Here’s arts editor HELEN MUSA’s latest Ats in the City column.

Sir Tony Robinson, beloved for his part in Blackadder and widely admired as a historian and storyteller, brings his lifelong love of history to Australia and NZ in a tour that shares laughs, reflections and behind-the-scenes tales from a remarkable career. The Playhouse, February 23.

Enlighten Festival will shine across Canberra from February 28 with its signature blend of art, light and ideas, transforming the city with large-scale projections, performances and public events; highlights include Luminous Ideas at the Canberra Theatre Centre; Leonardo da Vinci, 500 Years of Genius; Lights! Canberra! Action! and Symphony in the Park, alongside the Enlighten Beyond program. 

Musica Viva Australia presents A Winter’s Journey, a performance that merges music, storytelling and visual art. Olivier Award-winning tenor Allan Clayton and pianist Kate Golla are joined by director Lindy Hume and videographer David Bergman, whose animated screens draw on works by the late Fred Williams. Llewellyn Hall, February 27.

The 2026 Canberra Art Fair invites working artists to dive into a weekend in May of making, learning and spectacle, featuring the city’s biggest Paint Party, live portraiture, rotating canvases, workshops and a gala night Paint and Sip event. Artists are encouraged to participate, demonstrate, teach or propose new creative activities to canberraartfair@gmail.com 

You Are Here celebrates the opening of its new Civic headquarters, located above King O’Malley’s Irish pub, establishing a shared space for exhibitions, events and collaborative projects. The City Walk base builds on earlier pop-up successes and signals an expanded future for artist-led programming in the city.

Prelude is a two-day immersive workshop led by visual artist Anthea da Silva, poet Kathy Kituai and movement artists Viv Rogis and Elizabeth Cameron Dalman. The program invites participants of all experience levels. At Mirramu Creative Arts Centre, 849 Lake Road, Bungendore, February 21-22.

Rising Tide, a new exhibition in Kiama by Canberra artist Alexander Boynes, brings together paintings, drawings and a moving image collaboration with an original score by cellist and composer Tristen Parr. Sevenmarks Gallery, February 14-March 14.