There’s always plenty of arts in our city. Here’s HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column to prove it. 

An extraordinary duo of Greek musicians who now call Istanbul home will be at Smiths Alternative on March 5. Provocatively named NikoTeini, they are Niko Papageorgiou on the lavta (lute) and Foteini Kokkala on the kanonaki (zither). The two virtuosi lean more towards the traditions of the eastern than western Mediterranean. 

Soprano Emma Mauch will be tugging at the heartstrings as she plays the tragic role of Sister Angelica and sings Senza mamma in Puccini’s famous opera of the same name. It’s really an all-star cast of local singers from National Opera and marks Puccini’s 100th birthday this year, so they’ll be pulling out all the stops. Albert Hall, March 7-10. 

We Gotta Get Out of This Place is the name of the 60th anniversary tour of The Animals, which is said to be the UK band’s final tour of Australia. The Playhouse, March 8. 

Canberra Writers Festival will move from winter to spring, making this the only Australian capital city to host a writers festival in the last quarter of the year and ensuring that the event is positioned for new releases and the usual late-year flood of new publications. The new dates are October 23-27. 

The National Portrait Gallery will host Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander artist Dylan Mooney to transform the façade of the building into a giant digital canvas via a live-streamed drawing performance so that Canberrans be able to watch his drawings happen in real time on a very large screen. Nightly, March 1-March 11. 

The Q The Locals season at Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre begins with Happy Meals, Happy Kids, written and directed by Jade Breen. Described as “Breakfast Club on the edge of the apocalypse”, this new work sees a group of friends gather in the crumbling remains of a fast-food restaurant desperate to finish their school project. But it’s no ordinary project – on it may depend the fate of the planet. The Q, March 7-9. 

The 2024 Palestinian Film Festival Australia is full of fierce comment, raw humour and history. The opening film, Alam, tells the story of a Palestinian teen who undergoes a political awakening sparked by a pretty, outspoken girl who has just joined his school. Dendy Cinemas, March 8-10.