South East Arts has received funding from the Ministry for Arts to bring Grow the Music back to Wallaga Lake Koori Village.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In March 2016, a month of intensive music, recording, film and language retrieval workshops will be held for the Indigenous community of Wallaga Lake, culminating in a huge public concert.
The Indigenous Languages and Arts Projects funding will enable South East Arts to bring back professional music educators from Grow The Music to build on the success of the program run in 2015.
South East Arts’ Aboriginal creative and cultural engagement officer Jazz Williams has been running music lessons each week at Wallaga, alongside the homework centre.
“These kids were so diligent, so enthusiastic last time, I can't wait to see what magic they create this time around,” she said.
“Bringing Grow the Music back in 2016 means our region is in for another major cultural treat - we all get to witness and enjoy the growth and talent of local Koori kids and artists.
“It wasn't only the Aboriginal community who were proud of the concert last year, the rest of the local community were intensely proud too.
“They are hungry for more exposure to the incredible Aboriginal musos and artists we are lucky to have among us.
“Some of the people who attended had never stepped foot in the Koori village and they were really moved by the concert and the sense of community,” Ms Williams said.
Award-winning Australian songwriter Neil Murray will join the Grow the Music team to explore songwriting and language retrieval with some key local Indigenous musicians, with a view to develop songs in language for performance and recording.
Mr Murray is well known for his song My Island Home and also as being one of the co-founders of the Warumpi Band.
One of the aspects of the program the funding does not stretch to is building a permanent collection of instruments for the community at Wallaga Lake Koori Village.
South East Arts is keen to help develop this and anyone who can help out in this regard is asked to please contact Ms Williams directly on 0497 281 464.