This special end-of-year edition of Talking ArtZ brings together three rich and distinctive conversations that reflect the depth, diversity, and creativity of arts life in the Blue Mountains and beyond.

We begin with the final In the Frame segment of 2025, as arts journalist Jenny Ward delivers a beautifully crafted roundup of the region’s visual arts scene. Jenny speaks with Kadumba $20,000 Drawing Award winner Spencer Calverley, whose work Rural Eclectic 3 draws on the unexpected emotional resonance of an old classroom chair. Together they explore memory, materiality, and the quiet stories objects carry. Jenny then shares her curated guide to the festive gallery season, highlighting exhibitions by David Rex Livingstone in Katoomba, David R. Hill’s exuberant Medley Magic, and Gallery NWC’s vibrant pre-Christmas show full of affordable artworks, ceramics, timber pieces, plants, and unique gifts for art lovers.

Next, we welcome Susan Cochrane—author, curator, researcher, and one of the world’s leading voices on contemporary Papua New Guinean art. Susan discusses her landmark new book, Living Art Papua New Guinea (Melbourne Books, 2025), the culmination of more than forty years of fieldwork, collaboration, and curatorial work with PNG artists and communities. Raised in Papua New Guinea during the final decades before Independence, Susan reflects on her family’s deep roots in the region, the extraordinary evolution of PNG’s contemporary arts scene, and the cultural relationships that have defined her life’s work. Her book’s release coincides with Papua New Guinea’s 50th Anniversary of Independence, making this conversation especially timely and insightful.

We close the episode with the final Penrith Symphony Orchestra interview for the year. Sebastiaan de Jonge sits down with David Abbott to unpack the PSO’s upcoming Family Christmas Concert—a joyful program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, festive favourites, the Glenbrook Ballet Theatre dancers, a community Festival Chorus, and a special visit from Santa, who arrives with a new musical talent of his own. David also provides an exclusive preview of the PSO’s 2026 season, including Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Aiko Goto, Prokofiev, Studio Ghibli favourites, Puccini’s Tosca, Shostakovich’s First Symphony, and the return of Messiah. It’s an exciting look ahead to a year of dynamic orchestral programming.

Together, these conversations offer a vivid snapshot of the people, stories, and creative forces shaping our region and our cultural connections beyond it. A rich, thoughtful, and inspiring episode to close out the year’s Talking ArtZ interviews.