The North Shore’s popular Emerge Festival is back this spring from 1 September – 11 October with a collection of colourful and creative COVID-safe community events to celebrate the emergence of spring.

This year’s festival features a series of smaller events including art exhibitions, workshops, food and drink, outdoor activities, digital events and plenty for the kids.

“Emerge Festival is a time when the north shore comes alive and emerges from winter to enjoy the sunshine and outdoor activities and discover new groups and activities. In these difficult and uncertain times, it’s all the more important for us to support local and I’m delighted that the Emerge Festival is providing the opportunity to do just that,” Mayor Giles-Gidney said.

Enjoy connecting with nature in a guided torchlight bush walk, pre schoolers bush scramble and orienteering taster sessions. Events for the body and soul include guided meditation, a health and wellness day and ageless Taekwondo.

Food and drink lovers will delight in a virtual steak and Shiraz barbeque class, cask conditioned real ale festival and gin distillery tour.

The kids can learn new skills in music, coding, STEM and baseball workshops while culture vultures will enjoy exhibitions, films and ceramics classes. The popular Pet Festival has gone digital this year too.

Willoughby City Council is working with event organisers to ensure events are COVID-safe. Keep an eye on the website for changes. See the full list of events and find out more at www.emergefestival.com.au

The Incinerator Art Space Willoughby. 2 Small St, Willoughby NSW 2068

Minka Gillian with our Penny Pedersen

Minka Gillian with our Penny Pedersen discussing Minka's Mind Garden exhibition at the Incinerator in Willoughby. Enter the thought process of an artist through Mind Garden, an exhibition addressing themes surrounding nature, sexuality, vulnerability and ultimately the human condition. Mind Garden is an ambitious imaginary internal landscape of immersive hanging sculptures, floor and wall pieces and works on paper by Minka Gillian. The gallery is open and practicing COVID-19 social distancing measure

Barbara Hill with Simon Baker

Bold Horizons organises events that are open to all-comers as well as tailored events for schools, Scouts and Guides, corporate or social groups. Our events all involve an element of navigation and may include orienteering and rogaining or be focused on building navigation skills for the Duke Of Edinburgh, Hillary Challenge or similar activities. We are based in Sydney but happy to travel (after all we love getting out and about!). Please drop us a line or give us a call and we can talk about your next adventure and how Bold Horizons can assist. During each school term we conduct the Saturday Orienteering Series across northern Sydney. This is classic orienteering and a great way to develop navigation skills, build fitness, explore Sydney and have some fun. The series is open to all – no experience is necessary. Click on the Saturday Orienteering Series link (under the Events tab) for full details.

Kate Weber with Jeremy from Creative Sounds

Creative Sounds Studios is owned and operated by professional musicians for whom playing and teaching music is a passion. Our mission is to give students the tools and ability to express themselves creatively, as well as providing the opportunity to work together in an environment where they feel comfortable. Long-term, our goal is to build a community of professionally trained musicians with a culture of working together and supporting one another. As working musicians, we derive huge amounts of satisfaction from playing, writing and performing music, and we seek to provide our students with the opportunity to pursue this dream

Our Geoff Stanwell and Sally Shepard with suicide impacted Matt Caruana: Hear how an attempted suicide changed the lives of Matt and those around him.
Sally Shepherd and Geoff Stanwell were blown away by the number of listeners who reacted to Matt Caruana’s frank candid emotional powerful story in studio on Wednesday the 26th August 2020. Matt continues his work as guest speaker for the youth of today who go through depression, anxiety. Seeing no hope, deciding to end their lives is not the answer as Matt Caruana will attest to. Listen to how he was 12 years old and it was then when he set the path to suicide luckily he came out of this inspired to tell his story, Listen to the journey of one young man who is blessed to be with us today. Parts 1 and 2.following/.