New England Regional Art Museum

Artist Talk: Jane O’Sullivan, Anna Henderson, Maree Kelly and David Manks
2025-06-14 10:30 - 11:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Join us for an engaging morning of artistic exploration as we delve into the landscapes and inspirations behind two new exhibitions. Artists Anna Henderson, Maree Kelly, and David Manks will discuss their exhibition From Gunnedah to Gara Gorge, offering insights into their personal connections with the diverse terrains of northern New South Wales. Following this, Jane O’Sullivan will share the creative journey of her exhibition Night & Day, inspired by the shifting moods and colours of the Australian landscape across time and season.
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with the artists and gain a deeper understanding of their work.

Image: Anna Henderson, Myall Station, 2025. mixed medium on canvas.

Open Studio - Neerja Peters
2025-06-24 12:30 - 13:30
Join us in NERAM’s Packsaddle Studio, for an informal open studio visit with artist in residence Neerja Peters. Peters has been engaged in a self directed artistic residency for the past two weeks at NERAM and this is an opportunity to see what she has been doing in the studio and to have a discussion abut her creative practice.
Since 2010, New Delhi-based artist Neerja Peters, has explored spiritual themes through geometric abstraction, creating meditative works that guide viewers toward introspection and harmony. Her art has been showcased in solo exhibitions in Australia, the USA, and India, including the New England Regional Art Museum and Bikaner House. Peters’ work has earned international acclaim, featuring in over 500 exhibitions worldwide and receiving numerous awards for its contemplative depth and visual resonance.
Location: Packsaddle Studio

NAIDOC WEEK 2025: The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy
2025-07-07 10:00 - 2025-07-13 16:00
Taragara Aboriginal Corporation in partnership with New England Regional Art Museum is proud to present NAIDOC WEEK 2025: The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy.
The program includes:
Monday 7th – Sunday 20th July
Exhibition: The Shack that Dad Built by Kamilaroi artist Elaine Russell
Elaine Russell (1941–2022) was a renowned Kamilaroi artist whose vibrant paintings reflect her memories of growing up on the Aboriginal mission at Tingha in northern NSW. Her work often explores themes of family, community, and cultural resilience, rendered in a distinctive, narrative style. One of her most celebrated contributions is the children’s book The Shack That Dad Built, which she both wrote and illustrated. The book draws from her own childhood experiences, offering a warm and humorous glimpse into life on the mission, and has become a beloved resource for sharing First Nations stories with younger generations.
Tuesday 8th July 2025
Art Workshop with Aunty ​Jaluka Rose Quinlan ​
Time: ​10am – 2pm
Suitable for ages 8+(including adults)
Venue: ​New England Regional Art Museum Mazda Gallery
Thursday 10th July 2025
Weaving Workshop with Aunty Gwen Barker
Time: ​10am – 2pm
Venue: ​New England Regional Art Museum

This program has been produced in partnership with the Taragara Aboriginal Corporation.
Image: Elaine Russell, The Hand of Friendship, 2004.

Guided tour of Lost in Palm Springs
2025-07-12 15:00
Join us for a free guided tour of Lost in Palm Springs with Sam Creyton, Curatorial and Engagement Manager from HOTA.
Saturday July 12 at 3pm
Sam Creyton is the Curatorial and Engagement Manager from Home of the Arts, Gold Coast.

This interdisciplinary exhibition brings together 14 creative minds – including internationally recognised artists, photographers and thinkers from America and Australia – who respond to, capture, or reimagine the magical qualities of the landscape and the celebrated mid-century modern architecture found in the desert city.

Connections between Palm Springs and Australia are remarkably strong, particularly when viewed through the lens of the current renaissance of interest in modernist architecture. Place and home, desert atmospheres, landscapes (real and imagined), and Bauhaus sensibilities inform the works.

The Australian artists represented in the exhibition are Kate Ballis, Tom Blachford, Anna Carey, Sam Cranstoun, Paul Davies, Rosi Griffin, Vicki Stravrou, Robyn Sweaney and Gosia Wlodarczak. American artists in the exhibition are Darren Bradley, Jim Isermann, Troy Kudlac, Lance O’Donnell and Kim Stringfellow.

Curated by artist Dr Greer Honeywill, Lost in Palm Springs is a touring initiative developed by HOTA, Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in partnership with Museums & Galleries Queensland. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through its Visions of Australia program and through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. It is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, and proudly sponsored by IAS Fine Art Logistics and o2 Architecture.

Museums & Galleries Queensland is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funds from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund.

Image credit: Paul Davies, Built Landscape III, 2015, vinyl acrylic copolymer on canvas. Collection: Patrick Corrigan Collection. Image courtesy of the artist and the Patrick Corrigan Collection

Lost in Palm Springs Winter Cocktail Party
2025-07-12 19:00 - 21:30
Step out of the chilly New England winter and into a sun‑drenched fantasy with our Palm Springs–themed cocktail party, celebrating the opening of Lost in Palm Springs at NERAM!
Expect a fabulously ironic splash of mid‑century glam, palm‑frond pink-and-green décor, and inflatable flamingos & palm trees. Sip on curated cocktails and enjoy grazing boards surrounded by lush kitsch vibes—with just a hint of White Lotus drama.
Soundtrack by Bitz of Buzz will keep the retro energy pulsing while you’re lounging poolside (in your mind) and rocking your best resort wear outfits (but bring a coat too). Wander through the exhibition’s dreamy reinterpretations of Palm Springs architecture and art—a desert oasis within the New England winter landscape.

Palm Springs inspired cocktails (cash bar, eftpos available)
Grazing boards
Live Music
Exhibition entry + catalogue

Lost in Palm Springs is a touring initiative developed by HOTA, Home of the Arts, Gold Coast in partnership with Museums & Galleries Queensland. This interdisciplinary exhibition brings together 14 creative minds – including internationally recognised artists, photographers and thinkers from America and Australia – who respond to, capture, or reimagine the magical qualities of the landscape and the celebrated mid-century modern architecture found in the desert city.

Unfolding the Domestic – workshop with artist Sam Cranstoun
2025-07-13 10:30 - 13:30
In this workshop Lost In Palm Springs exhibition artist Sam Cranstoun will guide participants in how to create a series of paper sculptures inspired by the humble breeze block.
By exploring the rich design legacy of this easily recognisable building material, participants will create a range of delicate but bold objects that elevate these everyday objects found in their neighbourhoods.
Using a combination of drawing, sculpture and site specific installation, participants will find awe and wonder in the domestic. Taking inspiration from pre-existing breeze block designs, and using a range of processes that include drawing, cutting and folding, workshop participants will create intricate yet striking origami-like, 3-dimensional objects.
All materials supplied. Places are limited, bookings essential.

Menopause is not a dirty word!
2025-07-30 18:00 - 21:00
Join HealthWISE for this free community event focused on the stages of menopause. Connect with others experiencing this stage of life and those supporting them.
Featuring a lineup of special guest speakers, who specialise in menopause support.
Empower yourself and your family with valuable insights, open discussions, strategies and support. Men are welcome! Refreshments will be provided.
Contact Emma for more information on (02) 6766 1394 or emma.knights@healthwise.org.au

Date | July 30
Time | 6 – 9pm, doors open at 5.30pm

Venue | NERAM

Culture Club open studio
2025-08-13 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-09-10 18:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-08 18:00 - 20:30
Culture Club is proud to present OPEN STUDIO.

This month we are meeting at Get Framed Armidale and taking walk with photographer Simon Scott and he is going to teach you some photography tricks and tips as well as some basic editing using Snap Seed. All you need to bring is your phone. The arty times kick off at 6pm.

Venue: Meet at at Get Framed Armidale Shop 45/195-197 Beardy Street, Armidale Plaza SC. Entrance on Dangar Street.

INFO:

Can I bring wine? YES YOU CAN
If it’s cold will you put the heaters on? YES WE WILL
Do I need to be good at art to come? NOPE
How much does it cost? NADA
Will there be snacks? MAYBE. Each month is hosted by a different Culture Club Committee member, so it’s up to them how the evening goes. They’re in charge of the music, the still life set up and the good feels.
Do I need to be a member of Culture Club to come? NO. But we’re kind of hoping that you really dig it and decide you want to support us by becoming a member.
Is there an age restriction? NO… BUT… if you are under 18, you’ll need to show up with a responsible adult… and if you are a responsible adult who shows up with a little person you’ll need to make sure they don’t climb the walls.

Artist Talk: Lee Bethel and Michael Simms
2025-08-15 17:30 - 18:00
Join us at NERAM as we speak to and learn from exhibiting artists Michael Simms: Stages and Lee Bethel: A Way with Words. Hear about the creative, emotive and intellectual journey’s taken by the artists in producing these body of works.
We’ll talk to Michael Simms about his exhibition Stages, an ongoing series of portraits, honouring performers whose work spans music, theatre, dance and performance art. A series that explores how presence is expressed — both onstage and off.
Learn from Lee Bethel about her exhibition A Way With Words, works that explore the material and symbolic potential of paper, cutting and shaping it into intricate forms that cast shadows of memory, history, and meaning. A Way With Words is a powerful reflection on feminism, language, and domesticity.
This is an opportunity to connect with the artists and gain a deeper understanding of their work, their influences and their processes. Please book your ticket below.

Image: Michael Simms, The Celebutante (detail), 2023, oil on canvas.
Image: Lee Bethel, Counting The Dead (detail), 2022, watercolour and hand cut paper.

Opening Night
2025-08-15 18:00 - 20:00
Join us for the opening of four new exhibitions.

Stages: Michael Simms

A Way with Words: Lee Bethel

Personal Cinema: Cosima Scales

ARTEXPRESS

Artist Talk: Cosima Scales
2025-08-16 10:30 - 11:30
Join Cosima Scales and NERAM Director Rachael Parson’s in conversation as they discuss Scales’ exhibition Personal Cinema.
Cosima Scales’ paintings capture fleeting moments of domestic life — sunlight on floorboards, fruit on a table — transforming everyday scenes into quiet dramas. Balancing realism and painterliness, her works explore the rhythms of natural light and the subtle narratives of home. Scales’ exhibition Personal Cinema invites viewers to find beauty and meaning in the ordinary.
This is an opportunity to hear and learn from the artist directly and gain a deeper understanding of their work, influences and processes. Please book below.
Image: Cosima Scales, Full sun, studio window (II), 2025, oil on board

Image: Cosima Scales, Full sun, studio window (II), 2025, oil on board

Creating Art With Paper
2025-08-16 10:30 - 16:00
Spend the day with exhibiting artist Lee Bethel, learning a variety of techniques including cutting, folding and piercing to create your own unique paper works. For Lee Bethel, elegant constraint is the foundation of her work, in her hands paper reveals its capacity for resilience and malleability.

The workshop will begin with Lee taking participants through her exhibition A Way with Words to discuss her work.
Students will then spend time planning and discussing their own works under the guidance of Lee.
Lee will demonstrate a variety of techniques that can be used in the process of creating the artworks.
After a lunch break participants will spend the rest of the workshop bringing their creations to life.

DATE | Saturday 16th August
TIME | 10:30am – 4.00pm
VENUE | Mazda Gallery NERAM
COST | General Price $175.00 – FoN/Culture Club member Price $160.00
All materials included.
Min 8, Max 12

Image credit: Lee Bethel, After Mary Delany

Open Studio - Adrienne Kenafake
2025-09-19 14:30 - 15:30
Join us in NERAM’s Packsaddle Studio, for an informal open studio visit with artist in residence Adrienne Kenafake.
Adrienne Kenafake is a multi-disciplinary Australian artist from the lands of the Widjabul Wia-bul people, Lismore, Northern New South Wales. With a focus on sculpture and performance her practice investigates the potential of objects as physical, psychological and extrasensory archives of emotion, story and place. During her residency at NERAM she will be conducting research into contaminated Xagricultural and Xindustrial land, exploring ideas of subsurface hauntings, protection and remediation through the lens of the suburban spiritist.
Location: Packsaddle Studio NERAM

For more information:
Website
Instagram

Winter Blooming Ball 2025
2025-09-19 19:00 - 22:00
It’s time to dance at the 2025 Winter Blooming Ball!
The prom you always dreamed of — the event of the season and a night to remember. Dress to impress as your true self, come with your partner, friends, or slay it solo. Everyone is welcome!
Tropical Fruits will light up the night with an unforgettable mix of DJs and drag performances. Enjoy delicious nibbles, cocktails from our pop-up bar, and a celebration full of sparkle.
Get ready to shine brighter than the disco ball!
Pre order your hot food when you purchase your tickets.

Winter Blooming has been Produced in collaboration with the University of New England, Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council, and ACON.

Opening Night & Artist Talk
2025-10-03 17:30 - 20:00
Join us for the opening of Anna Johnson’s first solo museum exhibition, NYMPHAEA NYMPHAEA.
Artist talk – 5.30pm
Opening event – 6.00pm
Please book a ticket (below)

Image credit: Anna Johnson, Persephone (detail), 2025, Acrylic on linen.

Opening Night: Packsaddle Exhibition 2025
2025-10-24 17:00 - 20:00
Join us for the ringing of the bell to open the 2025 Packsaddle Exhibition!
Be among the first to view—and purchase—original artworks by leading and emerging Australian artists. Now in its 40th year, Packsaddle is a beloved fundraising exhibition that brings together a curated selection of contemporary paintings, prints, and sculptures in support of NERAM.
Every artwork sold directly supports both the artist and the future of the New England Regional Art Museum. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to collect something special and celebrate four decades of community, creativity, and generosity.
Viewing from 5.00pm. The bell will ring at 6pm (no artworks will be sold prior), when the selling and celebration will commence.

Portraiture in Charcoal with Michael Simms
2025-11-01 10:00 - 2025-11-02 16:00
Due to popular demand, Michael Simms is back with his charcoal portraiture workshop. Excitingly the workshop has been extended to two days, giving students more time to develop, practice and hone their skills under the guidance of Michael.
In this workshop, students will learn how to draw the human face with charcoal – one of the most versatile and expressive mediums. Michael will provide his unique tips and tricks on how to simplify the face into basic shapes to make portraiture fun and accessible.
Michael will conduct demonstrations and provide individual feedback to students throughout both days.
Students will also have the opportunity to visit Michael Simms Stages exhibition in the Mazda Gallery of NERAM.
Topics covered include:

Overview of materials: the different types of charcoal and how to use it
The proportions of the human face
How to simplify the human face into basic planes and tonal shapes
How to break down individual facial features
How to build structure into your portrait
Capturing a ‘likeness’
Understanding tonal values
How to achieve a sense of volume and form in your drawings
Drawing from a live model
The impact of lighting

DATE | Saturday and Sunday, 1st & 2nd of November
TIME | 10am – 4.00pm both days
VENUE | Packsaddle Studio
COST | General Price $221.00 – FoN/Culture Club member Price $245.00
All materials are included
Min 10, Max 14

Image: Courtesy of Michael Simms

In Conversation: Behind the Scenes with Packsaddle
2025-11-01 10:30 - 11:30
Join us at NERAM for a special In Conversation between NERAM Director Rachael Parsons and members of the current Packsaddle Committee.
Together, they’ll pull back the curtain on all things Packsaddle — how this beloved annual exhibition is imagined, planned, and brought to life each year. Discover the stories behind the art, the community connections that make it possible, and why this remarkable group of women continues to dedicate their time, creativity, and passion to supporting NERAM after 40 years.
An inspiring and insightful look at one of the most enduring and generous supporter groups in regional Australia.

The Community Weathering Station at Black Gully Festival
2025-11-08 10:00 - 16:00
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 in, 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 read below for any specific instructions and to register to help us plan for numbers.
All Workshops begin at the CoWS Stall

Stall opens 10am

Mixed Weathering Workshops 10-11am
Drop into the CoWS Stall and participate in a selection of activities “Lucky Dip”, “Close Meteorology”, “Speed Zining” and “Weathering With and Without”. These games are connected to How to weather together exhibition in the gallery and book of the same name. Participants can take home their contributions or they can add it to the exhibition upstairs. These activities are all designed to engage with yourself and each other differently and carefully in relation to everyday weather, but also as a method for connecting to the large scale catastrophe of climate change. If you miss the early workshop options to participate will be available throughout the day.
We believe weathering well requires the proliferation of feminist, queer and anticolonial environmentalisms and the global redistribution of shelter and vulnerability. To assist in grass-roots revolutionary mobilisation, we offer up simple practices as part of a larger historical movement: to change the climate of climate change and be ourselves changed in the process.
Facilitator Bio/s: The weathering workshops are facilated by Tessa Zettel (Sydney), Astrida Neimanis (Canada) and Jennifer Hamilton (Armidale). These three have been collaborating for a decade as The Weathering Collective.
FREE REGISTRATION

Rest your identity: 11-12
With Ju Bavyka
This workshop leans on meditation practices to examine our relationships to aspects of our identity, including habits or social roles, that get overworked in everyday life. This overwork can be a response to social injustice, patriarchy, gendered roles, being disabled, or to the self-exploitation of one’s ethnic and cultural background in order to exist and survive. After a short introduction, participants are invited to follow a guided meditation and to identify parts of themself that require a little rest, revision, and kind reintegration on better terms. A space for encounter and possible connection is created during the discussion afterwards. This workshop is included in the CoWS program as a practice that allows for new openings to the weather world.
Cushions provided.
Facilitator Bio: Ju is a visual artist, writer and community organiser. They create from a queer, forager perspective and are interested in practices of hospitality and generosity. Ju lives, works and rests on unceded Gadigal Wangal lands in so-called Sydney, Australia, and sometimes in Berlin. They have ties to Kazakhstan and Germany through their birth, education, community connections and family history.
FREE REGISTRATION (Please RSVP to help with numbers, but please also show up on the day either way)
15 Max

12pm Welcome to Country (Mainstage)

DAY FOR IT! why we love good weather 12.30-1.30pm
With Blanche Verlie
Most of our efforts to communicate the importance of global heating focus on how scary and bad changing the climate is. But a lot of people find it too scary to think about, and so they disengage from the topic. What if we celebrated all the benefits that a safe climate affords us? This walkshop riffs on the Australian idiom “Day for It!” that celebrates all the great, fun things we can do in good weather and who those activities allow us to be, to help us clarify the cultural and personal value of our Holocene climate.
What you’ll need to participate: a phone with a camera and internet connection OR a pen and paper. We’ll be walking around the Festival and chatting to people about what their favourite weather is, and why they love it.
Facilitator Bio: Blanche is a multidisciplinary social scientist whose work focuses on climate change working. Her research investigates how people understand, experience, and respond to climate change, and how we might do this differently and better. Her book Learning to live-with climate change: From anxiety to transformation is available as a free e-book. At the University of Sydney, she is a Sydney Horizon Fellow in Gender and Cultural Studies, and one of the leaders of the Environmental Justice theme at the Sydney Environment Institute.
FREE REGISTRATION (Please RSVP to help with numbers, but please also show up on the day either way)

1.30-2.30 Lunch break (& Rocky Bottom Girls playing on mainstage!)

Learn to Scry with the Sky: how to prophesize through gazing, 2.30-3.30pm
With Nina Vroeman
This workshop will explore exercises from Horizon Factory’s publication Deep Gazing.
The book is a guide, a tool, an atlas and a companion for individual and communal attunement to the environment. Opening to the expansiveness of the sky, learning to read its signs and traces, and allowing for messages and meanings to arise beyond the art of forecasting.
Facilitator Bio: Nina makes interdisciplinary work about ecology that is speculative and embodied. They live in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal), on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka and are a recent MFA graduate from Sculpture and Ceramics at Concordia University. For more information about their work visit ninavroemen.com/
FREE REGISTRATION (Please RSVP to help with numbers, but please also show up on the day either way)
15 Max

Stall closes 4pm

Black Gully Festival 2025
2025-11-08 10:00 - 19:30
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

Main Stages
10.00am to 7.30pm

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

Acoustic Stage (NERAM Café)
9.00am to 4.00pm

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

Clothes Swap@ Slow Living Tent

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)

Full program and registration details available at: https://communityweatheringstation.net/2025/10/13/2025-black-gully-festival-stall/

Community Garden

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

New England Friends of NERAM Artisan Trail
2025-11-08 10:00 - 2025-11-09 16:00
Step inside the studios of six talented New England artists and see where creativity comes to life. Across one inspiring weekend, the New England Friends of NERAM Artisan Trail invites you to visit artists in their working environments, watch live demonstrations, and gain unique insights into their craft.

From delicate watercolours and expressive landscape paintings to fine ceramics and reclaimed metal sculpture, this is a rare opportunity to meet the makers shaping our region’s vibrant arts scene.

Tickets are available for individual studio visits or as a weekend pass giving access to all six studios. All proceeds support the work of the Friends of NERAM in raising funds for the New England Regional Art Museum.

Tickets:
$40 Friends of NERAM members
$45 Non-members
$12 per individual studio

Book now via TryBooking

COSMOGRAPHIES : A speculative documentary film
2025-11-09 15:00 - 17:15
The struggle for environmental justice against ongoing forms of extractivism and ecological ruin in the Atacama Desert is an allegory against ongoing plans to colonise the Moon and Mars, where Māori astrobiologist Xuê Noon finds solace in 2051.
Cosmographies is a hybrid film that draws from speculative fiction, observational and poetic documentary, Indigenous futurism and Indigiqueer perspectives. It interweaves stories of resistance and environmental justice against extractivism in the Atacama Desert, Chile, as an allegory for contemporary plans to colonise the Moon and Mars. Set across 2023 and 2051, it weaves parallel stories of Lickan Antay land and water defenders, engaged scientists and fishing communities in Atacama, with the story of Māori astrobiologist Xuě Noon who finds solace in Mars and slipstreams across spacetime with an urgent message.
Screening at Belgrave as part of How to weather together exhibition
Film is 95 minutes
Q&A is 30 minutes. Finish by 5.15pm.
Credits
Director, Cinematographer & Writer (BIO): Juan Francisco Salazar (attending the screening for Q&A)
Writer & Performer (BIO): Victoria Hunt

Book Launch: A Portrait of Howard Hinton
2025-11-11 17:00 - 18:00
To mark Howard Hinton’s 159th Birthday we invite you to the launch of A Portrait of Howard Hinton by Margaret Bain.
Who was Howard Hinton — the man behind one of Australia’s greatest art collections? A Portrait of Howard Hinton uncovers the life of this enigmatic philanthropist, moving beyond the familiar image of a shy bachelor who gave away his fortune for art. Drawing on Hinton’s long-lost diary and years of meticulous research, Margaret reveals a vibrant, generous, and deeply connected figure at the heart of Sydney’s cultural scene in the early 20th century.
Join us at NERAM to celebrate the launch of this remarkable new publication that sheds fresh light on the man whose vision helped shape the very foundations of the New England Regional Art Museum. There will be champagne and cake.

Artist Talk: Lae Oldmeadow
2025-11-14 17:30 - 18:00
Join us before the official opening to hear exhibiting artist Lae Oldmeadow in conversation with curator Professor Pedram Khosronejad as they discuss The Garden — Oldmeadow’s debut solo exhibition at NERAM.
In The Garden, outsider artist Lae Oldmeadow creates a contemplative and tactile installation where nature and culture intertwine. A series of Totems of Contemplation leads visitors towards the central sculptural work, The Garden, evoking the sensation of stepping into a magical forest. Crafted from palm fibre, sisal, organic cotton and ultramarine paint, Oldmeadow’s totems and wall sculptures explore themes of reverence, resilience and renewal.

Image: Lae Oldmeadow, Totem of Contemplation # 11 Leaf, 2022. Palm fibre and sisal twine sewn to canvas, acrylic paint

Opening Night
2025-11-14 18:00 - 20:00
Join us for the opening of five new exhibitions
Echoes of the Earth: Tribal and Desert Art
WATER: Rowen Matthews
Providore: Kim Bizo
How to Weather Together
The Garden: Lae Oldmeadow

Opening Weekend Program
Friday 14th November
5.30pm – Artist Talk: Lae Oldmeadow
6.00pm – Opening Night
6.30pm – Official opening presentation
7.00pm – Performance: The Sign of the Times Henri van Noordenburg and Paul Smith

Saturday 15th November
10.30am – Packsaddle Lecture: Sundeep Bhandari, The Gondwana Art Project

Credit: Suresh Dhurve, Ann Dai, 2020, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and the Craft and Community Development Foundation

Echoes of the Earth: Tribal and Desert Art has been produced in partnership with the Craft and Community Development Foundation, Utopia Art Sydney and Papunya Tula Artists. Sponsored by Origin Energy (Renewable energy and the New England Community Investment Program) the Friends of NERAM

Performance: The Sign of the Times
2025-11-14 19:00 - 19:30
To coincide with the opening of How to Weather Together, exhibiting artist Henri van Noordenburg and composure Paul Smith will present a live performance in the gallery.
The Sign of the Times project takes outcomes and processes from Henri’s visual art practice and Smith’s composition and practice, and presents them in a performance. Integral to the structure of the work is collaborative improvisation. Each artist responds to the other’s input, and this in turn affects the performance and finished work.
Born in The Netherlands and based in Brisbane, Henri van Noordenburg is a visual artist whose practice merges photography, drawing and performance to explore memory, landscape and belonging. Using a distinctive hand-carved technique inspired by sgraffito, his works have been exhibited internationally, including the Manila Biennale and Scope Basel. He has received multiple awards, and his work is held in major public and private collections including LACMA and NERAM.
Paul Smith (he/they) is a composer and researcher based in Sydney who specialises in writing opera and music for the toy piano. He is Associate Professor of Music at the University of New England. Paul has held composer/performer residencies in Armenia (2018), Italy (2019) and Japan (2024), and he was a featured composer of the inaugural Korean toy piano festival in Seoul. In 2022 he received the ABC Composer Commission Fund to compose three new works for toy piano and recorder which were released by ABC Classics. Paul’s traditional research focuses on the politics of singing and the voice and recent publications explore multilingualism in opera.

Image: Henri van Noordenburg, Composition XCI Arvo Pärt deck, 2024. Hand carved ink on Hahnemühle

Packsaddle Lecture: Sundeep Bhandari, The Gondwana Art Project
2025-11-15 10:30 - 11:30
Join us for the final Packsaddle Lecture of 2025 as Sundeep Bhandari, founder-trustee of Craft and Community Development Foundation (CCDF), presents his work on the Gondwana Art Project—a dedicated initiative supporting tribal artists from the Gondwana region of central India (Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra), working in Gond, Warli and Bhil traditions. In partnership with NERAM’s exhibition Echoes of the Earth: Tribal and Desert Art, the Foundation has collaborated directly with the museum to bring these artists’ voices and works to an Australian audience.
Under the Gondwana Art project, CCDF’s mission is to create a platform for tribal artists to present their work and their perspectives demonstrating their craftsmanship and creativity, introducing new methods and techniques that express both traditional and contemporary imagery and values. In this initiative, CCDF promotes artists and their art form that evolves from the dynamic living traditions. This project offers an invitation to the viewer to discover Gondwana region and artists that epitomise the incomparable diversity of contemporary tribal and popular Indian art.

Sundeep Bhandari, is a New Delhi–based business strategist with over three decades of experience in India’s energy and infrastructure sectors, and is the founder trustee of Craft and Community Development Foundation. He has undertaken several philanthropic projects and was heading the CSR board of Cairn India Ltd. In this role, he was instrumental in establishing community support and development projects across the country including the Centre of Excellence for vocational training in Jodhpur and The Enterprise Centre at Barmer ITI. He established Craft and Community Development Foundation with the aim of up-skilling artisans in different fields across India.
Established in 2008, the Craft and Community Development Foundation (CCDF) is a registered not-for-profit organisation created to support and fund projects that enhance livelihoods for communities in the arts and crafts sector. CCDF’s vision is to undertake initiatives that upskill artisans through the introduction of new concepts and designs while preserving the authenticity of traditional practices and connecting them to new markets. The foundation creates an empowering space that supports specialised crafts by providing training, introducing innovative design elements, and developing market linkages. Through workshops and skill development programs, CCDF works to strengthen artisan communities and improve their overall quality of life.

The Packsaddle Lecture Series invites guest speakers to expound on aspects of Australian and international artistic practices and history, providing the community with an opportunity to explore themes and ideas related to some of the museum’s key collection areas.

Echoes of the Earth: Tribal and Desert Art has been produced in partnership with the Craft and Community Development Foundation, Utopia Art Sydney and Papunya Tula Artists. Sponsored by Origin Energy (Renewable energy and the New England Community Investment Program) the Friends of NERAM

Museum Store Sunday
2025-11-30 10:00 - 16:00
On Sunday, November 30 2025, more than 2100 Museum Stores representing 25 countries, and five continents will offer relaxing, inspired shopping inside your favorite museums and cultural institutions…showcasing broad assortments of highly curated, unique, mission-specific gifts. From books to jewellery to children’s products to home accessories and gourmet food, there is something for everyone. Shop knowing you are supporting the missions and programs of each participating museum and cultural institution.
NERAM will be joining other museum and gallery shops around the world for Museum Store Sunday
With Christmas around the corner, we invite you to “shop with purpose” at your local art museum shop. Your custom will help us sustain the programs and services we provide to our community.
All day 20% shop discount (except alcohol)
50% Discount Table
Spend over $30 to go into the draw for a hamper valued at $100 or voucher for $100
Lucky Door Prize
Free Gift Wrapping
Christmas Craft activity for Kids
We look forward to seeing you between 10am – 4pm to enjoy a little Christmas shopping!
