Gigs
Alibi, the Octagon.
• Fridays from 10.30pm: Hemi and Bede.
Carousel Bar, 141 Stuart St.
• Fridays 8.30pm-10.30pm: Bill Martin jazz trio.
Isis Lounge, 68 Princes St.
• Thursdays from 8.30pm: Jam night. Fridays from 9pm: Oxo Cubans.
Robbie Burns Pub, 374 George St.
• Thursdays from 8.30pm: Calder Prescott Jazz Quartet.
Rosie's Bar, Victoria Hotel, 137
• St Andrew St. Thursdays 9pm: Open mike night.
Family fun
Cromwell Library, 43 The Mall.
• Wednesdays, 2pm-3pm: Preschool story and craft session. Preschoolers must be accompanied by a caregiver or adult.
Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Pl.
• Sunday, 2pm: Once Upon a Sunday: Family Time. Storyteller Kaitrin McMullan and friends spin magical tales. Celebrating Family History Week. Storypit, free.
• Tuesdays, until September 24, 10.30am: Wriggle and Rhyme: Active Movement for Early Learning Term 3Wednesdays (excluding school holidays), 10.30pm: Pre-school Storytime.
Mosgiel Library, Hartstonge Ave.
• Tuesdays, 11am (excluding school holidays): preschool story time.
• Thursdays, until September 26, 11am: Wriggle and Rhyme: Active movement for early learning, term three, free.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
• Sunday, 11am: ''Dancing Dragons and Timeless Treasures'', Storytelling event. Listen to a selection of traditional Chinese fables and make your own goldfish lantern to hang and bring you good luck. Free, suitable 3-10-year-olds.
• Daily, 10.30am: ''First-flight butterfly release''. Witness the first flight of a butterfly. Tropical Forest. Free with your Discovery World Tropical Forest admission.
• Every Saturday and Sunday until September 22, 3.30pm: ''Hot to chop!'' Investigation Station. Explore how different cultures use chopsticks, discover some fascinating facts behind the culinary creation, and then take part in our chopstick challenge. Atrium Level 1, free.
Port Chalmers Library, 20 Beach St.
• Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am (excludes school holidays): preschool story time.
Visitor Information Centre, 26 Princes St.
• Daily, 10am: Walk Dunedin, inner-city walking tours. Meet at visitor centre.
Music and performance
The Church, Dundas St.
• Fridays 9pm: Salsa music and dancing.
Cromwell Memorial Hall, Melmore Terrace.
• Saturday, 2.30pm: The Antipodes Trio. Tickets, adults $25, Supergold $20 and student/child $5 are available from the Cromwell and Alexandra iSites.
Mosgiel Coronation Hall, 97 Gordon Rd.
• Today, 11am: Daytime Concert Series: ''The Great Crooners''. Tickets $30 (including lunch with the artists). Discounts for groups and regular bookings, phone 0508 266-237.
Otago Museum, Cumberland St.
• Saturday, 1pm: ''Sunny Side Up'' local gospel choir sings live.
St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin.
• Tuesdays, 12.50pm-1.10pm: George Chittenden plays baroque organ music from southern Germany and Austria, to include works by Murchhauser, Poglietti and Pachelbel.
Plays
Allen Hall Theatre, University of Otago, cnr Union and Leith Sts.
• Today and tomorrow: Caged, written by Cassie Sim and directed by Richard Huber
Balclutha Theatrical Society, 4 George St.
• Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, 7.30pm and Sunday, 2pm: The Real Inspector Hound written by Tom Stoppard and directed by Selena Aitken-Boyle. Adults $15 and Students $10.
Globe Theatre, 104 London St.
• Today and Wednesday, 7.30pm, tomorrow and Sunday, 2.30pm and Saturday, 4pm: Where once our voices led: a nostalgic comedy.
Talks and films
University of Otago, Arts Building, Burns 1.
• Tomorrow, 1pm: open lecture ''From Shanty Town Kid to Government Minister in France'' with Dr Azouz Begag, former minister for equal opportunities, France's best known writer of Algerian immigrant origin, novelist, sociologist and screenplay writer.
Dunedin Botanic Garden Information Centre
• Tomorrow, noon: HortTalk: Tapping in to soil nutrient reserves. Ray Annan, master compost tea brewer, shares preliminary results from the use of compost tea over the past three years in Dunedin Botanic Garden and on the Octagon plane trees.
Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Pl.
• Today, 10am-8pm: Bite Me with Dr Mike Leahy: India. From intestinal hitchhikers to a beetle with an arsenal of chemical weaponry, Mike sees and experiences more than he plans to! (Duration 1 hour). Teen Space, City Library. Repeat screenings. Free.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon.
• Saturday, 4pm: Join our tour guide and Brydee Jenkin Strang, NZ Sign Language (NZSL) Interpreter in a tour which will include works in the intriguing exhibition ''Among the Machines'' as well as works in the newly opened nature-study exhibition of flowers from the collection. Free.
• Sunday, 3pm: Flowers: Alan Matchett, curator Dunedin Botanic Garden, will talk on the dual role of the Garden - botanical (species, genus) and sensory (beauty, perfume, memory).
• Sundays throughout August at 2pm: Sundays@2. Free guided tours of the downstairs exhibitions.
Mint Gallery 32 Moray Pl.
• Saturday, 11am: artist floor talk ''On Building Bridges''.
Olveston, 42 Royal Tce, Dunedin.
• Thursdays, 4.30pm: Tours of the Theomin Art Collection. Bookings essential.
• Daily tours at 9.30am, 10.45am, noon, 1.30pm, 2.45pm and 4pm.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
• Daily talks at 2pm through July. Today: Woollen bathing suit. Tomorrow: Whio - New Zealand blue duck. Saturday: Stephen Island wren. Sunday: Operation Pedestal. Monday: Akan gold weights. Tuesday: Queen Liliuokalani's feathered cape. Wednesday: Ta moko - Maori tattooing.
Exhibitions
Aigantighe Art Gallery, 49 Wai-iti Rd, Timaru.
• Until Sunday: ''Towards the Stranding of the Faerie Queen''. Aoraki Polytechnic tutor Michael Armstrong presents recent drawings, paintings and a sculpture on the theme of disasters.
Anneloes Douglas Studio+Gallery, 91 Lower Stuart St.
• Open Monday-Friday noon-5.30pm, Saturday 10am-2pm.
Arrowtown Gallery, 8 Berkshire St.
• 1930s hand-coloured fishing prints by Sir William Jardine Bart.
Art-cut Gallery, 71 Melmore Tce, Old Cromwell Historic Precinct.
• Contemporary art and design, open 10am-4pm.
Brett McDowell Gallery, 5 Dowling St.
• ''Beauty and Desire in Edo Period Japan''.
Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, 21 Centennial Ave, Alexandra.
• Daily, 10am-4pm: ''Behind The Name''. An exhibition exploring the lives and stories of our namesakes (William Bodkin, Russell Henderson, John McCraw and Elizabeth Heafey). Gold coin entry. Until August 25: ''Winter Images''. Photographs by Grahame Sydney, including rare Antarctic pieces. Russell Henderson Gallery.
Dunedin Botanic Garden, Information centre.
• Opens Monday until August 30: ''Colours from a landscape''.
Dunedin International Airport.
• August: Jenufa Waiti ''A Body of Work''
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon.
• Opens Saturday until September 22: ''Nature-study: A Floral Tribute''Until September 8: Saskia Leek, ''Desk Collection''.
• Until September 22: ''The Pleasure Principle - Collecting and Collectors''.
• Until September 22: ''Sir Frank Brangwyn: Captain Winterbottom and the Billiard Room of Horton House''.
• Until November 3: ''Among the machines''.
Eastern Southland Gallery, Gore.
• Until August 11: ''A la mode: Early 19th-Century Fashion Plates''. Open Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm, weekends and public holidays 1pm-4pm.
The Fix, Frederick St.
• Closes tomorrow: Graham Geary, Anna Reid, Sue Hatherley, Jane Hamilton and Jacob Feenstra.
Forrester Gallery, Thames St, Oamaru.
• Until August 11: ''Old New World'' photographs by Mary Macpherson.
Gallery Thirty Three, 33 Helwick St, Wanaka.
• Opens tomorrow until August 22: ''Polished'' featuring glass artists Claudia Borella, Emma Camden and David Murray. Also showcasing ''Central'' jewellery by Lynn Kelly.
Gallery on Blueskin, 1 Harvey St, Waitati.
• Open Wednesday-Sunday, 10.30am-4.30pm.
Koru Gallery, 4 Castle St.
• Closes today: ''Kurawaka''. New works by James York and Amber Bridgman.
• Opens Saturday until August 16: ''Fresh Horizons''. Oamaru stone sculpture by Craig McLanachan.
Margaret Freeman Gallery, 83 Moray Place
• Opens Monday until August 8: Julian Duncan
Milford Galleries Dunedin, 18 Dowling St.
• Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm and Saturday, 11am-3pm.
Milford Galleries Queenstown, 9a Earl St.
• Until August 21: ''Sculpture'', by Martin Selman.
• Until August 21: Engaging in a Lawless Landscape, by Linda Holloway.
Mint Gallery, 32 Moray Pl.
• Gallery open Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5.30pm and Saturday, 10am-4pm.
• Until August 15: ''On Building Bridges'', recent paintings by local artist Jessica Crothall, responding to the Christchurch earthquakes and Colin McCahon. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5.30pm and Saturday, 10am-4pm.
• ''Project Ridebo'', by Dunedin photographer Alex Lovell-Smith.
Nadene Milne Gallery, 16 Buckingham St.
• Until Tuesday: ''Elizabeth Thomson and The Crystal Chain Gang''.
North Otago Museum, 60 Thames St, Oamaru.
• Permanent exhibition: ''Waitaki Landscapes''. OCTA Gallery and Workshop, Old Cromwell Historic Precinct. Ongoing: ''Habit'', an exhibition of street art and graffiti by Francis Lind.
Otago Art Society, Dunedin Railway Station.
• Opens Saturday until September 1: Edinburgh Realty Premier Annual Art Awards. Close to 200 works from South Island artists and OAS members. Open 10am-4pm daily.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
• Sir Edmund Hillary: New Zealander. Stairwell display.
• Until September 15: The Moriori of Rekohu, T'chakat Henu - People of the Land. People of the World Gallery, free.
• Until October 28: ''China's Cultural Minorities: Silk to Silver, Collections from the Shanghai Museum''. Special Exhibitions Gallery. Free.
Owaka Museum, 10 Campbell St, Owaka.
• Until Sunday: ''Paint the Town'', by Unn West. Ongoing: ''Mementos of the South''. Art South Otago. Open Monday-Friday, 9.30am-1pm, 1.30pm-4.30pm. Weekends: 10am-4pm.
The Picture Lounge, 48 Helwick St, Wanaka.
• New Zealand's Photographers' Gallery.
Portobello Gallery, cnr Highcliff and Portobello Rds, Otago Peninsula.
• Open Wednesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm. Various artists.
Quadrant Gallery, Bracken Court, 480 Moray Pl.
• Monday-Friday noon-5.30pm, Saturday 10am-2pm.
Stuart St Potters Co-operative, 14 Lower Stuart St.
• Open Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, Saturdays 9am-3pm.
• Until Saturday: Rosemary McQueen and Riki Julin.
• Opens Monday until August 17: Lisa Simpson and Louise Thompson Parker.
• August 19-31: Lorna Isaac and Anne McLean.
• September 2-14: Jo Howard and Judy Ringland Stewart.
Taieri Gallery, 123 Gordon Rd, Mosgiel.
• Until September 3: Works by local artist Karen Campbell.
The Gallery, Glenfalloch Woodland Gardens.
• Open daily 10.30am-4pm.
Tony Williams Workshop and Gallery, Carnegie Centre, Moray Pl.
• Open Tuesday-Friday 11am-5.30pm, Saturday 11am-2pm.
Waikouaiti Old Post Office Gallery, 152 Main Rd, Waikouaiti.
• Open 1pm-5pm, Wednesday-Friday and Sunday. Paintings by Laura Gregory. Pottery and paintings by Peter Gregory.
Tell us
Promote your event by giving details to the Otago Daily Times. Information must arrive by noon on Tuesday for Thursday's paper. Email playlist@odt.co.nz