Black Gully Festival 2025
Schedule
Sat Nov 08 2025 at 12:00 am to 09:30 am
UTC+11:00Location
Black Gully Reserve Armidale | Armidale, NS
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This is a FREE EventThe highly anticipated Black Gully Festival is set to kick off on Saturday, November 8th at the scenic Black Gully Reserve (behind NERAM on the north and south sides of the creek). This free, family-friendly event celebrates the vibrant spirit of Armidale as the weather warms up. Live music will take place on two stages – one large platform in the parklands and an acoustic venue at the NERAM Café, and a jamming session and BBQ will also take place in the ACCKP courtyard.
The festival features a makers’s market, sumptuous food vans, UNE Discovery magic of science show, the ever-popular clothes swap, arts and crafting, creek bug collecting, bats in the backyard and more. “An entertaining and creative experience is promised for all people of all ages” says festival committee member Annette Kilarr “the beauty of this event is that you just don’t know what interesting new offering is going to turn up on the day”
Rachael Parsons NERAM director says “This year the festival will co-present ‘How to Weather Together’, a major exhibition featuring installations, interactive elements and workshops, and exploring what climate adaptation looks like when guided by the concept ‘weathering’.”
Music performances will take place from 10am to 7.30 pm, livestreamed by 2ARM Community Radio, and showcasing the exceptional talent within the region. As Dave Carr and the Musicians of Armidale says “we have an incredible mix of sounds—country, pop, folk, rock ’n’ roll, rap, world music, plus performances from dance and theatre troupes, and young jazz ensembles. This year our headline act is The Chads! An exciting new funk, progressive rock band sure to end the night on a high.”
Bring your family and friends, your hat, your chair, your picnic rug and your water bottle! In its 14th year, and supporting the Armidale Regional Council’s Creative Streets Festival, this is a free community event for all ages, and not to be missed.
Thanks to the generous support of Origin Energy, Sustainable Living Armidale, Armidale Regional Council, Black Dot Music and other local sponsors, the Black Gully Festival remains free and accessible to all. The festival’s success is made possible by the contributions of countless volunteers from the community.
The full program of music and activities for the day is posted here below or visit the event page on the NERAM and Sustainable Living Armidale websites.
FESTIVAL PROGRAM
• 9.00am – 7.30pm – Festival Livestream and broadcast 2ARMFM Community Radio
• 10.00am-2.00pm – Aboriginal Cultural Centre &n Keeping Place – open with BBQ and music jam
• 10.00-2.00pm – Museum of Printing
• 10.00am – 4.00pm – Makers, Community and Environment Markets
Caring for Koala Country
Clothes Swap and Slow Living
Community Garden tours
Community Weathering Station
Growing Sustainable Landscapes
Manilla Community Solar
NERAM Family Art Making
SLA and Friends – Platypus Play and Clay, River Weaving and Rising Tide
Highlands End of Life Project
Face painting and more…..
• 10.00am – 7.30pm – Food Vans
• 10.00AM – 7.30PM – Weeding for Weaving art installations with Andrew Parker and Friends of Black Gully
• 12.00pm – Official Opening - Welcome to Country + Thanks to Sponsors + announcements
• 7.00pm – 8.45pm – Astronomy night with the Stars & UNE & NT Astronomical Society@NERAM cafe
MUSIC, DANCE & THEATRE PROGRAM
Main Stages
10.00am to 7.30pm
• 10.30 O'Connor Jazz Band
• 11.15 Alejandro & Armidale Salsa
• 11.30 JazzLab
• 12.00 Welcome to Country + Thanks to Sponsors + announcements
• 12.30 Tandav School of Dance
• 12.50 Blakk Dynasty
• 1.20 The Rocky Bottom Girls
• 2.10 OhMaSoul
• 3.00 MC & The Squares
• 3.50 Dusky Buzz
• 4.40 The Cham Cham
• 5.30 PartyLine
• 6.30 The Chads
Acoustic Stage (NERAM Café)
9.00am to 4.00pm
• 9.00 Judith Betts
• 9.45 Bruce’s Country
• 10.30 Pete Stanley
• 11.15 Barney St Band
• 12.00 The Miggy Man
• 12.45 Dallas Muirhead
• 1.30 Ian Russell
• 2.15 Khaleel Jundi
• 3.00 Firebirds Choir
• 3.30 Saturday Magic Theatre Troupe
presents Pandora and the Dragon
TALKS, ACTIVITIES & WORKSHOPS PROGRAM
Clothes Swap@ Slow Living Tent
• 10.00 to 11.00am Clothes drop
• 12.00 to 2.00pm Clothes swap
Community Weathering Station @CoWS and the “How to Weather Together” NERAM exhibition
The Community Weathering Station (CoWS) is a stall that started in Armidale in the drought of 2019. It began as a way of collectively processing the fear and anxiety about the disappearing water while sharing ideas about how to adapt to climate change. At this year’s Festival, the stall’s program focusses on methods for slowly challenging the terms of our own existence and perception as a keystone strategy for mitigating climate change. The BGF workshops are for people aged 16+
Full program and registration details available at: https://communityweatheringstation.net/2025/10/13/2025-black-gully-festival-stall/
Sustainable Living Armidale and Friends
• Time TBC - Cozy Story Time- @SLA and NERP (South Village)
The Platypus – with Sue Eliot
Where are all the baby Turtles? – with Lous Streeting
• Time TBC - Bat’s in the Backyard – Threatened Species Tent (South Village)
• Time TBC - Healthy Headwaters and Creek Bug Collecting – UNE Aquatic Ecology (Central Village)
• Time TBC - Chatting about Energy-Efficiency – Electrify Armidale – (South Village)
• Time TBC – The Magic of Science Show – UNE Discovery – (Central Village)
• Time TBC – Making Seedballs – Armidale Tree Group – (South Village)
• Time TBC – Bell’s Turtles the amazing story – Lou Streeting (Packsaddle Room – bottom NERAM)
• Time TBC – The Need for Roots film (Packsaddle Room – bottom NERAM)
• Time TBC – Composting for your soul (Community Garden)
• 10.30/2.30 Rhizome Somatic Meditation (1.5 hour sessions) for people aged 16+ -(South Village)
• 10.30/1.00 How healthy is my soil? – why not soil some undies! @Talking Soil (South Village)
• 11:00/1:30 Digging Together: Where Soil Science Meets Community @Talking Soil (South Village)
• 1.00pm Black Gully Walk and Talk with Funky Dave and Friends of BG – Meet @the Black Gully Central Tent
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Where is it happening?
Black Gully Reserve Armidale, 116-122 Kentucky St, Armidale NSW 2350, Australia, ArmidaleEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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