Pounce and play with face painting, bubbles, and disco fun!

Thursday 30 June | Outdoors | 10am, 11am, 1pm + 2pm 

 

Come along and join the hullabaloo as young folk of all ages are invited to have their face painted as cute canine for their very own doggie dance games led by children’s entertainment duo Busy Movers. Free and perfect for playful pups whose parents may like to relax with a coffee these school holidays. 

Hey kids, get your art on! 

Wednesday 29 June | Outdoors | 11AM - 2PM 

 

Local artist Steph Shields leads young folk through a Lost Dogs’ Disco inspired sensory play station, doggo drawing, decorating of pre-fired ceramic objects. The session will encourage young ones to build their very own collaborative installation using found and natural objects. These activities are free and perfect for creative busy little humans of all ages who love to explore and make things.

Get creative and make art outside with the Lost Disco Dogs.

Wednesday 29 June | Outdoors | 11AM - 2PM 

 

Discover the joy of plein air painting as you immerse yourself in dogs large and small, inflatable, and real. Local artist PollyannaR leads a vibrant watercolour class-on-the-grass with all materials provided and no experience necessary.

If you feel like a lost dog, come to our disco... This winter we're transforming GPAC with larger-than-life furry friends. It's time for puppers to party!

Friday 24 June - Sunday 3 July | Various times | Outdoors

Sometimes in the dead of night, when houses rattle and hum with the snoring dark and a dog is no longer a puppy but not quite a dog, they will hear the call of ancestors and embark upon a secret journey to the Lost Dogs’ Disco – a place of learning, revelry, insight and discovery where dogs are gifted their deep human insight – the gentleness that understands and heals all human hearts.

It’s the place where they learn to love doggedly, dance biggedly and be free to their hearts’ content. The only time that dogs go back to the Lost Dogs’ Disco is when they lose their way: when shut out of warm houses, when the snacks forever run dry, when their owners suddenly disappear. It’s then that they return to the Lost Dogs’ Disco.

Here, their understanding for all lost souls deepens in their little doggy hearts and they know that everyone feels lost at times. When you are a lost dog, our dogs say come to the disco where dance, togetherness and being true, get you through. If you feel like a lost dog, just go disco!

Alongside our furry friends, don't miss our late night sessions including live music, bar and DJs, PLUS special activities for kids and families across the ten days. Check out more below.



FULL LOST DOGS' DISCO PROGRAM

Friday 24 June Lost Dogs Disco Opening Night

Saturday 25 June Boogie Nights: Emma Volard, Darcy Fox + Meredith Louise

Sunday 26 June Kids Disco Parties

Wednesday 29 June Puppies Plein Air + Pup Paint and Clay

Thursday 30 June Doggie Dance Games

Friday 1 July Doggo Disco with DJ Nige

Saturday 2 July Boogie Nights: Sing Session with Melbourne Indie Voices + Elly Poletti

Sunday 3 July Discoyoga

LOST DOGS’ DISCO – ABOUT THE INSTALLATION

The Lost Dogs’ Disco is a temporary sculpture that celebrates the place of dogs in our lives. Visitors journey through an immersive installation of 16 dogs, some up to 5.5m tall: all in various states of repose – curled-up, standing, even touching noses. 

There are four distinct characters, inspired by three dog breeds: Poodles, Bull Terriers and Dachshunds. 

As visitors’ journey through the happy pack, the dogs’ coats light up and they greet passers-by with happy grunts to celebrate each new person’s arrival; for the Lost Dogs’ Disco is a hallowed place for dogs and every newcomer to the disco is greeted as a fellow disco dog.

The installation features a custom sound design of electronic music that captures the beauty, fun and pathos of a dog’s life including a chorus of barks, growls, howls and all kinds of doggie hullabaloo. 

ABOUT ENESS

ENESS is a multi-award-winning art and technology studio, led by Artist and Founder Nimrod Weis. The studio has designed ground-breaking experiences for cultural institutions across the world for the last 20 years. 

ENESS creates interactive artworks that forge greater community connection in the public realm through joy and happiness. In this way, the studio collective consider themselves to be Happiness Architects. At the heart of all ENESS work is joyful, cross-generational connection. ENESS strives to change public space by introducing unexpected and surprising work that forges deeper moments between friends, family and community; even enabling strangers to meet and find common ground.

Founded in 1997, ENESS is a multidisciplinary team of creatives including artists, musicians, software engineers, industrial designers and a writer. ENESS pioneered the art of 3D projection mapping and interactive real-time motion tracking, breaking new ground and creating firsts that have since become accepted design solutions. The studio has been commissioned to produce and install artworks worldwide for signature commercial buildings; urban and cultural precincts; festivals, galleries and museums of modern art.

Eness.com

@studioeness

Dave O'Neil will headline this much-loved local comedy extravaganza all for a good cause!

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Laughs in Latrobe is back for 2022 and the Apex Club of Traralgon have a massive line up planned for their biggest event yet!

Join Dave O'Neil and friends in July and laugh your socks off for a good cause. All proceeds will go to the Club's charitable activities in the community.

The Latrobe Orchestra Inc. and Lavalla Catholic College Music Department are excited to return to the stage after an almost 3-year hiatus.

Saturday 14 May | 5PM | GPAC Theatre

Rescheduled Date

In collaboration with Lavalla Catholic College, you are invited to a twilight gala of community music in the brand-new, spectacular Gippsland Performing Arts Centre. Come and share in this celebration.

Celebration is an event for the whole community; a celebration of our local musician’s first performance on the magnificent GPAC stage; a celebration of community music making after the disruptions of the past 2 years. It is a celebration of being together.

The Latrobe Orchestra Inc. (LOI) have been an integral part of the musical landscape in Latrobe City and the wider Gippsland region for 61 years, expanding from a group of keen chamber musicians, to a thriving Beginner String Program and full orchestra here today. They look forward to performing a variety of repertoire, including Meyer’s Celebration, Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, and a rousing arrangement of New York, New York. Our Beginner String Program musicians join the stage for Vivaldi’s The Hunt and Mouret’s Fanfare Roundeau.

The Lavalla Catholic College Music Department offer secondary school musicians the opportunity to learn instruments and perform in Concert Bands, Jazz Ensembles and Choirs. Students are committed and keen to follow their passion, often attending 3 and more before school rehearsals per week. Events of the past 2 years have meant the department is in a rebuilding phase, whilst looking to support and reward the students and families who have persisted with online learning throughout covid. We know you will enjoy and support the efforts these students and staff have made to present their ensembles today.

Running Time: 90 minutes, no interval

We’ve whipped up a cocktail of groove-filled bands, DJs, food, local brews and a perfect setting to make magic happen.

Friday 25 March | 5PM - 9PM | Outdoors

Get ready for twilight hangs, great music and good vibes in your new outdoor space. Teaming up with not-for-profit label Music in Exile, we're featuring headline artists from culturally diverse communities alongside local acts.

Plus, enjoy local brews from Good Land Brewing Co. and moreish nibbles. We're here for it.

AUSECUMA BEATS

Ausecuma Beats are more than just a band, they are a philosophy. Led by their fearless bandleader and master djembe player, Boubacar Gaye, the nine-strong ensemble demonstrate what can happen when a group of artists come together based on an idea – in this case, the idea of place, of transplanting cultural heritage into a contemporary city. Ausecuma Beats are a representation of what is possible when inclusion and diversity are celebrated. Musically, each individual artist brings their own unique sound. However, when these musicians join together they create a powerhouse full of energy, grooves and joy. It is the way these incredible musicians join together that makes the group truly impressive.

GORDON KOANG

Gordon Koang Duoth is a Neur speaker and musician hailing from the Upper Nile region of what is now South Sudan. Accompanied by his cousin Paul Biel, Gordon performs a blend of traditional Neur rhythms and original compositions in English, Arabic, and his native language, Neur.

FRIDAY HANG DATES

• Friday 11 March | Ajak Kwai + Allysha Joy
• Friday 18 March | Chikchika + Camille
• Friday 25 March | Ausecuma Beats + Gordon Koang

Find Out More

Presented in partnership with Music in Exile. Music in Exile is a not-for-profit championing Australian artists from refugee, migrant and diaspora backgrounds.

We’ve whipped up a cocktail of groove-filled bands, DJs, food, local brews and a perfect setting to make magic happen.

Friday 18 March | 5PM - 9PM | Outdoors

Get ready for twilight hangs, great music and good vibes in your new outdoor space. Teaming up with not-for-profit label Music in Exile, we're featuring headline artists from culturally diverse communities alongside local acts.

Plus, enjoy local brews from Good Land Brewing Co. and moreish nibbles. We're here for it.

CHIKCHIKA

Chikchika began as a fun collaboration between Music Yared and Mulu Baqqalaa, and has grown to a powerful project in its own right. Mulu, a legend in Ethiopia, where she has been actively performing and recording music for over ten years, is joined by Anbessa Gebrehiwot and Haftu Reda, two Tigrinya vocalists and masters of their traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian stringed instruments, the krar and masinko. The trio is accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Dale Gorfinkel and Tawanda Gadzikwa on drums to create an innovative new sound that pays homage to the traditions of East Africa.

CAMILLE EL FEGHALI

Camille el Feghali is a master of the Qanoun (a middle eastern zither) and the Nay (a middle eastern flute). He also harbours a healthy interest in electronic and experimental music, and is interested in different ways to use traditional instrumentation in these contexts. We eagerly await the results of his new collaboration with Melbourne based experimental pop musicians, Zak Olsen, better known for his work with contemporary rock bands ORB and Traffik Island.

FRIDAY HANG DATES

• Friday 11 March | Ajak Kwai + Allysha Joy
• Friday 18 March | Chikchika + Camille
• Friday 25 March | Ausecuma Beats + Gordon Koang

See All Events

Presented in partnership with Music in Exile. Music in Exile is a not-for-profit championing Australian artists from refugee, migrant and diaspora backgrounds.   

We’ve whipped up a cocktail of groove-filled bands, DJs, food, local brews and a perfect setting to make magic happen.  

Friday 11 March | 5PM - 9PM | Outdoors

Get ready for twilight hangs, great music and good vibes in your new outdoor space. Teaming up with not-for-profit label Music in Exile, we're featuring headline artists from culturally diverse communities alongside local acts.

Plus, enjoy local brews from Good Land Brewing Co. and moreish nibbles. We're here for it.

AJAK KWAI 

This summer, renowned South Sudanese/Australian vocalist Ajak Kwai is taking her full band on tour across regional Victoria and beyond in support of 2021’s outstanding EP, Red Sands.  

Red Sands is sonically akin to the groove-orientated, politically powerful afrobeat and funk sounds coming out of South and West African nations in the 1970s, sitting somewhere between the infectious pop of the Lijadu Sisters and a more modern desert blues sound of groups like Tinariwen and Mdou Moctar.

ALLYSHA JOY 

Well versed in poetry and performance, Allysha Joy’s potent lyricism, unique musicianship and killer vocals have garnered legions of attentive fans the world over. She’s an integral member of the Melbourne soul jazz scene, known as part of the acclaimed 30/70 Collective and for her own equally revered solo work.

FRIDAY HANG DATES

• Friday 11 March | Ajak Kwai + Allysha Joy
• Friday 18 March | Chikchika + Camille
• Friday 25 March | Ausecuma Beats + Gordon Koang

Find Out More

Presented in partnership with Music in Exile. Music in Exile is a not-for-profit championing Australian artists from refugee, migrant and diaspora backgrounds.   

Be a 10 Minute Dance Party DJ at Gippsland Performing Arts Centre's OPEN Festival! 

Tuesday 1 March | 6PM | Latrobe Regional Gallery

Join the mastermind of 10 Minute Dance Parties, JOF, to learn how to DJ at this FREE workshop at Latrobe Regional Gallery and then show off your new skills at the Big Family Weekender on Saturday 5 or Sunday 6 March as part of GPAC's OPEN festival. This is just for 11 – 19 year olds! 

You'll learn: 

• DJ skills
• Tech operation 
• Curating playlists for dance parties
• Generating activities and choreography for dance parties
• Real life performance skills at the Big Family Weekender on Saturday 5 or Sunday 6 March

This workshop and performance opportunity is open to anyone aged 11 - 19 years old. Get in quick, this workshop has a maximum of 20 participants.

Get ready to be a party starter!