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

L-R: Dancer, musician, composer, songman, didgeridoo player, cultural consultant and educator, Uncle Matthew Doyle and Sydney Festival's Blak Out curator and Creative Artist in Residence Jacob (Jake) Nash.
News

Sydney Festival seeks Creative Producer – First Nations, as Jake Nash prepares to move on

Sydney Festival’s Creative Artist in Residence Jacob (Jake) Nash will depart after the 2026 Blak Out program; a new role…

One of the plays being staged as rehearsed readings for the La Boite Encores program: 2015’s visceral ‘Prize Fighter’ by Future D. Fidel. The image shows a young Congolese man wearing boxing shorts and boxing gloves as he throws a punch with his left hand.
Features

La Boite Encores brings the 100-year-old company’s past to vivid life

Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre has announced the titles of 10 plays selected for its 10-week Encores play reading series.

'Back to the Future: The Musical', original Broadway cast. A young man leaps into the air while playing an electric guitar, accompanied by a blaze of sparks.
News

Back to the Future: The Musical set for 2025 Sydney premiere

Everything you need to know about the Olivier Award-winning musical, which is based on the 1985 film starring Michael J…

REMIX London. A gathering of arts, government, technology and media professionals sit watching a well dressed male speaker at a podium on a brightly lit stage. A large banner behind the speaker features the REMIX logo and the logos of the event's many sponsors and supporters.
Sponsored

From Coachella to the Sunshine Coast: exploring the impact of Desert X at REMIX Academy

Jenny Gil, Executive Director of the outdoor sculpture biennale Desert X, is flying from California to Australia to discuss her…

A close-up photo of waves crashing on a beach, illustrating ArtsHub's weekly On the move column, a wrap-up of arts sector appointments and departures.
News

On the move: latest arts sector appointments

Our weekly round-up of appointments and departures in the Australian arts sector – and, sometimes, further afield.

'Garry Starr: Classic Penguins' at The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Adelaide Fringe 2025. A photoshopped image of a fair-skinned man with curly black hair and a neat beard wearing an orange-coloured Elizabethan ruff. His arms from the elbows down, and his body from the waist down, have been photoshopped to appear like a penguin. He leans on his left flipper and sits on his left penguin hip, his orange penguin feet and right flipper raised.
StarsStarsStarsStarsStars

Comedy review: Garry Starr: Classic Penguins, Beckett Theatre, MICF 2025

Brilliant, in-your-face clowning that leans heavily into the concept of enthusiastic consent.

Darwin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) Territory Tour hero image. A casually dressed conductor, wearing a t-shirt and baseball cap, leads members of the DSO in an outdoor performance in a park. Cars, families on picnic rugs, and childfren playing footy on the grass are visible in the background.
News

Darwin Symphony Orchestra prepares for its first regional NT tour in a decade

This month, DSO is travelling across the NT to perform in three different locations, including a festival concert under the…

'Crash Body' by Paula Garcia, Dark Mofo 2025. Two cars, one yellow, one black, collide head-on under spotlights in a dramatic, moodily-lit photograph.
News

Dark Mofo 2025: the art of screaming and a literal car crash

Featuring artistic provocations, free visual art experiences and a number of exclusive international acts, the program for Dark Mofo 2025…

The Big Sing at Festival of Voices.
News

Festival of Voices celebrates 20 years of community through song

The 20th anniversary Festival of Voices program honours the past while looking firmly to the future.

Virginia Gay, Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2025 Artistic Director. Gay, a fair-skinned woman, poses against a light blue backdrop and laughs as the elborate train of her black silk or satin gown billows up around her head, perhaps propelled by a wind machine out of the frame.
Features

Sequins, champagne and passion: Adelaide Cabaret Festival launches its 2025 program

Virginia Gay tells ArtsHub about some of the many highlights of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s 25th anniversary edition.

1 2 3 4 237