Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts

Richard Watts's Latest Articles

Personal’ by Jodee Mundy Collaborations is being supported by the B ritish Council’s Connections Through Culture programme. The image shows a long-haired woman wearing blue overalls that leave her arms bare, standing half crouch on stage. She is lit by a blue light; behind her, a series of eight green digital lines on a black screen blend and curve around her.
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Connections Through Culture grants grow collaboration across borders

Eighty-four artistic projects have been supported with over $1.4 million in the latest round of the British Council’s Connections Through…

Rory O'Neill as Panti Bliss in THISISPOPBABY's 'If These Wigs Could Talk'. A 56-year-old drag queen in a blonde wig and grey dress gestures emphatically mid-speech. A neon sign of the word 'Panti' is visible behind her.
Features

Panti Bliss on fighting fascism, changing culture and the art of drag

Rory O’Neill, aka Irish drag star Panti Bliss, discusses career longevity and how standing up to the far right inspired…

Inside NORPA’s vision for a new home, The Joinery. L-R: AD Julian Louis, architect John Choi, Executive Director Libby Lincoln.
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NORPA launches fundraising campaign to buy and create flood-resistant new Lismore home

The Joinery aims to become a flood-resilient cultural hub for the Northern Rivers region’s performing arts sector.

A scene from Why Not Theatre’s 'Mahabharata' part two, 'Dharma', a Perth Festival 2025 exclusive.
Features

2025 summer festival highlights for your arts diary part 2: February

Our ongoing overview of some of the cultural offerings to have caught our eye continues with this guide to February’s…

On the Move is ArtsHub’s weekly round-up of Australian arts sector comings and goings. A young woman practices slackrope walking.
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On the move: latest arts sector appointments

ArtsHub’s weekly round-up of Australian arts sector comings and goings.

Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. Guitarist, vocalist and co-founder Stuart Braithwaite is second from the left. The photo shows four middle-aged, fair-skinned men reflected in two large wall-mounted mirrors.
Features

Mogwai’s new album 'The Bad Fire' transforms trauma into art

Stuart Braithwaite, co-founder of post-rock titans Mogwai, reflects on the personal pain that helped shape the Scottish band’s 11th studio…

On the Move is ArtsHub’s weekly round-up of Australian arts sector appointments, comings and goings. The photo is a dramatic depiction of a road at night with trails of red light caused by a car's tail lights.
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On the move: latest arts sector appointments

ArtsHub’s weekly round-up of Australian arts sector comings and goings.

Stephanie Lake Company’s ‘The Chronicles’ is sure to be a highlight of Sydney Festival 2025 and indeed, the 2025 summer festival season generally. The photo shows five dancers of diverse cultural backgrounds holding hands and collectively leaning to the right, while in the fourground, and much more nrightly lit, a male-presenting dancer lies on their back on the stage, holding up a female-presenting dancer with one hand and one foot. Balance upon his raised extremities, the female-presenting dancer has her right leg and right arm raised in a snapshot of dynamic movement.
Features

2025 summer festival highlights for your arts diary: part 1

A hand-picked guide to some of the most intriguing cultural events on offer around the country in January.

On the Move is ArtsHub's weekly roundup of Australian arts sector appointments. The photo, which is taken from a low angle, shows a joggers feet and legs as they run along a flat stretch of open road.
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On the move: latest arts sector appointments

Our weekly roundup of Australian arts sector appointments.

A sequence from Tra Mi Dinh’s 'Somewhere between ten and fourteen', which features in Sydney Dance Company's 2025 season. The photo depicts four barefoot dancers in blue coveralls dancing on a blue-lit stage. The dancer on the far left has their legs spread, their right arm raised and their left arm extended horizontally; the dancer on the right, who is the focus of the focus, stands in a half-crouch, her arms extended to the right and her right foot bent so that the side of the foot rather than her sole is touching the stage.
Features

ArtsHub’s 2025 season guide to the performing arts

Our rolling guide to the 2025 season announcements you may have missed.

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