Arts and culture in Canberra: galleries, theatre, and live music

Canberra's cultural infrastructure is uniquely privileged by its status as the national capital — the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Australian War Memorial, and the National Library create a cultural concentration per capita that no other Australian city approaches, all within a compact city centre accessible by bicycle or on foot.

National Gallery of Australia — the NGA holds the national collection of Australian art and one of the world's most important collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, alongside the international collection that includes Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles (purchased controversially in 1973 for $1.3 million, now valued at more than $350 million). The Sculpture Garden and the changing blockbuster exhibitions complement the permanent collection.

Australian War Memorial — the AWM at the end of Anzac Parade is simultaneously a national shrine, a museum of Australian military history, and one of the most visited cultural institutions in Australia. The new galleries, the Last Post Ceremony (conducted every day at 5pm), and the aircraft hall that includes Lancaster bomber G for George create an experience that is profoundly moving regardless of one's view of the conflicts it memorialises.

Enlighten Festival (March) — the annual light festival that projects artworks onto the facades of the national institutions (NGA, National Portrait Gallery, Old Parliament House) during Canberra's autumn evenings creates a distinctly Canberran cultural event that has become one of the most attended outdoor cultural festivals in Australia.

Canberra Theatre Centre and live music — the Theatre Centre at Civic provides the mainstream performing arts programme, while the smaller venues (The Street Theatre, Harmonie German Club, BentSpoke Brewing) sustain the live music and independent performing arts ecosystem that the university and public service population supports.

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