Opinion

Council’s draft creative strategy promises stronger cultural outcomes while relying on continued cuts to the St Kilda Festival budget. TWiSK comments and reports.

Geoff Gower was on the community panel that helped develop the original site brief almost a decade ago. He is concerned that the lessons of the first failure have never been identified, let alone fully understood.

Not tragedy but testimony. Three actors embody the journey of Taungurung Elder Uncle Larry Walsh, showing the power of theatre as a vehicle for truth-telling and art as a form of memory activism. Olivia Di Grazia was at opening night.

Balaclava is on the verge of a series of Council decisions about the renewal of the supermarket precinct on Carlisle Street. Resident and urban researcher Rachel Iampolski urges people who love Balaclava to speak up before it’s too late.

The 2025 Safety Roundtable headed by Ian Gray AM brought police, local welfare agencies and council together to have a coordinated response to community safety concerns. He comments on the proposed local laws.

Theatre Works brings another authentically Australian story to the stage: a tale of isolation, alienation, and miscommunication.  Red Sky Morning until 16 May.

Council has released its draft budget for consultation, with public feedback open until 29 May. For Lakeside Ward, the verdict is brutal: the budget offers next to nothing in 2026/27.

A local mother reports on how families are grieving the loss of their Snail Queen, even though it is only for a year or so. She’s hoping the upgrade will be an improvement but fears otherwise.

It’s love, ethics and neuroscience in Lucy Prebble’s high-voltage psychological drama The Effect, presented by Theatre Works until Saturday 18 April. Reviewer Olivia Di Grazia grapples with the side-effects of the staging.

As a little bonus for TWiSK subscribers, we’ve got some exclusive TWiSKy Bits you won’t find anywhere else. It’s not quite gossip, and it’s not exactly rumour either… let’s just call it Early Mail.