Events

Smith’s Alternative is a licensed venue. Persons under 18 must be under the responsible supervision of their parent or legal guardian.

We are open from midday until at least 9pm every day, later when there’s a late show on. Check the Calendar for details.

CONCESSION TICKETS: We regularly offer concession prices on tickets for shows. These are intended to allow people of restricted means to attend shows. In general this applies to people in receipt of government income support payments – pensioners, the unemployed, students etc. Seniors do not automatically qualify, but like anyone else, can purchase a concession ticket if they are suffering financial distress, are under-employed or, for what ever reason, feel they can’t afford the full price but are ineligible for income support. We do not ask people to verify their income status but we do expect them to pay what they can realistically afford out of respect for the artist they’re coming to see and the venue they’re seeing them in.

Shows at Smith’s follow a fairly regular pattern, but we’re flexible, so please contact us with your ideas. 

Mondays

There is a long running ukulele gathering (Lunchulele) every Monday (12.30-2pm) and a weekly Jam (The Canberra Eurosession-a weekly jam with folk dance music from all across Europe) from 4-6pm. Early evenings (7-9pm) are for poetry, with a team of local poets putting on a variety of shows each month under the banner of That Poetry Thing That Is On At Smith’s Every Week. We also run a local music night (Local Gold) upstairs at McGregor Hall once a month (first Monday), but with the expanded facilities there’s room for a lot more activity up there. Hit us up!

Tuesdays

Upstairs in the evening we run a Jazz Jam and Scribblers After Dark life drawing and downstairs we regularly run the Bang!! Beng!! Bing!! Bong!! Bung!! an open mic for singer-songwriters unless other events intrude. There are currently no regular daytime events on Tuesdays and we invite people to suggest things they’d like to do, both downstairs and up.

Wednesday- Friday

We have afternoon jams on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, and lunchtime Life Drawing every Wed-Fri. Downstairs we can run two shows each night, 6.30-8.30pm and 9.30-11.30pm. All types of performance are welcome. The two upstairs venues are available for booking also.

Saturdays

There are usually three downstairs shows on Saturdays; 3-5pm, 6-8pm and 9-11pm. There are regular jams, social gatherings etc. in the early afternoon. The two upstairs venues are available for booking from 12pm-midnight also.

Sundays

We regularly host open jams from 11am-3pm. Sunday late afternoons (4-6pm) and evenings (7-9pm) are open to any genre. The two upstairs venues are available for booking from 12-9pm also.

Other

Smith’s also hosts book launches, workshops, talks, presentations, panels and we are keen to have more weekday events at lunch times. The Smith's Alternative Gallery (as opposed to the Civic Art Bureau) hosts irregular openings.

Let us know what you’ve got to share.