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Black Gully Festival 2025
November 8, 2025 @ 10:00 am - 7:30 pm
Free
The always highly-anticipated Black Gully Festival is set to kick off on Saturday, November 8th, 2025, in the scenic Black Gully Reserve (behind NERAM on the south side of the creek). This free, family-friendly event celebrates the vibrant spirit of Armidale as the weather warms up, offering a day filled with music, art, environmental and community engagement. The festival promises an entertaining experience for attendees of all ages.
Festival Program
- 9.00am – 7.30pm – Festival Livestream and broadcast 2ARMFM Community Radio
- 10.00am – 4.00pm – NERAM Art Gallery & feature exhibition How to Weather Together
- 10.00am – 2.00pm – Aboriginal Cultural Centre & Keeping Place – Music jam w/ Des Ahoy, Peter Georkas & Bob Blair (10-12)
- 10.00am – 2.00pm – Museum of Printing
- 10.00am – 4.00pm – Makers, Community and Environment Markets
Caring for Koala Country, Clothes Swap and Slow Living, Community Garden tours, Community Weathering Station, Electrify Armidale, Growing Sustainable Landscapes, Healthy Headwaters and Creek bug collecting, Highlands End of Life Project, NERAM Family Art Making, Platypus Play and Clay, River Weaving and Rising Tide, Save our Styx, Talking Soil, The Highlands Poet, Weeding for Weaving w/ Andrew Parker, Face painting and more…..
- 10.00am – 7.30pm – Food Vans
- 12.00pm – Official Opening – Welcome to Country + Thanks to Sponsors + announcements
- 7.00pm – 8.45pm – Astronomy night with the Stars & UNE & NT Astronomical Society@NERAM cafe
Music, Dance & Theatre Program
- 10.30am The Holy Horns
- 11.15am Alejandro & Armidale Salsa
- 11.30am JazzLab
- 12.00pm Welcome to Country + Thanks to Sponsors + announcements
- 12.30pm Tandav School of Dance
- 12.50pm Blakk Dynasty
- 1.20pm The Rocky Bottom Girls
- 2.10pm OhMaSoul
- 3.00pm MC & The Squares
- 3.50pm Dusky Buzz
- 4.40pm The Cham Cham
- 5.30pm PartyLine
- 6.30pm The Chads
- 9.00am Judith Betts
- 9.45am Bruce’s Country
- 10.30am Pete Stanley
- 11.15am Barney St Band
- 12.00pm The Miggy Man
- 12.45pm Dallas Muirhead
- 1.30pm Ian Russell
- 2.15pm Khaleel Jundi
- 3.00pm Firebirds Choir
- 3.30pm Saturday Magic Theatre Troupe presents Pandora and the Dragon
Talks, Activities & Workshops Program
- 10.00 to 11.00am Clothes drop
- 12.00 to 2.00pm Clothes swap
The Community Weathering Station (CoWS) at Black Gully Festival (North Village)
The Community Weathering Station is a market stall about climate change. This Black Gully Festival we have a program of visiting artist-researcher facilitated workshops that link up with the themes of weathering: a concept that explores climate change from a grounded, localised and embodied perspective.
Throughout the day we will also offer Tea/Tarot readings when the readers are not off enjoying the festival, and there will be other little things in the stall to look at and discuss.
For the workshops: We will endeavour to have all the materials you need on hand, but please go to the link below form more details, any specific instructions and to register (FREE REGISTRATION).
CoWS workshops are for people aged 16+
- 10.00 -11.00am: Mixed Weathering Workshops – w/ Tessa Zettel, Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Hamilton.
- 11.00am – 12.00pm: Rest your identity – w/ Ju Bavyka
- 12.00 – 12.30pm : Welcome to Country (MainStage)
- 12.30 – 1.30pm: Day for it! why we love good weather – w/ Blanche Verlie
- 1.30 – 2.30pm : Lunch Break
- 2.30 – 3.30pm : Learn to Scry with the Sky: how to prophesize through gazing – w/ Nina Vroeman
All Day:
- By sign-up sheet on the day: Tea & Tarot by Donation (with Piers Kelly & Ju Bavyka)
- How to weather together exhibition (Mazda Gallery inside NERAM)
- 10.30/12.30/2.30 – Composting with Joi (@ the Community Garden
- Community Garden Tours – Come for a visit! Tours running from 10.00am to 4.00pm -as needed
Sustainable Living Armidale (SLA) and Friends @ North Gully Village (NERAM Side)
- 10.30/3.30 – Rhizomatic Somatic Meditation (1-hour sessions) for 16+ – w/Pip Ryan @ Rhizomatic Chorus tent
- 11.00 to 1:30 – Magpie print making @ Museum of Printing
- 10.30/1.00 – How healthy is my soil? – why not soil some undies! @Talking Soil tent
- 11:00/1:30 – Digging Together: Where Soil Science Meets Community @Talking Soil
SLA and Friends @ the Packsaddle room (Below NERAM)
- 11.00am – SPECIAL Presentation – Healthy Headwaters of New England and what our creek invertebrates tell us (30mins) – with Dr. Sara Mika, UNE Aquatic Ecology Lab
- 12.30pm – SPECIAL Presentation – The Bell’s Turtle: A Turtle of Our Own – with Dr. Lou Streeting, UNE Lazer Lab
SLA and Friends @ South Gully Village (Stage Side)
• 10.30/11.30/12.30/1.30/2.30/3.30– The Magic of Science Show @UNE Discovery
• 10.30/1.30 – Cozy Story Time – The Platypus – w/Sue Eliot @SLA and NE Rakali and Platypus tent
• 10.30/11.15/2.45- Native Rodents – who are they anyway and why should we care? @Threatened Species Tent
• 10.45/2.00 – Chatting about Energy-Efficiency – for beginners 101@Electrify Armidale tent
• 11.00 to 12.00 – Weeding for Weaving w/Andrew Parker @the Big Weave
• 11.00 to 12.00 – Making Seedballs @Armidale Tree Group
• 11.30 – Cozy Story Time- Where are all the baby Turtles? – w/Lou Streeting – @SLA and NE Rakali and Platypus tent
• 11.30 & 1.30 – Creek Bug Collecting – meet @UNE Aquatic Ecology Lab
• 12.30/2.00- Bat’s in the Backyard and Insect-eating bats @Threatened Species Tent
• 1.00 – Black Gully Walk and Talk with Funky Dave and Friends of BG – meet@the Black Gully Central Tent
• 2.00 – Chatting about Energy-Efficiency –bring your really tricky questions @Electrify Armidale tent
The Black Gully Festival program is subject to changes at any time. Please refer to website for any updates or amendments.
The Black Gully Festival – Partners and Sponsors
The Black Gully Festival would not be possible and nor would it be able to provide a free community event without the contribution of over 70 volunteers and our Partners and Sponsors. The Black Gully Festival organisers would like to extend a huge thank you to our volunteers and to the following:
Partners
Musicians of Armidale (MOA)/Sustainable Living Armidale (SLA)/New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM)/2ARMFM Community Radio/Southern New England Landcare (SNEL)/Armidale Tree Group (ATG)/Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place (ACCKP)
Supermega sponsors, Very special sponsors, and Festival friends
Sustainable Living Armidale (SLA)/Origin Energy (Renewable energy and the New England Community Investment Program)/Armidale Regional Council (ARC)/BlackDot/Gallery 126/The Welders Dog/StringyBark Ecological/Back Track/Creative Streets Festival
