Tag Archives: Arts

Visiting the Blue Mountains Zine Fair was exhilarating! On Saturday 29th March it was a grey wet day in Katoomba, but from the moment we stepped out of the lift at the Cultural Centre, we felt as though we’d been hit by an explosion of creativity, warmth, joy and proof that ‘the resistance’ to the destructive forces at play in our world is alive, well and spreading infectiously.

Volunteering offers mutual benefits for the helper and those helped. Along with a sense of empowerment, purpose and contribution, it can give us skills for the workforce, new friends and social connection. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it offers a wide range of options for where to help out in our local community.

Artists with an Indigenous heritage are telling their stories and finding a voice through a certificate course in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Arts at Blue Mountains TAFE.

The first Blue Mountains Planetary Health Day was held on 24 February 2024 in Katoomba, and was a huge success with an estimated 600 attendees. With the goal of equipping people with the knowledge and resources to achieve their sustainability goals, the day featured workshops, stalls, activities and much more.

Katoomba artist, writer and scholar Teya Brooks Pribac has spent the last two decades learning about the rich, complex lives and contributions of the animals who are our allies in creating a habitable planet. As part of her animal advocacy she's written Enter the Animal and Not Just Another Vegan Cookbook. New work on animal cultures is on the horizon.

Learning to give our worries and anxieties less dominance by being fully present in our bodies through dance is a valuable art to master. Dancer Beckie Wilson is sharing her dance practice at both Bursill Lane Studio and with young people in the Street University in Katoomba.

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once famously said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Katoomba artist Saskia Everingham reveals the inspiration behind three artworks and how art helps anchor her in an uncertain world.

In this series of events to restore the songlines of the Seven Sisters across Australia, seven song women from Uluru visited the Blue Mountains to return ancestral knowledge to over 40 women and children who came from east coast mobs living in an area ranging from Queensland to the South Coast.

Liz Durnan spoke to artists Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess, and Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute CEO Jane Powles, about a heartbreaking story of near-extinction and how we can help save the lost song of the Regent Honeyeater.