday). This weekend Wintervention will feature a Food and Makers market with great food, local makers and entertainment. Skating at Wintervention is open every day from 10 and closes at 10 pm on Friday and Saturday nights and 8 pm Sunday to Thursday nights. It costs $20 for adults, $15 for children 5–14 years old and $10 for children under 5 and sessions last 45 minutes, book here.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts
Where: Canberra Theatre
When: Friday 12:30 pm & Saturday 10:30 am, 12:30 pm & 6:30 pm
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts is a new live show which takes some of the world’s best-loved fairy tales and rearranges them with surprising and hilarious twists. Seriously funny and frighteningly silly, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts is sure to delight and disgust! Tickets from $25, book here.
Sunday
Canberra Wind Symphony: Stars and Strips
Where: The Street Theatre
When: 3 pm
Celebrate America’s Independence Days with the Canberra Wind Symphony at the Street Theatre this Sunday afternoon. The Canberra Wind Symphony will be joined by the Brindabella Chorus and the vocal quartet, Debacle to present a program showcasing iconic American composers and featuring a mix of old and new music. The program will include works by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Karel Husa, Charles Ives, Mark Camphouse, Brant Karrick and John Philip Sousa. Tickets are $50 for adults, $40 for concession, $25 for under 25s and $15 for under 15s.
Loading ...
