Art Not Apart is a street festival held regularly throughout the year in the spaces surrounding New Acton, attracting a variety of Canberran artists and performers. Don’t allow the pretentiousness of the event’s marketing to discourage you: Art Not Apart proves to be an enjoyable day out for families, young people and arty folk alike. While there is a strong creative focus at the festival, New Acton delivers in providing entertainment and activities for all interests, with market stalls, live music, slam poetry performances and art exhibitions just a handful of the events on offer: there was so much to do that attendees benefited from planning ahead.

Art tied together the many areas of the festival, in particular white mesh sculptures featured throughout the stages as well as an abundance of colour: striped beach chairs surrounded the central stage while bright graffiti punched through once-grey walls. No space was left barren and you only had to walk a few feet to arrive at something different and new.

For families and creatives the public paste-up wall was a highlight as kids and grownups got to see their drawings made into street art on the spot. Ninja turtles, cats and rocket ships adorned the previously blank wall whilst further down the laneway artists including Mike Watt painted walls live in front of crowds, providing a dynamic space to sit back and relax.

Two stages played host to film festivals on the day including Palace Electric’s French film festival and the short film festival, both of which provided welcome respite from the jostling laneway crowds. Meanwhile on the central stage there was a constant rotation of live bands and poets, including Canberra local Raphael Kabo, who captivated the audience with humorous references to the ubiquitous street art that populates Civic (in particular the giant goon bag of Garema Place).

Art Not Apart explores the connections between audience and art. The day works to encourage the public to engage with art, but its let-down in this mission by its overly-intellectual marketing scheme. If you headed along anyway you were bound to have a great time, and that’s what matters in the end, right?

Bio: Elizabeth has previously published reviews of bars, nightclubs and art exhibitions online. She currently writes reviews and essays.

ALEV is an evening of singing, dancing and funk music at Kremlin Bar occurs semi-frequently, and showcases Canberra’s burlesque, drag and music scene. It’s a garish evening filled with incredible performances by confident singers, musicians, dancers and entertainers who entice and delight the crowd. It’s the type of fiery performance that sets You Are Here apart from other cultural festivals: it’s bold, brash and unafraid of its audience’s perceptions. Despite the fact that before Friday night I knew nothing of burlesque (except that Dita Von Teese is the postergirl for it) I came away from the performances amazed and wishing the evening didn’t end so early.

The glamorous host Melina Fahrenheit brought charisma to the stage and order to the crowd: when the audience was lamely quiet she called for cheers and when they wouldn’t be silent she would tell them to shutup.

Confidence was the main attraction as pride and allure met in sensual performances by the burlesque dancers. The costumes varied hugely: one performance involved a literal dance with the devil (in the form of a hand puppet) whilst another used giant feather fans and vajazzling. Never in my life have I seen so many pasties in the one place, and yet it was awesome. Everyone in the bar cheered for more as each item of clothing was removed and screamed with delight as the performers came closer to nudity.

Local Canberra funk band ZoOpaGOo played on the night and got the crowd psyched up with their infectious tunes. Most of the bar leapt to their feet to dance along with the band, with the lead singer being particularly involved with the audience as he danced through the crowd. Minor issues with the sound setup did not distract the singers or dancers who ignored the occasional volume discrepancies and it only made the audience more rowdy.

Ultimately, ALEV is the perfect example of what You Are Here is all about: showcasing the wonderful and diverse arts scene that exists in Canberra. ALEV was an awesome night and I would recommend that anyone with even a passing interest in burlesque, sensuality, drag or just a fun night out, heads along to their next event.

On once during You Are Here – Friday, 15 March 2013 — ALEV is held semi-frequently at Kremlin Bar throughout the year. Facebook page is here

- Elizabeth has previously published reviews of bars, nightclubs and art exhibitions online. She currently writes reviews and essays for TheSemicircle.wordpress.com and tweets from @elizabethivy_

Upon arrival at Art, Not Apart I spotted crotchet rugs scattered with cushions and striped deck-chairs which were all too inviting on such a sunny day. I stopped a while to listen to the eclectic Goji Berry Jam and peruse my brown paper program. Some walked by quizzically, unaware of Art, Not Apart’s existence until they stumbled right upon it. Others held their programs at odd angles deciphering the map and still more were just happy to read a copy of the Saturday paper on a deckchair in the sun to the accompaniment of tunes.

Venturing into Kendall Lane theatre to see a short film about families, myself and some others present were puzzled by the appearance of an MTV clip of the ‘Lonely Boy’ music video by The Black Keys. After a few minutes the one of the film’s directors came to our aid and ‘Always the Son’ assumed its rightful place on screen. What followed was a moving tale about the nature of families and, in particular, the turbulence that comprises some father-son relationships. Perhaps most remarkable about this particular short film is that it was shot entirely on an iPhone 4 and yet from the wide-angle landscape scenes and picture quality you’d never know unless you were told.

When I emerged from the theatre, everywhere I looked, people were engaged in art. Some were transforming wooden boards into spray-painted masterpieces while others attached small balls of Styrofoam to wire frames creating cloud-like sculptures. T-shirts painted by little fingers hung from a tree while children and adults alike were entranced by the beautifully quirky handmade ‘Podkins’ – a collection of hand and machine-sewn soft toys with names like ‘Cecil’.

Photo by Adam Thomas

After eating some tasty strawberry gelato against a backdrop of ‘Tall Poppies’ by the Joe Oppenheimer Band and picking up some bargain-priced journals from Loom a loudspeaker announced another short film screening – ‘The Telegram Man’. It gave a sobering contrast to the frivolities outside the theatre – even the free popcorn seemed less appetising – and yet its unassuming sadness gave the day beauty and poignancy. As I turned down Kendall Lane to leave, stepping over newly drawn chalk figures as I went, I wished Art, Not Apart was on tomorrow so that I could once again immerse myself in the bands, films, poets, craftsmen/women and artists in attendance today.