Grand Day Out at Tuggeranong Arts Centre

On the first Saturday of the September school holidays, Tuggeranong Arts Centre will be buzzing with free activities for the whole family—from grandparents, mums and dads to kids and teens. Book into a structured art, dance or drama class, or drop in and explore a range of spontaneous art-making activities. Or simply relax by the lake with a cuppa while enjoying live music and dance on TAC’s outdoor stage.

Free and all are welcome. Bookings are required for some activities. Register your attendance online for the chance to win one of four family passes to kids theatre show  Especially on Birthdays  on 30 September. On the event day, have your tickets scanned at reception to enter the draw. Winners will be announced from the main stage at 1.00 pm and prizes must be collected on the day.

TAC Taster Classes
Enrol your young one in a Fresh Funk class and give them a taste of TAC’s flagship dance program. Participants will learn a hip-hop dance routine with program tutors and get a feel for this popular, energetic style of dancing. Bookings required for classes taking place at 11:30 am and 12:30 pm in Dance Studio 1 (downstairs) Click here to book

Enrol in an Art class for a taste off TAC’s term-based art classes for kids. For Grand Day Out, teacher Gina Chapman will help kids through the process of cutting, gluing, painting, and decorating their very own spring garden scene. Bookings required for classes at 10:30 am and 11:30 am and 12:30 pm in the Art Workshop (downstairs) Click here to book

Try our Funky Fairytales drama class with Daniel Streatfield, where participants will play theatre sports, improvise and enjoy role-playing games. Bookings are required for one class at 11:30 am in the Theatre (access from the top of the stairs). Click here to book

Always popular, drop in for collaborative music-making with Drummers not Plumbers! Explore different rhythms through body percussion exercises and simple melodies using colour coded chord sequences and chimes. Drop-in sessions start at 10:30 am and 11:30 am, suitable for kids and carers, upstairs in The Space.

Outdoor Activities
Outside in Creative Corner, young children and their carers can get creative together with a fun, hands-on mural-making activity. Help create a colourful mural composition using vinyl shapes, or explore your creativity with chalk and oil pastels. There’s also a fun fish-making activity, where little artists can use colourful pipe cleaners to create their own quirky underwater creatures. Drop-in activity, suitable for kids and carers. 10am-2pm, Outside by the Lake

In the Courtyard, you can help bring TAC’s giant Murray Cod scupluture, Mandji to life by creating coiled weaving or stitching woven circles together to form it’s skin. Drop-in activity, suitable for all ages. 10am-2pm, in the Courtyard near Creative Corner (outside)

The Lakeside Stage will come to life with an exciting program of performances from local artists, community groups and music students from Gugan Gulwan. Enjoy a vibrant mix of music, dance and circus, with performances by Fresh Funk, Belly Up, South Canberra Wind Orchestra, Sing with Toby and Warehouse Circus.

Exhibitions
Take a moment of peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Day Out and explore Gallery 1 upstairs, where you can discover the work of Lizette Richards. Admire jewellery and sculptural works inspired by place, memory and landscape in Carried Moments, an exhibition that invites you to slow down, look closely and reflect. Quiet Space and exhibition.

In Weaving the Coast, Christianne Keller celebrates the distinctive coastal environment cherished by many Canberrans and demonstrates how waste materials can be transformed into enduring art. Exhibition in Gallery 2.

In Fast Furniture, Georgia and Ben Claridge explore the meaning of home and the fluid boundary between private and public space through the compelling lens of the miniature. Using the familiar language of flatpack furniture, the work invites reflection on how industrialisation shapes the way we construct, curate, and express identity. Drop-in to see the exhibtion in the Foyer Gallery.