Unspoken Words Poetry Book Club meets on the fourth Monday of each month to celebrate the immense diversity and exciting evolution of poetry. All are welcome and meetings are casual.

WHAT: Poetry
WHEN: Monday 22 October, 6:30pm
WHERE: Better Read Than Dead
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

A man has fallen to his death from a police station window. Did he jump or was he pushed? The cops want a cover up, but first they have to contend with an unlikely detective – a certified lunatic with a knack for impersonation. This is a side-splitting classic satire featuring an all-star, all-female cast led by some of the country’s funniest comedians

WHAT: Theatre
WHEN: Monday 22 October, 6:30pm
WHERE: Sydney Opera House
HOW MUCH: $83-$120, more details here

Australians are taking the initiative with youth mental health and suicide, creating and leading strategies that are already making an enormous difference. Sydney Ideas brings together a panel of community heroes to discuss their approaches to tackling youth mental health challenges in the 21st century.

WHAT: Panel talk
WHEN: Tuesday 23 October, 6-7:30pm
WHERE: Maclaurin Hall, Manning Rd, Camperdown
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is back for another year. Discover some of the most exciting contemporary small sculptures by artists from Australia and beyond.

WHAT: Art prize
WHEN: 21 Oct – 10 Nov
WHERE: 536 New South Head Road, Double Bay
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Inspired by the artist’s experience of a life-saving kidney transplant, this visually rich four-part work explores the transformative experience of chronic illness, treatment and recovery. This work brings together video installation, virtual reality, medical procedures and live performance to invite us inside John A Douglas’ physical experience, witnessing the wonder and terror of the medicalised human body.

WHAT: Performance event
WHEN: 24-28 October
WHERE: Carriageworks
HOW MUCH: $20, more details here

JFF Classics 2018 returns to the Art Gallery of New South Wales with a free 16mm & 35mm film program. This year’s program, PASSION AND OBSESSION, features works adapted from novels by celebrated authors such as Junichiro Tanizaki to Kyoka Izumi.

WHAT: Film
WHEN: Wednesday 24 October, 2pm & 7:15pm
WHERE: AGNSW
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

‘Emerging’ and early ‘career’ are terms that are thrown around a lot to describe a stage in an artistic career, this panel discussion brings together artists that would be defined as ’emerging’ to discuss the road to starting an art practice, and whether they think these terms truly define or describe them.

WHAT: Panel discussion
WHEN: Thursday 25 October, 5:30-7pm
WHERE: UNSW Art & Design
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Each year the ACP facilitates a dialogue between an Australian and an International artist with the aim to foster and expand meaningful engagement and deeper global connections. In 2018, the artists are Izabela Pluta (Sydney) and Utako Shindo (Tokyo). This exhibition shows the outcome of this dialog, as the artists explore ideas of space with each other.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: Thursday 25 October, 6-8pm
WHERE: Australian Centre for Photography
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

The term ‘From Away’ is used in rural New South Wales to describe an individual not native to the town. This new series of photographic work by Gabrielle Lo Presti, is a look into these towns and what is considered commonplace through the lens of an outsider.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: Friday 26 October, 6-8pm
WHERE: China Heights Gallery
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

From an egg and spoon rave, to a three legged dance off and a sport physio chill room, this edition of MCA’s Artbar will have you getting your game on. Curated by Chris Fox and Daniel Nimmo, these two will be flipping the MCA on its head for a night of competitive art fun.

WHAT: Art party
WHEN: Friday 26 October, 7-11pm
WHERE: The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
HOW MUCH: $20-$26, more details here

Nothing is as valuable as you brings together a group of artists whose practices use three dimensional materials to create their work. From ceramics to textiles and neon light, each artwork acts as a way of challenging, exploring and testing notions of how the material can express a moment of one’s life, learning and journey.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: Saturday 27 October, 1:30-4pm
WHERE: Peacock Gallery Auburn
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Bringing the best of the club together with Australia’s finest queer artists, Day for Night returns to finish Liveworks Experimental Art Festival with a bang. For this year’s edition, some of the most trailblazing senior artists have been brought together with a new generation of performers, DJs and troublemakers.

WHAT: Art party
WHEN: Saturday 27 October, 12pm-12am
WHERE: Carriageworks
HOW MUCH: $40, more details here

Scum Ballet is a choreography for five dancers. A patchwork of power, desire, violence and tenderness, this performance explores the female body as a place that is sympathetic to secrets, magic, cruelty and transformation.

WHAT: Performance
WHEN: Saturday 27 October, 2-3pm
WHERE: Artspace
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Until the Thaw is an evening of performances, readings and screenings at Firstdraft, featuring artists from Australia and beyond such as Holly Childs, J.G.Biberkopf, Umber Majeed, Enoch Mailangi, Autumn Royal, Ivey Wawn and Mark Mailler.

WHAT: Performance event
WHEN: Sunday 28 October, 5-8pm
WHERE: Firstdraft
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here

Recreation II is an exhibition of new paintings by Kyra Henley. Created from images sources from magazines and books of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, she recontextualises these images in her paintings to create unfamiliar landscapes of familiar images.

WHAT: Exhibition opening
WHEN: 26-28 October, 5pm
WHERE: Lilac City, 7 Randal St, Surry Hills
HOW MUCH: FREE, more details here