Welcome to our list of arts and cultural events happening in the NSW Central West gathered from artists, event producers, great local venues and groups across the region. Use the contact or ticketing details listed with each event.
It’s free to submit your local events.
For maps and details of museums, galleries, artist studios, historic sites, Aboriginal experiences and sites, craft shops, handmade retail outlets or public art go to the Culture Maps Central NSW menu.
The hits by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers + Stevie Knicks & Fleetwood Mac, performed by The Album Show!
Bathurst based singer Sophie Jones (Smith & Jones) has teamed up with Sydney based producer/singer-songwriter Michael Carpenter as part of The Album Show to present a full band show of the best of Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty.
ARTEXPRESS 2023 will make its way to the region for the first time with Mudgee Arts Precinct hosting the exhibition next month.
The annual exhibition features outstanding artworks created by NSW Visual Arts students for the 2022 Higher School Certificate.
Art competition for the community on NAIDOC come along for judging morning tea and more activities hope to see your entries submissions at the library on the Friday 7th July 2023.
This group will work on a weekly activity to learn and share new knowledge and skills.
The search is on to discover and photograph the region’s unique homegrown ‘vernacular’ architecture such as farm buildings and sheds. Vernacular architecture uses local materials and resources, it reflects local traditions and local skills and meets local needs.
Blayney, Cabonne and Orange councils are working together, under the Sustainable Collections Program, on a study to document the district’s historical rural sheds and outbuildings.
We’re encouraging residents and farmers in the area to get behind the project and assist us to identify items. This will result in photographic exhibitions to be held in the regional museums around the district.
I am super excited to be bringing STEAM to The Art and Craft Room. We will be running three afternoon sessions in June and we will be working on some amazing projects:
Create a Balance Sculture
Build a Solar System
Construct a Paper Boat (and sail it)
Experience the best of local talent every Friday with “Live + Local”! Watch as skilled musicians
take the stage and showcase their abilities. Don’t miss out on this weekly event celebrating the
best of the local music scene.
Join us for a monthly(ish) series of intimate performances by some of the region's best young talent. Bringing music and art together for the first time, Studio Sessions invites you to immerse yourself in our creative space and enjoy a slow Winter session at The Corner Store Gallery.
Two of Australia's Best - Together in Concert
Hot young band "Plus ONE" join visiting rock band, "Simple Stone", for a double header at The Blind Pig.
Beethoven’s First Symphony was a revelation for its time and still has the power to make audiences feel something that they never have before. Edvard Grieg’s music recalls joyous dances in its celebration of Norwegian culture. And Strauss’ romantic Oboe Concerto is brought to life by the Sydney Symphony’s renowned Principal Oboe, Diana Doherty.
The Colourful Shape Of Feeling, is a journey through a garden of abstract florals and vistas.
Unintentional in their outcomes, Owen’s vivid acrylic works delve into her subconcious as marks are made in layers – inspired by the visual vocabulary of imagery from her property in North West New South Wales. The scultural forms of Prickly Pear, weeds and brambles then a little pop of colour from a wild flower are all part of her language.
In 2022 artists from across the Central West were asked to use the album While the World Waits. as a jumping off point and inspiration for new work.
While the World Waits Exhibition is a curated exhibition in which selected artists each respond to one or more tracks, title or words on the album.
The exhibition will showcase work from across all mediums. You will see painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, moving image, animation, photography, glass and textiles.
Artists featured are: Bridget Thomas (Bathurst), Cate McCarthy (Yetholme), Gemma Clipsham (Bathurst), Gus Armstrong (Rylstone), Harrie Fasher (Portland), Heather Dunn (Bathurst), Heather Vallance (Orange), Helen Carpenter (Grenfell), Hugh McKinnon (orange), Jane Tonks (Orange), Laura Baker (Blayney), Lise Edwards (Lithgow), Henry Simmons & River Yarners (Bathurst), Robert Hirschmann (Portland), Shani Nottingham (Cowra), Stephan de Witt (Parkes), Timothy Seager (Bathurst), Aleshia Lonsdale (Mudgee), Steven Cavanagh (Hill End), Christine McMillan (Kandos).
As small mundane and usually overlooked pieces of single-use plastic, bread-tags are an abundant waste material, a polluting product that are abundant - a waste material, a polluting product. I reclaim and transform them, moving past their initial purpose and life span to become something ‘other’ that has value and meaning, provoking response and creating a space for dialogue about plastic waste. These breadtags have been saved and sent to me from people all over Australia and the world, as part of my ongoing work for 'The Breadtag Project’. Whatever the medium, I am continually drawn to pattern, colour, line and repetition. The theme of collecting is consistent, too, as I find solace and joy in the process of creating order from chaos, observing similarities and disparities. Through my work, I seek out small elements of beauty and interest in everyday life, of finding moments and objects that can either bind, comfort and hold us or confront and surprise us.
Launching next weekend in conjunction with Bathurst ArtsTrail
I am excited to catch up with old friends and make new ones in a cosy room with warm refreshments
The Bathurst Arts Trail is a collective of artists throughout the Bathurst region who open their galleries and studios to visitors on the first weekend of each month.
Brenda is currently camping out amongst the ancient landscapes of Lake Mungo in far western New South Wales. This echoes earlier solo trips to the Pilbara in Western Australia which resulted in some of her most captivating works that won her the Pilbara Art Award in 2004. Paintings from this trip will feature in this exhibition. Brenda finds the opportunity to create works on country, immersed in the landscape, an inspiration: “away from the mundanity of ‘I wonder how the tomatoes are going?’ You’ve got your kit, you’re self-sufficient and you F*** off. Exhilarating! You find yourself. It takes away the fluff of social constraints”.
Every Saturday from 10am for free and creative Makerspace. All ages welcome. No bookings required. Just bring your imagination.
Come and visit Oberon Railway Station and Rollingstock Shed!
Artist Mei Zhao, winner of the 2022 The Foundations Artist Residency Prize awarded to a National Art School Masters graduate, is running 2 workshops over the coming weekends to produce a collaborative community art work.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing on the day.
How do you begin your life again when you’ve lost everything you’ve worked for and your dreams have been shattered?
That was the question beloved Australian author Belinda Alexandra faced one freezing winter night when she ran from her home in terror, clutching only her wallet, her phone and her latest manuscript on a USB stick.
We are proud to host yet another afternoon of live music in O'Connell. "Music @ The Mud" will be held on Saturday 3rd of June from 2pm - 7pm at Clancy's Mud Hut (3540 Beaconsfield Road). We have a host of outstanding established and emerging artists, and we can't wait to meet with you all again around a firepit for an afternoon of excellent entertainment. Stay tuned for more info!
An exhibition by local artist living in the Capertee Valley of the sandstone cliffs painted Pleinair using oils on canvas. Approximately 30paintings, half of them Pleinair and the remainder painted in the home studio
Search for ghosts in a 1840’s bungalow in Western NSW!
Bathurst’s Miss Traill's House. This location has been steeped in mystery and reports of ghostly activity for years and now you can finally get access through Blue Mountain’s Mystery Tours interactive ghost tour.
Search for ghosts in a 1840’s bungalow in Western NSW!
Bathurst’s Miss Traill's House. This location has been steeped in mystery and reports of ghostly activity for years and now you can finally get access through Blue Mountain’s Mystery Tours interactive ghost tour.
The What’s On calendar covers arts and heritage events happening across the NSW Central West in the local government areas of Bathurst Region, Blayney, Cabonne, Cowra, Forbes, Lachlan, Lithgow, Mid-Western Region, Oberon, Orange, Parkes and Weddin.
Event listings are sourced or supplied from local venues and arts organisations. Many events listed here have been originally shared by the organisers on social media. Whilst all care is taken – and accuracy is our priority – we can take no responsibility for date changes or the content of contributed information. Contact the event organisers listed for more details or to book tickets.
The best way to include your event is to use our SUBMIT HERE form (under the What’s On menu at the top of each page). These listings will be manually approved by the Arts OutWest team before publication. Please allow a couple of days for listings to be published. If you have submitted an event and want to make changes just email us at artsoutwest@csu.edu.au
‘Featured events‘ are those submitted directly online by presenters.
Event promotors are asked to only include their own original images / images that they have permission to use / copyright free stock images. For more information see our fact sheet on Using Images For Promoting Events (if you can’t see this link look under ‘Opportunities’ then ‘Resources’).