Attend the 30 January First Nation Arts Forum at Godinymayin

Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts & Culture Centre has been identified as a priority stakeholder to inform the development of the Federal Government’s recently announced National Cultural Policy: Revive. Creative Australia (formerly the Australia Council for the Arts) would like to invite Indigenous elders, artists, organisation leaders, board members, and cultural practitioners to an information-gathering session at 3:00pm on Tuesday 30 January. To confirm a place, please send your RSVP to lead consultant Erin Woolford at Erin.Woolford11@nintikata.au. Your input will help shape and inform the development of the First Nations First strategy. 

Creative Australia encourage First Nations representatives within the Northern Territory arts sector to share their thoughts and aspirations for both their community and the sector. Join them for this upcoming forum, and share your thoughts on how the First Nations Board should be formed, what needs are most pressing in the arts and culture sector, and what future investment and funding programs should look like.

To learn more and receive updates about important developments, subscribe to the Creative Australia First Nations First newsletter here: https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/first-nations-first/

Additional Information 

The Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy is a five-year plan to revive the arts in Australia. At the heart of this policy is the goal to ensure there is a place for every story, and a story for every place. Launched in January 2023, the policy aims to support Australia’s arts, entertainment and cultural sector, and aims to help Australia’s creative workers, organisations and audiences thrive and grow. It also carries a mission to re-position arts, culture and heritage as central to Australia’s future. The first of five major pillars is First Nations First: Recognising and respecting the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia’s arts and culture. 

Registrations for the Creative Australia First Nations First community engagement and consultation recently opened. Creative Australia have supported 50 years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination, leadership, investment, and commitment that has bought a guiding voice on matters relating to First Nations art and culture through the very first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board.

The purpose of this 30 January consultation at Godinymayin is to invite and seek feedback from the First Nations arts and culture sector in the Top End—eventually informing how Creative Australia should set up, govern, implement, invest, and deliver on its new role and responsibilities for First Nations First. For the upcoming forum, Creative Australia has engaged atticusnow (a strategy, policy and economics advisory firm based in Melbourne.) and assembled a nationwide team of leading First Nations consultants including Ninti Kata (the Adelaide-based consultancy led by Erin Woolford, a Kuyani-Arrernte Woman with 25 years of extensive experience across various sectors and regions) who will lead engagement and community consultation over the next month.