YIRRAMBOI Festival

Melbourne is preparing for a city-wide ‘blak-out’ with the inaugural YIRRAMBOI Festival (5-14 May 2017).

YIRRAMBOI First Nations Arts Festival is a ten day feast of arts and events that celebrates the diversity and creativity of 60,000 years of Aboriginal culture though a program of 60 events spanning dance, music, visual art, theater, film and talks by Indigenous artists, delivered in Melbourne’s laneways, public spaces and venues.

This significant new addition to Melbourne’s cultural calendar is heralded as an unprecedented opportunity to showcase the diversity and individuality of First Nations artists leading 21st Century contemporary arts practice and therefore influence perceptions about Indigenous arts in Australia and around the world.

As the proud home of the world’s oldest continuing culture, it is a befitting new event for Victoria that will see local and international visionaries from New Zealand, Canada, United States of America, Scotland, Wales, Pacific Islands and Taiwan gather in Melbourne.

New ideas, international collaboration, indigenous leadership and dialogue are the four key principals of the YIRRAMBOI Festival, which means ‘tomorrow’ in the shared languages of Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations, Nairm. The inspiring festival program has been compiled by Creative Director Jacob Boehme to offer a diverse line up of events that will appeal to people of all ages and interests while giving a different perspective on First Nations art.

Highlights include:

Ngarrga Bullarto Mirnian (Full Moon Party), 11 May 2017, Federation SquareAn electronica dance party under the full moon featuring Kulin star stories told by Uncle Larry Walsh.

Barring Yanabul (We All Walk the Path), 13 May 2017, Melbourne CBDA free citywide treasure hunt of live performance, installation, games, craft and experiments through the streets, laneways and rooftops of Melbourne.

Tooronga Baban Nganjin (New Mums Ceremony), 14 May 2017, Birrarung (Yarra River)A traditional welcome ceremony on the banks of the Yarra River for babies aged newborn to two years where Elders will gift them their first possum skin pelt.

Remember Ruby, 5-14 May 2017, Arts Centre MelbourneA program of concerts and exhibitions honouring the life and work of Australia’s most loved Song Woman, Aunty Ruby Hunter.

Weelam Ngalut events, 5-14 May 2017, Meat Market, North MelbourneA dynamic mix of contemporary dance, circus, experimental and participatory theatre from around Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Wales and Zimbabwe is on offer at Meat Market (Weelam Ngalut), the home of YIRRAMBOI and festival hub of First Nations’ live performance.

RECENTRE; sisters exhibition, 6 May – 5 August 2017, City Gallery (Melbourne Town Hall)An exhibition of new and existing works voicing the many roles of Aboriginal women in supporting healthy communities and maintaining culture and family.

For full program details, visit the YIRRAMBOI Festival website.

The YIRRAMBOI Festival is presented by the City of Melbourne, supported by Creative Victoria, in collaboration with the Elders Council of the Kulin Nations people.