NEWS

Displaying rich and diverse expressions of First Nations art today — the successful recipients for YIRRAMBOI’s 2025 Commissions program were chosen due to their thought-provoking and genre-pushing concepts — across all art forms, including theatre, drag, live music, installation, visual art, film, cabaret and performance.

The YIRRAMBOI Advisory Group and leadership team have selected six new works, expanded from five due to the strength of applications. Successful artists receive $36,000 from the City of Melbourne and First Peoples, Creative Victoria - matching YIRRAMBOI’s increased investment in the 2023 program.

“Deeply rooted in purpose, YIRRAMBOI spans beyond the western term of ‘art’,” says festival co-lead/creative lead Sherene Stewart. “We platform expressions of culture, identity, unity and truth through evolutionary and experimental practices, breaking away from preconceived ideas of First Nations expression – which is embodied by the six new works we are thrilled to present in 2025.

YIRRAMBOI provides a stage for First Nations voices to be heard, for stories to reverberate through generations, to drive change and create a future where First Peoples are rightly celebrated.

As a critically acclaimed international arts festival, YIRRAMBOI possesses the power to lead the arts industry into a new TOMORROW.”

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The six new commissions for YIRRAMBOI 2025 include:

POSSUM DRUMMING AND DANCE AS PEDAGOGY
(Film + Performance)

Documented on Country in Warburton Tea Tree Forest by the fresh Birrarung, Stacie Piper — (Wurundjeri/Dja Dja Wurrung/Nguirai Illum-Wurrung) Djirri Djirri Dancer, the current Chairperson of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee, First Nations Curator at TarraWarra Museum of Art, and Curator for Museums Victoria — profiles the making of possum skin drums as well as the creation of a water dance through the knowledge transfer of Wurundjeri Elders, led by Aunty Vicky Nicholson-Brown.

LAZARUS
(Theatre)

Playwright, director, actor and founding member of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, John Harding (Meriam/Kuku-Yulangi) honours Uncle Larry Walsh (Taungurung) – a staunch and successful advocate for First Nations issues since the 1970s, one of Victoria's most important activists – through a theatre production created through time on Country and in-depth interviews with Victorian communities. One of the first field officers for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Uncle Larry’s impact includes the formation of the first Stolen Generations organisations in Australia.

HOLDING SPACE
(Visual Art + Film)

Apryl Day (Yorta Yorta/Wemba Wemba/Barapa Barapa), founder of the Dhadjowa foundation, and Founder of Kalinya Jirra Lulla Harvey (Yorta Yorta/Wiradjuri) present a collaborative film and visual art exhibition exploring the grief and joy that First Nations people carry simultaneously. Day reflects on protest, truth telling and the resilience of the community and families who have lost loved ones in custody. While Harvey captures special moments from an intimate, on Country dinner celebrating Elders, stories around the table and the connection between food, culture, and Country. Together they create "Holding Space."

SYZYGY
(Sound)

Wiradjuri electronic artist Naretha Williams and collaborator Cyrus 9ine (artists and co-founders of Groundstar Music record label) present a bold 80-minute live electronic body of work. SYZYGY combines music from Williams' 2023 album Into Dusk We Fall and new band with Cyrus 9ine LOVE|CHAOS (late 2024) featuring cutting edge digital imagery, AV design, and live vision mixing to form an immersive experience.

HOUSE ARREST
(Theatre)

Writer, director, collaborator, and performer Alexis West (Birra Gubba/Wakka Wakka/South Sea Islander) presents an entertaining six-hander kitchen sink drama about a family dealing with identity, addiction and disconnection. As characters slip through portals into an alternate reality game world of DEADLY – a game of dreamtime reality of nightmarish proportions – players must find and confront their connection through loss.

THREE BLAK RAVERS
(Drag/Cabaret/Theatre)

A surreal nightmare-fuelled horror cabaret and ‘Blak-thriller follows three Blak rave-goers embarking on a journey to find ‘the rave’ who are forced to confront their fears. From multidisciplinary award-winning artist Caleb Thaiday (Meriam) – winner of the national Miss First Nation pageant in 2021 and the Supreme Queen pageant at Sydney World Pride 2023 –who combines projection, shadow puppetry, AV technology with an industrial and electronic rave-heavy soundscape.

YIRRAMBOI Festival returns to Narrm 1-11 May 2025

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YIRRAMBOI is also incredibly proud to reintroduce its International Collaborative Commissions — inviting First Peoples and Canadian First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists to collaborate on new intercultural work to world premiere at YIRRAMBOI 2025 – to be announced later this year.

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The group will collectively provide guidance to YIRRAMBOI on disability justice, accessibility and inclusion. This will support artists, audiences, community and staff who identify as d/Deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent throughout the festival.

The Access and Inclusion Group will meet online a minimum of 4 times a year. Members will be paid an honorarium for each meeting they attend. YIRRAMBOI will arrange accessibility support for each meeting as requested by members such as Auslan interpretation or captioning.

Between meetings members may be invited to provide feedback on YIRRAMBOI matters or represent the Group at industry events and external forums. YIRRAMBOI or event partners will cover all costs associated with providing feedback or attending events, such as honorarium and travel costs.

YIRRAMBOI invite Victorian-based First Nations creatives to submit an Expression of Interest below.

Members will only be asked to speak to their own expertise and experience in relation to Access and Inclusion and are not expected to represent all experiences.

People at all levels of their arts and cultural practice are encouraged to apply, from emerging to experienced. No former experience in Advisory Groups or Panels is required.

To be eligible for the Access and Inclusion Group, you must meet the following eligibility criteria:

- Identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander;

- Be based in Victoria;

- Have an arts and/or cultural practice; and

- Identify as d/Deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent*

*YIRRAMBOI recognise the breadth of disability which can be visible or invisible, sensory, physical, neurodivergent, cognitive, intellectual, developmental and include lived experience of mental health and illness.

The Access and Inclusion Group will be appointed by existing members of the group and the YIRRAMBOI Leadership team.

For more information or to submit an Expression of Interest in an alternative way, please contact:

Emily Wells, Executive Producer of YIRRAMBOI Festival

emily.wells@melbourne.vic.gov.au

Expressions of interest close on Sunday 14 July

Submit an EOI here

YIRRAMBOI – which means ‘tomorrow’ in the local languages of the Boonwurrung and Woi-wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nations – celebrates and showcases some of the most exciting First Nations creatives locally, nationally and internationally; giving the stories of ‘now’ back to the lands that have held them for over 80,000 years.

Set to unearth new talent and amplify First Nations voices, YIRRAMBOI Commissions returns for its fourth iteration to support the creative development and world premiere presentation of new works across any medium at YIRRAMBOI 2025.

YIRRAMBOI invites First Nations creatives, collectives, community groups and arts organisations based in Victoria to submit an Expression of Interest – which will see the festival’s Advisory Group and leadership team select five works and provide each successful project with $18,000 in creative development and $18,000 in presentation support, totalling $36,000.

YIRRAMBOI’s co-lead J-Maine Beezley says: ‘YIRRAMBOI Commissions showcase the incredible diversity within the First Nations arts sector and shifts the paradigm of what’s perceived as ‘First Nations arts’ – pushing boundaries and celebrating the evolutionary practices of First Nations creatives. We really can do anything.’

Supporting projects across all artistic mediums, including theatre, dance, music, visual art, experimental practice, and everything beyond and between – YIRRAMBOI encourages submissions from Victorian First Peoples, d/Deaf, Disabled and neurodiverse artists, and regionally based creatives.

Projects may be at any stage of development, though must be fully realised for presentation by May 2025.

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Marking its return since 2019, YIRRAMBOI is incredibly proud to reintroduce its International Collaborative Commissions – inviting Australian First Nations and Canadian First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists to submit an Expression of Interest to collaborate on new intercultural work to world premiere at YIRRAMBOI 2025.

Honouring the deep connection and collaboration between First Peoples of Australia and Canada, YIRRAMBOI embarks on a self-determined creative and cultural exchange rooted in experimentation, protocol and Indigenous ways of working.

Creatives may submit as an existing collaborative relationship with a project or concept, or as an individual with a project concept seeking a collaborator. A collaborative partnership between an artist/group in Australia and artist/group in Canada will then be curated if successful.

Two International Collaborative Commissions will be selected by a panel of arts leaders from Australia and Canada alongside the YIRRAMBOI leadership team and awarded AUD$18,000 creative development and AUD$18,000 travel across development in both countries and presentation, totalling AUD$36,000.

YIRRAMBOI’s co-lead Sherene Stewart says; ‘As First Nations Peoples we’ve always known the importance of trade and exchange. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years, long before it was ever written on paper. Now more than ever, we must exercise our Sovereignty through connection, cultural exchange and creating new intercultural work. We may come from different parts of the world but the fight to thrive is the same. It’s through our unity that we can forge real change for our next generations.’

Expressions of Interest for International Collaborative Commissions; Canada has opened and will close on Sunday 14 January, 12am AEDT.

YIRRAMBOI Commissions has opened for Expressions of Interest, and will close on Friday 9 February, 5pm AEDT.

The awarded works are part of the YIRRAMBOI’s Commissions program, which places First Nations voices first and supports creatives to share their way.

This year’s commissions were selected by YIRRAMBOI co-leads, Sherene Stewart and J-Maine Beezley, alongside the festival’s Advisory Panel – with a focus on thought-provoking and experimental practices.

Sherene Stewart (Taungurung) said the projects are central to the festival’s theme: Blak Futurism.

“These works showcase the incredible diversity within the First Nations arts sector and shift the paradigm of what’s perceived as ‘First Nations arts’ – pushing boundaries and celebrating the evolutionary practices of First Nations creatives. We really can do anything.”

“In this iteration, the program is an ode to know where we are going, is to know where we’ve been. We honour our community leaders who have paved the way for us to tell our stories in power.”

Successful artists received $36,000 from the City of Melbourne and First Peoples, Creative Victoria – a significant increase on the 2021 Commissions program.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said City of Melbourne is proud to support Melbourne’s talented First Nations creatives.

“Yirramboi is a celebration of the rich and varied Indigenous culture we have here in Melbourne.”

“This year, we’ll see more than 300 First Nations artists come together in a vibrant display of art and performance.”

“Events like this provide another platform for Indigenous artists to share their important stories with our community, and I encourage residents, visitors and workers alike to come and enjoy this 10 day festival.”

The five chosen commissions are Victorian-based First Nations creatives, spanning a breadth of mediums:

NOIR: ALLUVIUM:A retro-futuristic glance at the healing processes during 'the era AD' (After Decolonisation) by queer creative STONE MOTHERLESS COLD (Eastern Arrernte).

A NIGHTTIME TRAVESTY: An absurd physical theatre festival experience by A DAYLIGHT CONNECTION. Kamarra Bell-Wykes (Yagera/Butchulla) and Carly Sheppard (Wallangamma/Takalaka).

INSIDE OUT: A comedy theatre show focused on the lives of four independent First Nations women living in a share house together, presented by actor, singer, playwright and producer Maurial Spearim (Gamilaraay/Kooma/Muruwari).

GUNGA-NA DHUM-NGANJINU/THE STORIES WE HOLD TIGHTLY: An exploration into the meaning of creation by Isobel Morphy-Walsh (Dhaung Wurrung/Taungurung) and her collaborators, Uncle Larry Walsh and Hannah Morphy-Walsh.

MEETRA-RISE UP! THE BALLAD OF JAMES ARDEN: A music and cabaret performance by David Arden (Gunditjmara/Kokatha) sharing the Gunditjmara People’s stories of family, friendship, repatriation of Ancestral Remains, racism, freedom, fight for your rights, urban and tribal life – including his grandfather’s story.

YIRRAMBOI will return to Melbourne from 4 to 14 May for its fourth iteration, bringing together more than 300 First Nations creatives.

In the local languages of the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung peoples, YIRRAMBOI means TOMORROW. YIRRAMBOI is more than just a festival – it’s a platform to showcase the interconnectedness and diversity of First Nations creatives locally, nationally and internationally, delivered across multiple live and digital platforms.

Australia’s premier First Nations festival, YIRRAMBOI, has appointed its inaugural advisory panel – a group of eight highly skilled experts who will provide leadership to ensure the festival can best support the First Nations creative industry.

The panel represents a range of practises and generations, and will ensure collaboration, diversity and First Nations leadership across the festival’s programming.

Members bring experience from a diverse range of industries – including theatre, music, visual arts, curation, digital arts, activism and academia:

Mandy Nicholson – Wurundjeri/ Djarra/ Nguraiillam Wurrung, academic, visual artist, dancer

Robbie Bundle – singer-songwriter, musician, Songlines CEO

Nazaree Dickerson – Noongar, playwright, director, actor

Harley Dunolly-Lee – Dja Dja Wurrung, academic, linguist, draglesque performer, artist

Sofii Anne Harding – Yorta Yorta/ Wiradjuri/ South Sea/ Mer, youth worker, artist, producer

Cienan Muir – Yorta Yorta/ Ngarrindjeri, youth advocate, creative, Indiginerd founder

Maryanne Sam – Mer, Torres Strait Islander, playwright, director

Racquel Kerr – Djaara/ Boonwurrung, independent artist

The panel has been established through a state-wide expression of interest process and selected through a First Peoples’ panel. Members were chosen for their breadth of expertise, creative leadership and lived experience.

YIRRAMBOI Festival 2023 will be back for its fourth iteration from 4 to 14 May.

For more information on the festival, visit the YIRRAMBOI website.

Quotes attributable to YIRRAMBOI creative lead Sherene Stewart

“Our fundamental strength is working collectively for and with our First Nations creative community.”

“YIRRAMBOI supports a plethora of mediums and to ensure we are always making informed decisions; we are proud to be working alongside eight incredible First Nations leaders and thinkers to share YIRRAMBOI Festival 2023 with our community.”

Quotes attributable to YIRRAMBOI advisory committee members

“Being on the team is an exciting opportunity to see what sort of projects that will be presented during YIRRAMBOI. As a non-binary person and artist, I hope I can provide my own experience and expertise to the panel” – Harley Dunolly-Lee

“It’s been a privilege to have been approached by the team to join the YIRRAMBOI advisory committee, with such amazing talent and knowledge. The diversity and creativity within our community is unmatched! And I can’t wait to see YIRRAMBOI 2023 set the stage for this to be shown.” – Cienan Muir

“So many amazing offerings for 2023! It has been a privilege being an inaugural YIRRAMBOI Advisory Panel member and witnessing the breadth and diversity of the Commissions and Projects submitted this year! Bring on YIRRAMBOI 2023!!” – Maryanne Sam

The two major Australian arts festivals have join forces to support local First Nations artists to develop 4 new works for world premiere at YIRRAMBOI Festival and Dark Mofo in 2023.

The ‘kin’ partnership is a first of its kind for both festivals. ‘kin’ highlights the cross cultural connections and kinship between Koorie and Palawa peoples, and supports the collaboration of eight First Nations artists from both communities to build relationships, exchange knowledge and develop works to be presented at YIRRAMBOI Festival (May 2023) and Dark Mofo (June 2023).

Cultural oversight and support will be offered by members of a core working group including Nathan Maynard (Palawa), Caleb Nicholls-Mansell (Palawa), Koorie Elder (to be announced), Sherene Stewart (Taungurung), Rosie Kalina (Wemba Wemba), with production support from J-Maine Beezley (Wakka Wakka) and Dylan Hoskins (Gumbaynggir/Dunghutti).

DarkLab Cultural Advisor Caleb Nichols-Mansell and Music Programmer & Producer Dylan Hoskins said: “This partnership provides an exciting opportunity for First Nations artists to develop and premiere work as part of two of Australia’s leading festivals. In addition to this, community artists have access to funding, industry partners, stakeholders and production support to fully realise their concept. The coming together of these two festivals is a strong statement about the need for more First Nations—led and authentic relationships between First Nations artists and the broader arts sector.”

Melbourne First Nations artists will be curated by YIRRAMBOI Festival.

Expressions of Interest are now open for Tasmanian Aboriginal artists, who can express interest via the YIRRAMBOI website. EOIs open Tuesday 20 September 2022, and close on 5.00pm Friday 7 October 2022.