Create Centre at the University of Sydney

11/09/2026

Australia Reads just announced the 31 successful 31 successful communities who will host events with Australian authors and illustrators in their local areas in 2027, as part of the expanded LitUp author touring program. Here at CREATE we are especially pleased to see Big Sky Stories has been funded again for an author visit next year and will partner with secondary schools in Broken Hill!

Big Sky Stories is a bookshop and charity providing children, young people and their families of the NSW outback a place to gather and be inspired through sharing the world of books, storytelling and creative arts activities.

Learn more here: https://www.bigskystories.org.au/

10/09/2026

Coming up: TheatreConnect

TheatreConnect is a free, week-long drama program for young people aged 11 to 18, run by the CREATE Centre with BBT and funded through a Multicultural NSW COMPACT grant. Participants work with professional facilitators across the week and make a short site-specific performance for family and community on the final night. Suitable for students aged 11 to 18 in Western Sydney and South Western Sydney.

Next workshop 28 September - 2 October 2026 at Liverpool Powerhouse, with further cycles in 2027 (free event). Contact Thomas Deangelis on [email protected] to register.

Learn more here: fass-comms.sydney.edu.au/link/id/zzzz6aa20883d8acc407P/page.html

10/09/2026

Launching Wishmakers: An imaginative storytelling card game!

Wishmakers is a storytelling card game built for Years 7 to 10 English classrooms. The launch covers how the game was designed and evaluated, includes live gameplay, and releases a set of teaching resources mapped to the English syllabus. Hosted by the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre with the CREATE Centre.

Wednesday 18 Nov 5 - 7pm AEST. Suitable for Years 7 - 10 English. Light refreshments provided. Location TBC.

https://events.humanitix.com/wishmakers-storytelling-play-and-possibility-in-education

10/09/2026

A Night At The Library - School Holiday Sessions!

Bell Shakespeare takes audiences young and old on a magical journey of discovery exploring the many known and unknown spaces in the Library, its collection, and items from the weird to the wonderful. Fun and informative, A Night at the Library teaches us that the Library — and everything in it — belongs to us.

Suitable for ages 8–108! The season runs from 16 - 18 September (schools only) and 20 Sep - 1 October (general public bookings). Library Auditorium, 1 Shakespeare Place, The State Library of New South Wales

Follow the link below for tickets:
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/night-library-0

09/09/2026

A new paper by Sandra Gattenhof and John Nicholas Saunders (QUT) tracks a sustained decline in arts and creative course availability across Australian schools and universities since 2018, linking it to the Job-Ready Graduates policy. They argue there's a gap between the rhetoric of the National Cultural Policy Revive and what's actually happening in classrooms and on campus.

https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441261421275

08/09/2026

A new evaluation by Elisabeth Price and Peter O'Connor (University of Auckland) traces four years of Mitey, a whole-school wellbeing programme that pairs Māori concepts of mana with curriculum-aligned classroom practice. Useful reading for anyone thinking about where wellbeing and the arts sit inside a crowded timetable.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-026-00430-9

07/09/2026

Bill Lucas (University of Wi******er) has co-edited a forthcoming Handbook of Creativity in Schools with Edward Elgar Publishing, bringing together researchers working on creativity assessment and classroom practice. Currently listed as in press, one to watch for rather than something on shelves yet.

https://www.winchester.ac.uk/about-us/leadership-and-governance/staff-directory/staff-profiles/lucas.php

06/09/2026

Yong Zhao (University of Melbourne) has a new piece in ECNU Review of Education arguing schools need real structural change, not incremental tweaks, to stay relevant as AI takes over routine content delivery, and that small groups willing to act early matter more than waiting on system-wide reform.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20965311261464632

05/09/2026

The Sydney Fringe Festival, New South Wales's largest independent arts festival, runs right through September across venues from the Inner West to Western Sydney, with a dedicated Fringe Kids strand of family shows at the Entertainment Quarter. Worth a look for families and teachers after something outside the mainstage.

https://sydneyfringe.com/festival-info/info/

03/09/2026

Ron Beghetto (Arizona State University) is interviewed in the OECD's Digital Education Outlook 2026, published in January. He argues for what he calls "slow AI" in classrooms: generative tools used in service of a student's own idea, not as a replacement for the thinking itself.

The OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 explores emerging research on the use of generative AI in education and presents innovative tools and applications that show promise. The report examines the use of generative AI in different teaching and learning scenarios: by students to learn subject knowle...