This weekend, head to the Royal Adelaide Show as it celebrates 100 years at the Wayville showgrounds, or discover Adelaide’s mid-century architecture on a modernist walking tour.
Royal Adelaide Show
This year is a big one for the Royal Adelaide Show as it marks 100 years at the Adelaide Showground in Wayville. To celebrate this important milestone, Wayville will host Channel 10’s Antiques DownUnder, featuring family heirlooms, rare collectibles and everything in between. This year’s Royal Show also sees all the fan favourites, including the famous Showbags Hall, arts and crafts, cookery and animal competitions, show jumping and dressage, motocross and monster trucks, tasting pavilions, rides, demonstrations, petting zoos, live performances, and the much-anticipated fireworks shows. The Royal Adelaide Show runs from August 30 to September 7 at the Adelaide Showground, with tickets available online or at the box office.
ACSA open day
Head along to the Adelaide Central School of Art’s open day this Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Wander the historic hallways of ACSA’s Glenside home, delve into student life, and learn about the art school’s study options. There’ll be open studios, campus tours, hot food and baked goods from the ACSA student association, as well as an art book sale and a student exhibition. Prospective students can also visit SALA Feature Artist Sue Kneebone’s solo exhibition, The Last Tide Waiter, in Adelaide Central Gallery, with Sue giving a free artist talk at 12.30pm.
Modernist walking tour
Discover Adelaide’s ground-breaking mid-century architecture on one of Modernism Adelaide’s regular walking tours. Led by modernism expert Stuart Symons, these popular guided walks highlight Adelaide’s unique architecture from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including Australia’s first curtain-wall high-rise, as well as iconic International Style and Brutalist buildings. Beginning at Faraway House on Franklin Street, these guided walks cost $20 per person and take place over 90 minutes. The next tour will be held at 11am on Sunday, August 31.
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The Magic Flute at Her Majesty’s Theatre
Mozart’s iconic opera, The Magic Flute, will be transformed this weekend in a world-first collaboration between State Opera South Australia, Opera Hong Kong and the Beijing Music Festival. Set in a dystopian multiverse inspired by Hong Kong’s subway system, this 18th-century, German-language opera combines Mozart’s iconic score with Chinese cultural traditions. The Magic Flute is directed by Shuang Zou and stars David Greco as Papageno, Helena Dix as the First Lady, Danielle Bavli as the Queen of the Night and Sofia Troncoso as Pamina, while Dane Lam will conduct the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. This production is on at Her Majesty’s Theatre until September 6.
Old School Community Garden SALA exhibition
Emerging artists Liesel Underwood and Jaffa (Jennifer Rutherford) will be exhibiting their garden-themed works this weekend at Green Thoughts. Held as part of the 2025 SALA Festival at the Old School Community Garden in Stirling, this exhibition explores our lifelong relationship with gardens, from childhood memories of climbing trees to creating the perfect rose garden in old age. This exhibition takes place on August 29-31 from 6.30pm-8.30pm on Friday and 10.30am-4.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. Located at 100 Old Mount Barker Road, Stirling, the Old School Community Garden encourages you to grow plants, learn and have fun, with regular gardening sessions throughout the year.
Con open day
Make your way to A DAY AT THE CON this Saturday for a behind-the-scenes look at life at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Held from 9am to 5pm, the open day will feature a range of free workshops, masterclasses and ensemble activities for prospective students across the disciplines of classical performance, jazz performance, music theatre, music education and creative practice. The day concludes with the Beauty and Power concert as part of the Elders After Hours series, which features acclaimed pianist Aura Go and cellist Timo-Veikko Valve. Students who register for A DAY AT THE CON will receive free admission (with a plus one) to the performance.
