Over two incredible days of NAIDOC Week, curators Ian Michael (Wilman Nyoongar) and Chloe Ogilvie (Yamatji Nhanda) bring us a festival reclaiming the State Theatre Centre.
Maali is a Nyoongar for the black swan and in an act of celebration, community, and gathering Ian and Chloe have programmed a festival encompassing theatre, music, dance, a community dinner, film, photography, live art, and other family friendly activities.
The two-day event opens with a Welcome to Country followed by a Smoking Ceremony travelling from the State Theatre Centre to the Perth Cultural Centre honouring ancestors, cleansing and reclaiming space, and exploding into a big dance ceremony – Nyumbi. Dance groups include Middar, Wadumbah, Koolangkas Kreate, Kwarbah, Djookian and others.
One of the highlights of the festival is a High Tea with Elders which will offer a limited number of people a direct audience with the City of Perth Elders Advisory Group, as they share their personal stories and vast cultural knowledge. Registrations on the day.
Maali Festival’s theatre program includes the first public performance of York, by Ian Michael and Chris Isaacs, a West Australian ghost story inspired by 200 years of real accounts. We welcome the return of the ground-breaking and longest running West Australian play Bindjareb Pinjarra together with Bilya Kaatijin by Zac James, which teaches us about the importance of water to First Nations people around the world.
From the voice of award-winning playwright Meyne Wyatt (Wongutha-Yamatji) Maali will showcase a play reading of City of Gold along with Brothers Wreck by Jada Alberts, a confronting and honest exploration of grief and loss.
The Festival is headlined by electronic duo Electric Fields, rapper Ziggy Ramo, R & B/soul singer Miiesha, R&B Pop duo The Merindas, with local acts singer/ songwriter Phil Walleystack, beat creator Boox Kid and hip hop artist Flewnt.
The music acts will be broadcast live from the State Theatre Courtyard over Noongar Radio offering audiences and fans that can’t make the event the opportunity to tune in and sense the celebration and community brought to the festival through their lively and inspiring performances.
Enjoy screenings of The Coolbaroo Club, a documentary about the famous locally Aboriginal-run dance club and the powerful short film Wirun featuring Ebony McGuire (Cloudstreet) as a young Aboriginal girl who digs deep with her high school drama performance of a Shakespearean sonnet.
Rounding the festival off will be a traditional cook-up, in which the community can come together in the most universal of ways sharing a yarn and connecting with others over dinner.
Open, inclusive and accessible for all, the festival aims to bring people, and specifically those of the First Nations, together to celebrate the incredible breadth, diversity and resilience of the world’s oldest living cultures.
Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly:
From little things, big things grow
Session Details
Venue: State Theatre Centre of WA
Date: 9-10 July 2021
For more information click on HERE
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