Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program, Parkes Place, Canberra (2026)

National Gallery of Australia and Wesfarmers Arts warmly invite First Nations Australians who work in the arts to apply to the Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program. The National Gallery’s Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program, supported by Wesfarmers Arts, has been the Gallery’s most significant commitment to developing skills and opportunities wi

th and for First Nations people, within the arts and cultural sectors. Our alumni continue to develop their skills and networks from the Program to build successful careers in the arts.

10/10/2025

Applications close soon!

28/02/2025

Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is open

'The spear is our culture … we live by the spear. We are teaching our young people with spears to look after lore and culture. The spears can protect Country, like they have always been protecting Country for our grandfathers and our ancestors.' Mumu Mike Williams

Kulata Tjuta is an ongoing cultural maintenance project that shares the skills of carving and making the punu kulata (wooden spear) across generations. It started as a project involving a small group of men in Amata and has grown to include over 100 Aṉangu men across the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is the largest and most significant installation of the culturally important and visually spectacular Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project.
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/kulata-tjuta-tirkilpa/

19/11/2024

15 First Nations art professionals have been selected to participate in the 2024 Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program at the National Gallery of Australia.

The program brings together a group of emerging and established arts professionals with varying backgrounds and areas of expertise to enhance their industry knowledge and network and develop new skills.

Maggie-Jean Douglas, Kabi Kabi people/South Sea Islander
Madeline Poll, Torres Strait Islander people/South Sea Islander
Dominic Guerrera, Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna peoples
Desirai Saunders, Gunggari people
Sandy Harvey, Kalkadoon people
Summer Sorensen, Darumbal/Torres Strait Islander peoples
Georgia Hoskinson, Badtjala / Butchulla peoples
Noah Watson, Butchulla & Kuku-Yalanji peoples
Nicola Ingram, Palawa/Wiradjuri people
Rodriguez Pindiying Wilson Nalorlman, Thyemirri people
Carly Lane, Murri people
Sylvia Wilson, Martu people
Shanysa McConville, Eastern Arrernte people
Marcus Wright, Wiradjuri/Gamilaraay peoples
Shane Nelson, Wiradjuri/Walgalu/Gumbaynggirr peoples

The Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program is made possible by the Gallery's First Nations Arts Partner Wesfarmers Arts

09/11/2024

'Blue is the colour of memory and is associated with water; it washes over me. Waanyi people are known as 'running water people' because of the inherent quality of the water in their country.' Judy Watson, 2007

Blue is an important colour to Watson and features prominently in many of her works. Watson associates blue with memory, a conduit for the subconscious. Blue also represents the colour of the coloniser, found in both British and Australian uniforms and flags. In this work, Watson uses bright white paint to highlight three ambiguous shapes laying on a base of iridescent blue pigment wash. The work can be read in different ways: for example, the large vertical line could represent either a hat pin and awl or a digging stick, depending on whether it is being viewed from an Aboriginal or coloniser perspective.

The work signifies the military and the open wounds inflicted on Aboriginal people. It also offers a strong counterpoint to the colonial experience through the expression of

Visit Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, free
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/ever-present/

Judy Watson, Waanyi people, stake 2010, The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, Boorloo/Perth

01/11/2024

NEXT FRIDAY Art Live!

Featuring
Workshops with artists Brian Robinson, Maluyligal/Wuthathi/Dayak peoples and Jessika Spencer, Wiradjuri people

Music line up
6pm – Tahalianna
6.30pm – Femme Normale
7pm – Lemonise
7.45pm – Batjula

and MORE

If you're 15–25 years old, join us up late at the Gallery
Fri 8 Nov 2024
5.30–9pm

FREE, please book
https://nga.gov.au/events/art-live-/

Address

Parkes Place
Canberra, ACT
2601

Telephone

+61262406495

Website

https://nga.gov.au/first-nations/indigenous-arts-leadership/

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