The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
An innovative multi-arts hub in the heart of Blacktown City.
Join us at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre for two fun-filled days of hands-on art making, music, performance and play for children and families, Blacktown-style!
Make your way to The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre by train accompanied by a kids’ led audio adventure. Share stories and learn a thing or two with First Nations Elders. Immerse yourself in our new Makers Space. Be inspired by our young artists with the Young Artists Prize exhibition and ceremony, alongside the Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition. Join Western Sydney’s first disability led artist studios We Are Studios for a wearable art workshop led by We Are Studio artists. Sing and move to the music with Emily Who and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as they return to Blacktown. Immerse yourself in architect and designer Noa Haim’s (Collective Paper Aesthetics) interactive cardboard sculpture Be at the Hive as it visits Blacktown from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Created in collaboration with Claudia Chidiac and in partnership with Art Gallery of New South Wales, Hive Festival is presented as part of Sydney Festival 2024.
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Friday 19 January 2024
- Acknowledgement and Smoking Ceremony
- Makers Space with Tarni Eastwood
- Be at The Hive with Collective Paper Aesthetics
- Trains by The Kids
- Elders in Residence | Art and Yarn
- Garabara Dance Group
- Living Sculpture Gardens with We Are Studios
Acknowledgement and Smoking Ceremony
Join local Elder and Bigambul man Uncle Wes Marne, and Wiradjuri and Gamillaraay young person Emma Hoskins for an Acknowledgement and Smoking Ceremony to kick start Hive Festival.
Makers Space with Tarni Eastwood
Join us for the launch of our new Makers Space!
Ngiyampaa and Guringai artist and weaver Tarni Eastwood has created an playful interactive installation that celebrates the cultural practice of weaving.
Touch, create, and be immersed in a sensory world of play.
Be at The Hive with Collective Paper Aesthetics
Art Gallery of New South Wales is coming to Blacktown with Collective Paper Aesthetics!
Help build an immersive cardboard sculpture inspired by shapes created by native bees in their hives. Learn how to fold the shapes and join them together to form modular structures, like a growing ‘beehive’. The pieces include Braille and scratch-and-sniff ink for a sensory experience the whole family can be part of.
Culminating in the assembly of giant hive-like structures, this drop-in workshop is led by international architect and designer Noa Haim. Noa Haim has created projects for galleries throughout the world including the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, National Gallery Singapore, and Tate Modern in London.
Materials and instructions provided. Suitable for all ages. Children should be supervised by an adult.
Trains by The Kids
Attention all passengers! Welcome aboard Trains by the Kids, a self-guided audio adventure that will take you on a journey on Sydney’s rail network between the Sydney CBD and Blacktown Station, in either direction or return.
Board your train, take a seat, lean back, tune in and relax as, with each passing station, a new chapter unfolds, revealing sounds and stories of big cities, neighbourhoods and dreams.
This immersive audio experience has been created in collaboration with primary school children from inner and western Sydney, and is suitable for all ages.
You can start from St James or Blacktown stations, with a change at Central on the way. There are no set start times. The audio experience is free, but you’ll need to pay for your train fare.
This event is part of the Hive Festival at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre. Find out more.
To access the audio, click on one of the links below:
Elders in Residence | Art and Yarn
Gather the whole family and get creative with local First Nations Elders.
Listen to dreaming stories with Uncle Wes Marne, take part in a drawing workshop led by Uncle Danny Eastwood, and join Uncle John Farrington for a series of crafting workshops for children and families.
Garabara Dance Group
Join Garabara Dance Group for a special performance and workshop to follow the Welcome and Smoking Ceremony.
Garabara is a family group that proudly resides in Mount Druitt, consisting of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, grandchildren & friends from different Nations including Darug, Yuin, Muruwari, Yorta Yorta, Gamilaraay, Wiradjuri & Ngiyampaa.
Living Sculpture Gardens with We Are Studios
We Are Studios invites children and families to celebrate their relationships and connections through an exciting, hands-on workshop using recycled materials.
Play with scale, texture and shape to see who can make the most luscious, plant- inspired wearable creation!
To bring their gardens to life, participants can activate their creations through a movement-based presentation at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre.
Saturday 20 January 2024
- Emily Who & The Sydney Symphony
- 2024 Blacktown City Art Prize and Young Artist Prize Ceremony and Art Tour
- Move with Pioneers Megacrew
- Dinosaur Encounter with Erth
- World Rhythms Unleashed with Lucky Lartey
- Zindzi & The Zillionaires
- Sunset Session with DOBBY
Emily Who & The Sydney Symphony
Don’t miss Emily Who & the Sydney Symphony as they return to Blacktown with an exciting musical adventure for the whole family!
Emily and a string quartet from the Sydney Symphony will take kids through a magical world of music, exploring the sounds of string instruments and how they work together.
Sing and move along to the music as you discover a world of sounds through the violin, viola and cello!
Featuring Emily McKnight as Emily Who.
String quartet: Fiona Ziegler, Leone Ziegler, Adrian Wallis and Jane Hazelwood.
2024 Blacktown City Art Prize and Young Artist Prize Ceremony and Art Tour
Don’t miss the acclaimed Blacktown City Art Prize exhibition, showcasing finalists works from a mix of emerging and established artists from Blacktown, western Sydney and across Australia.
Alongside, the Young Artist Prize exhibition showcases works from artists aged 3 to 14 from Blacktown City, responding to the theme ‘Creating Cooler Cities.’
Winners of the Young Artist Prize special categories will be announced in a special prize-giving ceremony.
Then, experience a curated-tour of the Blacktown City Art Prize led by Young Artist Prize entrants.
Move with Pioneers Megacrew
Groove and move to the epic and unique choreography of Sydney’s number 1 mega-crew, The Pioneers!
Founded by dancer/choreographer Eliam Royalness in 2013, The Pioneers have made a lasting impact in the Sydney dance community.
Don’t miss this high energy performance to kick start our Saturday stage program.
Dinosaur Encounter with Erth
Get up close and personal with the incredible Erth Dinosaur Encounter.
Meet awesome prehistoric creatures, from cute baby dinos to some of the largest carnivores and herbivores that have ever walked the planet.
Erth’s dinosaurs are unmistakably ‘alive’ in this fun, educational and unique performance. Watch wide-eyed from afar or dare to get right up close to these prehistoric creatures.
World Rhythms Unleashed with Lucky Lartey
Dance till you drop with World Rhythms Unleashed by dancer and choreographer Lucky Lartey; a mesmerizing and culturally-rich performance that brings together vibrant rhythms and percussion traditions from across the globe.
Lucky and the Jamestown Collective will perform original songs and choreography inspired by old Indigenous games from Greece, South Africa and West Africa.
Featuring Lucky Lartey, Yacou Mbaye, Pepsie Magonya, Byron Mark and Adjei Laryea.
Zindzi & The Zillionaires
Join the world of The Zillionaires!
Blacktown Arts are so excited to welcome hip-hop artist Zindzi to Blacktown, alongside her delightful pals, The Zillies.
Zindzi & The Zillionaires perform upbeat songs of friendship, confidence, joy, and positivity, all set to a head bopping mix of RnB, pop, hip-hop and rap.
Sunset Session with DOBBY
Kids and families, this one’s for you!
Join Aboriginal-Filipino rapper, drummer and music composer DOBBY for special family-style performance to close out Hive Festival.
Watch the sun set in Blacktown and enjoy some live music by one of western Sydney’s prolific Hip Hop artists.
Hive Festival is created in collaboration with Claudia Chidiac and in partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Zindzi and the Zillionares and Sunset Session with DOBBY are presented by Vyva Entertainment and supported by the NSW government through Culture Up Late Western Sydney.
The Blacktown Arts Sydney Festival 2024 program is supported by Sydney Festival, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Blacktown City Council and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
