Three young artists - Will Hazzard (visual art), Charlie O’Neill (speech and drama) and Emma Warburton (music composition) - are this year’s finalists from the 2017 monthly winners.

One will receive the annual $1000 2BS scholarship.

Find out who it is at the Bathurst Regional Council Australia Day citizenship and award ceremony this Friday, January 26 from 9.30am at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre.

I WAS watching Fake Or Fortune on ABC TV last week and one of the Australian art experts they spoke to was Dr Robyn Sloggett.

She’s the director of The Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation and was awarded the Bathurst Macquarie Heritage Medal in 2016.

Her talk on The Art of Conservation this Thursday, January 25 from 6-7pm at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery is sure to be insightful.

It’s also the last few days to catch the current – beautifully air-conditioned - exhibitions at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, including Montages: The Full Cut, 1999-2015 Tracey Moffatt and Gary Hillberg, James Capper: Mark Maker and [Un]packed.

Mark Maker curator Julian Woods will be at the gallery from 10am-4pm this Saturday, January 27 happy to do demonstrations of these robotic artworks on request.

TALK to anyone in arts funding or development and ‘virtual reality’ is what people are getting excited about.

Gunthers Lane (under the Reliance Centre in Russell Street) will run a VR Experience this Thursday, January 25 from 10am-3pm.

With a bit of new technology you can experience painting in 3D and then walk around your own work of art. The event will be free.

BATHURST Theatre Company is producing another series of fun murder-mystery dinner-theatre plays and is looking for cast members.

Auditions will be held next Thursday, February 1 from 6.30-9.30pm at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre.

Check the ‘Bathurst Theatre Company’ Facebook page for details.

Find lots more local and regional arts events at artsoutwest.org.au