The Guide: July 2025
It’s our mid-winter edition of The Guide this month.
July marks NAIDOC Week 2025 (6–13 July), a time to honour the culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme, Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud, invites all Australians to listen deeply, stand in solidarity and celebrate the strength of First Nations voices. Learn more at the official NAIDOC website and explore local events via the NAIDOC Regional Guide.
Some new resources worth a look include Creative Australia’s updated Principles for Generative AI and Creative Work, offering guidance for ethical practice in this fast-evolving space, a must-read for creatives working with new technologies, and the Creative Impact webinar series, a free series of expert-led webinars for creatives, by the City of Sydney.
Meanwhile in Caloundra, The Keeper Project has Keeper #2, Aimee Gray hitting the streets from 14 July with Cal-Hound-Dra, a charming ‘Dog-alogue’ (not a Cat-alogue) documenting the town’s four-legged locals. Find out more via @the.keeperproject.
For more events and opportunities, head to The Guide online and read on for our top picks below.
Onespace presents Post Truth by Darren Blackman
CIAF: 11 – 13 July
Onespace: 25 July – 23 August
Fresh from R|Artist Residency: Sub Tropic, Darren Blackman’s Post Truthpremieres at CIAF 2025 before travelling to Brisbane’s Onespace Gallery.
Responding to the 2025 CIAF theme Pay Attention!, the exhibition urges viewers to stay alert, informed and critically engaged with the political and social forces shaping our lives. A proud Gureng Gureng/Gangulu man with Kanak South Sea Island heritage from Vanuatu, Darren draws on post-colonial oral histories passed down by Elders, reworking these narratives into bold, layered LED neon text sculptures that disarm through wit, vibrancy and sharp wordplay.
Join Onespace for their Opening Event and Artist Talk on 26 July.
R|Masterclass: Rewilding the Recording Studio with Cameron Deyell
20 July
Step out of the recording studio and into the wild with acclaimed composer and producer Cameron Deyell. In this hands on full-day Masterclass, you’ll take recordings in natural environments and co-create an original track using UniSC’s world-class studio facilities.
Known for work with Missy Higgins, Lior, SIA and avant-punk band Liars, Cameron shares insights from decades in the industry, Participants will learn how to write quickly, improvise, collaborate, use cutting edge technology and work in response to the natural environment.
Perfect for musicians, sound designers and experimental artists ready to push creative boundaries.
International Residency Experience in the Heart of Helsinki
Applications close 8 July
Spend three months immersed in Finland’s creative landscape with the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP). Offering a fully funded three-month residency with $12,500 to support your practice. Based on the historic Suomenlinna Island and at Helsinki’s Cable Factory, HIAP provides time, space and support for research, experimentation and cross-disciplinary exchange. Open to visual artists, curators and creatives working in dance, theatre, literature and music, the program connects residents with the local creative community and culminates in an optional Open Studios event.
WORKSHOP
Tidal Motion: Boat Tour and Hydrophonics Workshop is presented by Dr Leah Barclay as part of Floating Land. Offering a guided boat tour and hands on hydrophone (underwater microphone) workshop on Noosa River.
5 July
FUNDING
Adelaide Fringe Fund Grants support artists, venues, producers and marginalised communities to participate in world-renowned, annual arts festival Adelaide Fringe.
Applications close 1 August
FUNDING
Arts and Disability Initiative supports d/Deaf and disabled artists and arts workers with funding of $30,000 to develop a new work, build their practice, skills and networks.
Applications close 8 July
EOI: Melt Festival - Queer arts and culture
EOI: City of Moreton Bay Outdoor Gallery curatorial opportunity
ART PRIZE: Mosman Art Prize
EOI: Open call for artist contributions at Waterfront Brisbane
ART PRIZE: Hornsby Art Prize 2025
EOI: Show your artwork supersized throughout Sydney
ART PRIZE: 2025 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award
ART PRIZE: Mosman Art Prize
OPERA
A rare chance to see Opera Australia’s La Bohème live at The Events Centre Caloundra.This iconic tale of bohemian love follows four friends and a chance meeting that changes everything, set to Puccini’s unforgettable score in a world-class production.
2 August
THEATRE
Petrol & Repairs: Script Excerpts & Conversation is an interactive spoken word theatre work-in-progress showing by Ben Burns, exploring why we run out of fuel and how to survive a breakdown. Showing at Blackbox Theatre as part of The Takeover Project.
No RSVPs necessary, July 23.
EXHIBITION
Oops, I Arted! by Jenny Wynter opens at Arts Post with an exhibition and stand-up comedy set. Featuring ceramics, watercolour cartoons, sketches and mixed media, the show playfully explores motherhood, mental health and the beauty of imperfection.
12 July
EXHIBITION OPENING: NAIDOC Exhibition Opening Event at Munimba Ja
EVENT: Sunshine Coast NAIDOC Gala Dinner
GIG: TIMOTHY FAIRLESS - Album Launch at GLÓR
FESTIVAL: SPARK Ipswich
THEATRE: MACBETH
Image credits (from top): Very Disco, Darren Blackman, 2025, 1000cm x 53cm. Image courtesy of the artist; Photo by Kathryn Deyell. Courtesy of Cameron Deyell; Image via Unsplash; Image by Tidal Motion. Courtesy of Leah Barclay via Noosa Regional Gallery; Image via Unsplash; Image courtesy of Creative Australia; Cathy-Di Zhang (Musetta) and cast in La Bohème. Photo by Jeff Busby; Photo by Cynthia Lee; Image courtesy of Jenny Wynter.
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