The calendar is full of musical events, including the Big Chill Festival, a biennial Bach Festival, Musica Viva, and a month-long Eisteddfod program. Orchestras, rock and jazz bands, and world-renowned musicians of all ages perform at NECOM and other venues, including UNE, licensed clubs and pubs, heritage buildings and wineries.
Drama and musical productions are another flourishing dimension of the city’s rich performing arts scene. Theatres are rarely dark here with amateur and professional companies, UNE Theatre Studies, schools and colleges producing shows, and high-profile touring companies, stopping by on their national tours.
Armidale’s performing arts venue, the Hoskins Centre, is a creative arts complex with a state-of-the-art theatre, rehearsal rooms, art studios and exhibition space. The Armidale School (TAS) recently threw open the centre’s doors to the wider community and now offers a varied public arts program of theatre, music and visual arts. Professional productions by some of Australia’s most exciting companies, such as the Sydney Theatre Company, have featured in the annual season program. Hoskins is also home base for local fledging professional theatre company Felt Tip, the Armidale Drama & Musical Society and the Armidale branch of the Association of Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (ADFAS). With its stylish, convenient facilities and welcoming atmosphere, it’s no wonder Hoskins is also a popular venue for conferences, functions, workshops, lectures and art exhibitions.
The New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale is an enjoyable and inspiring place for visitors of all ages to while away couple of hours. The museum is the custodian of around 5000 works of art, including the Howard Hinton, Chandler Coventry and NERAM collections.
