Last month, our Darwin correspondent Sophia Hall from Brown’s Mart promised to update us on the Darwin Festival in her July spot…  and not only is she doing that, but she’s also welcoming back Director and Choreographer Rosealee Pearson who spoke with us last year about the development of Song Spirals…  and now here she is talking about the production of that work…   Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, it’s time for the Scandinavian Film Festival again and the Icelandic Film Centre’s, Christof Wehmeieer is in town to tell us all about it…   And then, a special treat for the rest of the show when the Creative Producer for Special Projects at the Royal Botanic Gardens – Kara Ward – takes us on an extended walk & talk through the astounding sensory experience that is Lightscape…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.   If you’d like to hear last October’s conversation with Rosealee Pearson, you can find it HERE -  or just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine… and if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's 55 years since the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, so it makes sense that Helen Simondson from Boola Bardip WA Museum is here to talk about their current To The Moon exhibition which not only features a scale replica of the moon, but an actual piece of the Moon itself…   Arts Access Victoria might not have been around for the Moon landing, but it got its start pretty soon after and Sabina Knox and Geof Robinson will walk & talk us through The Collective, their fiftieth birthday exhibition at the Meta Market…   If you were listening to the show at the start of June you might have heard a conversation with Efren Pamilacan, Artistic Director of the street dance orgnaistion Cypher Culture… well, now you can meet the Executive Director Geoffrey Lim as a follow up to that earlier story…   And finally, in April last year Gabrielle Leah New was here to talk about Reclaim the Crone a performance by a group of ‘dangerous older women’…  well, that show is back, and one of those ‘dangerous older women’ - Karen Berger – is here to give us an update on the new season at Theatre Works…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.   If you’d like to hear the conversation with Cypher Culture Artistic Director Efren Pamilacan it was on the June 3 edition of the show which you’ll find HERE   OR if you’d like to hear an extended version of the walk and talk around the Arts Access Victoria exhibition, you can find that HERE   OR if you’d like to hear Gabrielle Leah New talking about Reclaiming the Crone, she was on the April 17 show last year  and you can find that HERE) -    OR just put Vision Australia Radio Behind the Scenes into your favourite podcast search engine… and if you subscribe, you’ll never have to search for an episode or our bonus material again…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year, Arts Access Victoria turn 50 and to celebrate they’re presenting ‘The Collective’ – an exhibition highlighting half a century of disability justice through art. This July, Disability Pride month, AAV highlights art from their extensive archives, alongside new works by artists working with AAV today. The exhibition is at the Meat Market Stables, North Melbourne, and includes panels and workshops every Friday afternoon. But if you’d like a sneak preview of the exhibition, join AAV Marketing & Communications Coordinator Sabina Knox, Manager of Studios and Mentorships Geof Robinson and artist Deanna as they walk & talk Behind the Scenes’ Presenter Chris Thompson through the spaces and through the history of the organisation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's NAIDOC Week and on this week’s show we’ll chat with First Nations artists from Naarm/Melbourne, Tarndanya/Adelaide and Boorloo/Perth…   We kick off with InSite Arts’ Elena Vereka who’ll catch us up on the latest in her neck of the woods before introducing her local guest artist… muralist Scott Rathman…   Then, we’re back at the Koorie Heritage Trust but this time we’re with Curator Gail Harradine who walks & talks us though their current exhibition; JXSH MVIR: FOREVER I LIVE… (and check out the podcast of the June 24 edition of Behind the Scenes, to hear Public Programmes Coordinator Gemma Jones tell us what else is on at KHT during NAIDOC Week)   After that, we drop in on Ilbijerri Theatre Company’s rehearsals for their latest production, a remounted adaptation of Declan Furbar Gillick’s play Scar Trees and we’ll chat with Director Amy Sole and Producer Joel Stevens…   And finally, we’re back with Yirra Yaakin where they’re in rehearsal for a new production of Brothers Wreck and we’ll catch up with playwright Jada Alberts…   They’re all on this week’s special NAIDOC Week edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liv Satchell is a writer, dramaturg, theatre maker and Co-Artistic Director of Voice in my Hands…  AND as Yuhui Ng Rodriguez from Theatre Network Australia will tell us, she’s also the TNA member of the Month for July.   Then, it’s school holiday time which is why the Young Australian Broadway Chorus is presenting Shrek The Musical (jr) and we’ll catch up with Musical Director Chelsea Plumley…   Then, it’s time for Screens & Streams and this month we’ll start with the Spanish Film Festival which means we say welcome back to Benjamin Zeccola from Palace Films – after which Marc Gracie and I are joined by Luka Gracie who’s not only got some thoughts about Inside Out 2, but is also in the middle of making a short film…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Darwin’s week for the spotlight which means we welcome back Sophia Hall from Brown’s Mart and she’ll be introducing us to her local guest artist Melanie Mununggurr who, amongst other things, is guest Curator for the NT Writers Festival…   Then we’ll check out an opportunity for you to get up close and personal with some puppet making when Golden Scissor Puppets continue their workshop residency at the Motley Bauhaus and we’ll meet the person behind the puppets, Opal…   After that, with only a fortnight to go before NAIDOC Week, it’s seems like a good time to visit the Koorie Heritage Trust where Gemma Jones who’s in charge of Public Programmes will let us know how many free events and activities they’ll be running over the week…   And finally, if you were a fan of the 60’s UK rock and roll sensations The Animals whose hits like The House of the Rising Sun, We Gotta Get Outta This Place and many more put them on the world stage after only releasing two singles… them you’ll want to know about The Animals Final Encore Tour playing venues all over the country and we get to have a chat with founding member and drummer John Steel…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We start this week by saying welcome back to Helen Simondson from WA Museum Boola Bardip for our regular Perth wrap which will include the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts presentation of When I Am Not Here which, you might recall we spoke about when it was in Melbourne, so we’ll catch up again with choreographer Shelley Lasica to find what her 40 year retrospective is doing in Perth…   Meanwhile, at Theatre Works, Francis Greenslade is showing us that in addition to being a well known and popular actor, he is also a writer and director…  and he’s here to talk about his production of The Platypus…   Then, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is about to pay tribute to legendary composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach with What the World Needs Now at Hamer Hall and the equally legendary Caroline O’Connor is here to tell us which selections from his amazing songbook she’ll be singing…   And finally, at Chapel off Chapel, Finucane and Smith are back with a new production of their not-quite-new play The Exotic Lives of Lola Montez and we’ll chat with playwright Jackie Smith, director Moira Finucane and actor Caroline Lee…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elena Vereka from Insite Arts gets us going this week with her Adelaide wrap-up and a guest local multi-media and video artist - Juha Vanhakartano   Meanwhile, at LaMama, there’s about to be Blood in the Water and to find out why, we’ll drop in on rehearsals for a chat with playwright Jorja Bentley and director Tansy Gorman…   And finally, a bit of music to take us out… singer/songwriter Rowena Wise has committed Senseless Acts of Beauty – which is her new album and in between chatting with her we’ll listen to a couple of tracks…   It’s all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steph Speirs from Theatre Network Australia is here to kick off June with a bit of circus news AND to introduce us to the TNA Member of the Month – Efren Pamilican , Artistic Director of the community focused street dance initiative Cypher Culture… Then we’re off to Theatre Works for a chat with playwright Jodi Gallagher who’s written Ghosts, a new adaptation of the 1882 play by Henrik Ibsen… After that, we hop over to Red Stitch Theatre Company to meet Director Tom Healey and actors Sarah Sutherland and Jack Twelvetree to find out about their current production of Blackout Songs… And finally, it’s Screens & Streams; our regular movie review segment with Marc Gracie… They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sophia Hall from Brown’s Mart is back for a round up of all things Darwin and to introduce her local guest artist… Creative Director of the Garrmalang Festival and Event Producer for the Sugarbag Festival, Ben Graetz…   Then Back to Back is back with a new show called Multiple Bad Things and we’ll meet Co-Director Tamara Searle…   After that we’re up the Western Highway to meet Dr Greer Honeywill, curator of Lost in Palm Springs, Art Gallery of Ballarat’s latest exhibition – a multi-disciplinary response to the mid-century landscape and architecture of Palm Springs, California… and right here in Australia…   And finally, some music from violinist, vocalist and composer Véronique Serret who has a new album called Migrating Bird…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WA Museum Boola Bardip’s Helen Simondson gets us going tonight with her round up of what’s been happening in Perth before she invites us to meet Mark Haslam who’s here to tell us about Fake an immersive, electronic visual theatre experience that promises to be different every night…   Then we’re off to the Butterfly Club for a bit of Cabaret with Imogen Whittaker who’s turned her love of British romcoms, Tim Minchin, Missy Higgins and having the last word into a show called, fittingly, The Last Word…   Meanwhile, Outer Urban Projects is about to undertake a metro-Melbourne tour of their acclaimed production – The Audition – and we’ll meet performer Evangelos Arabatzis …   And finally, Confined, the annual exhibition of works by First Nations artists who’ve experienced incarceration is back for its fifteenth year and that means it’s time for our annual walk and talk through the gallery with Founder and Creative Director Kent Morris…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our South Australia correspondent, Elena Vereka from InSite Arts is here for the second show of the month with her guest local artist, playwright Sarah Peters who’ll tell us about her new play, An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Hugs…   Another new play – one we spoke about during its development last year – is Kate Herbert’s Lung and Kate’s back to tell us what’s changed in the lead up to its current LaMama season…   A play that’s not so new is Salty Theatre’s production of The Grinning Man which tells its tale with the help of an old puppeteer, his pet wolf and a blind girl who’s played by blind actor Lily Cascun who’ll tell us more about this gothic, horror, musical fairytale…   Meanwhile, it’s time for a Family Cultural Day at McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park with a great programme of First Nations’ musicians and storytellers and we’ll chat with Project Coordinator Nikki Browne…   And finally, it’s St Kilda Film Festival time again and we’ll meet Fred Gesha, the First Peoples Arts Festivals and Events Officer to find out about Through the Moving Lens of Protest and Resistance,  a special event at the Espy…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the first show for May and for our Theatre Network Australia spot, we’ll be meeting TNA Intern Georgie Bright before announcing the TNA Member of the Month for May – St Martins Youth Arts Centre and we chat with Artistic Director Nadja Kostich as well as young performers Sunday, Oscar and Frankie   Then it’s a bumper edition of Screens & Streams…  of course, Marc Gracie will be here to talk about what we’ve seen on our big and small screens this month…   …but before he arrives, we’ll meet Lucie McMahon who’s directed the documentary Things Will Be Different which focuses on the last two residents of the Walker Street Public Housing Estate in Northcote…   …and then we’ll meet Christoph Mucher from the Goethe Institute to find out what we can expect from this year’s German Film Festival…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Guttridge is Senior Producer at Monash performing Arts Centres, so he’s bound to know what’s happening in their programme over the next month or two…   Then, even though Screens & Streams isn’t until next week, it’s hard to turn up the opportunity to chat with film writer turned screenwriter Nick Pinkerton about The Sweet East - his first crack at a feature film…   Meanwhile, Director Kevin Hopkins has been working with poet and playwright Emilie Collier on a new production of her play Once Were Pirates which will be heading off to Prague after a short season in Melbourne…   After that we’re back at Arts House in North Melbourne for The Bridal Lament 哭嫁歌 a genre bending art pop song cycle that reimagines an obsolete ritual of grief… if you’re wondering what that all means, then it’s a good thing that creator Rainbow Chan 陳雋然 is here to explain…   And finally, we say welcome back to Nilgun Guven who’s not quite here to talk about her work as an audio describer of live theatre…  instead, she’ll tell us about a series of workshop she’s running at Arts Centre Melbourne under the heading of Disrupting Sighted Ableism: Call to Action…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's our week to start in Darwin but Sophia Hall is on leave…  never fear, though… Brown’s Mart Associate Artist James Mangohig is deputising and will let us know what’s happening Live on Fridays…   Then I swing by the Abbotsford Convent which is about to celebrate its 20th birthday…  so, it makes sense to catch up with the founding CEO Maggie Maguire and the present day COO John Di Natale…   Meanwhile, in Northcote, we say hi to Rebecca Lister who’ll tell us about On The Couch with Beck Lister, her part-chat show, part-therapy session at Wesley Anne..   After that, Darebin Arts Speakeasy is about to present a new work by The People…  but Peacemongers is more than just a show… it’s also a sit down dinner and Co-Creator and Director Katrina Cornwall will tell us how that works…   And finally, it’ll be ANZAC Day later this week and ASU Productions is presenting their new play Gallipoli: A Story Untold written and directed by Mohammed Hashem… but to find out about it we need to catch up with Mohammed who’s in Egypt…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Third show of the month means we’re saying welcome back to Helen Simondson from WA Museum Boola Bardip and after her Perth round up we’ll also say hi to Shakara Walley who’s written the new Yirra Yaakin show, Songbird.   Then, it’s still Melbourne International Comedy Festival time so let’s put our sleuthing caps on as we try and help Lliam Amor solve an improvised murder in Murder Village.   After that, it’s all music – first up it’s Craig Reardon who’s booking the artists who are bring music back to the Prince Alfred Hotel in Port Melbourne every Friday and Saturday night…   …and then it’s ‘friend of the show’ Adam Simmons who’s here to tell us about the latest issue of the national jazz journal Dingo, and what they’ve got lined up for International Jazz Day…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elena Vereker is here because it’s our week to catch up on all things Adelaide including, of course, her guest local artist and this month it’s multi-award-winning playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer who seems to also now be a novelist…   Then we drop in on Odalala… a rather beautiful exhibition that has taken over Arts House in North Melbourne where a diverse collection of artists explore histories of caste, identity, migration and culture… and Odalala’s Curator Vishal Kumaraswamy walks and talks us through the spaces…   After that, we’re back with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival…  first up it’s the mad scientist from Perth Magnus Danger Magnus whose show Kaboom! mixes explosives with comedy in a room full of kids…  what could possibly go wrong?   And finally, look who’s back… it’s the Blind Bard Beneath the Pink Beret…  filmmaker and serial slam poet Jeremy Moses who’s here to tell us how many poems he’s slamming into his comedy festival show this year….   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.     But wait, there’s more!!! If you’d like to hear the complete Odalala walk & talk conversation with Vishal Kumaraswamy you can find it here…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arts House in North Melbourne has been taken over by ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala  a remarkable exhibition that explores themes of identity, diversity, oppression, and more through video works, sculpture, prints, performances, film screenings, talks and tours created by eight different artists curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy who leads Behind the Scenes presenter Chris Thompson on a fascinating walk & talk through the exhibition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Co-CEO of Theatre Network Australia, Josh Lowe is here to get April rolling and to introduce the TNA Member of the Month, writer, director, dramaturg and performer Andi Snelling.   Director, Kym Staton’s new doco about Julian Assange is called The Trust Fall…  but what does that mean? We’ve got Kym on the line to explain that to us…   And finally, Marc Gracie is here for our latest look at what’s been on our Screens & Streams…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it’s the last show for March then we’re in Darwin to catch up with Sophia Hall from Brown’s Mart where they’ve just launched their 2024 programme… so guess what Sophia’s talking about…   Then let’s get stuck into the Melbourne International Comedy Festival which kicks off this week…   Let’s start with the return of Circus Oz who are back after last year’s sold-out triumph of Non-Stop with a new show, Smash It! and I drop in on rehearsals to chat with Co-Director Nicci Wilks and performers Leo Pentland and Angelique Ross…   Ross Daniels was meant to be here to talk about Ross Daniels Offline, but he was a no-show, so instead we catch up with one of his characters, the irrepressible Swampy…   And finally, who else would come up with a ukulele augmented show called A Day in the Life of a Lesbian Bank Robber apart from Sam Lohs and Rosie Burgess better known at The Tuck Shop Ladies…   They’re all on this week’s edition of Behind the Scenes with Chris Thompson right here on Vision Australia Radio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.