Donate to Yaama Ngunnna Baaka (Welcome to Our River) Fundraising campaign

The fundraiser exhibition is over, but you can still donate money or come to Yaama Ngunnna Baaka via:

Donations and payment for artworks can be made to:
YAAMA NGUNNA BAAKA CORROBOREE FESTIVAL
Bendigo Bank Katoomba
BSB: 633000 
Account no: 166774828


Details of the festival and how to travel to it are found on www.ngunna.com


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Fundraiser exhibition:

Opening Friday 30 August 6-8pm

Open 11am-5pm Friday - Sunday, 31 August - 8 September

Articulate is calling-out to artists to donate artwork for a fundraiser for Yaama Ngunnna Baaka Corroboree Festival 2019 at Walgatt, Brewinna, Bourke, Wilcannia and Menindee on Saturday 28 September to Wednesday 3 October 2019. Funds raised will be used to support dancers and performers coming to the river from around the country to show the precarious state of the river system and our collective need to advocate for its survival.

So far, artwork for sale is donated by Uncle Bruce Shillingsworth, a Muruwari and Budjiti man, a talented artist and water for the rivers activist, as well as by his family. We are calling for as many artists as possible to also donate their artwork for this very good cause.


We hope you can donate a work before the opening on 30 August. If so, please promise to donate your artwork by sending details (for you and the work) to Yaama Ngunna Baaka Corroboree Festival
 coordinator on yaamangunnabaaka@gmail.com, and then delivering it to ArticulateUpstairs on dates to be announced on https://articulateupstairs.blogspot.com. Names of contributing artists will also be listed there, and in the fundraiser invitation.  

Please promise to donate by writing to yaamangunnabaaka@gmail.com
Last date for inclusion of your name in the fundraiser exhibition invitation: Sunday 25 August
Dates and times for delivery to Articulate: 1-5pm Tuesday 27 August and 4-7pm Wednesday 28 August

If you are not an artist, we hope you can support Yaama Ngunna Baaka by buying an artwork at the opening, or when the exhibition is open, which is 11-5pm Fri-Sun from 31 August - 8 September. Bank transfer details will be available for purchases as well as donations 


Donations and payment for artworks can be made to:
YAAMA NGUNNA BAAKA CORROBOREE FESTIVAL
Bendigo Bank Katoomba
BSB: 633000 
Account no: 166774828

Details of the festival and how to travel to it are found on www.ngunna.com


Uncle Bruce Shillingsworth https://mundagutta.com/

DOWNLOAD MEDIA RELEASE

MEDIA RELEASE:

Corroboree YAAMA NGUNNA BAAKA is a coming together to heal the Baaka (Darling River).

The roving event includes riverside camping, free community meals and afternoon music workshops. It will be held from Saturday 28 September to Wednesday 3 October 2019. All dancers will perform from dusk each night moving through the townships of Walgett, Brewarrina, Bourke and Wilcannia, with a finale at Menindee Lakes.

First Nation organisations and representatives have assisted with planning the event by selecting sites and planning activities, and will welcome all visitors in the ceremonies they will host. These draw from their 60,000 year traditions of caring for the land and the river that plays a role in everyones wellbeing that includes physical, spiritual, emotional, cultural and environmental dimensions.

Situated in beautiful yet precarious riverside sites, performers and audiences will engage with the landscape as well as the social, cultural and political histories that will be brought to life through dance. This festival provides a wonderful focus for First Nation communities to celebrate culture alongside family and friends, whilst providing workshops, rehearsals and presentations of stories and song lines. These will create opportunities for community participation and sharing through collaborative learning and performing.

Just as importantly, corroborree unifies communities and people who share common cultural beliefs regarding the vein of our belonging, being and becomingto the Barwon-Namoi- Baaka River, whilst highlighting the precarious state of the river system and our collective need to advocate for the river.

Over fifteen dance groups from around Australia will perform in support for the river and all those depending on it.  Those based along the Baaka - the 45 member Bourke group, and other areas of regional NSW and Sydney - will be joined by interstate groups from Darwin, Quilpie (Queensland) and Adelaide, including the Adelaide-based Tal-Kin-Jeri Dance Group led by Ngarrindjeri Elder, Major (Moogy) Sumner (AM), who has reinvigorated the roving festival (ringbalin) along the Murray and Baaka Rivers over the last ten years.

There is a range of music and educational workshops programmed for each afternoon. The Mothers Milk Bank will involve their musicians as part of their Ruby Hunter project working with community through song to carry on Ruby's legacy to support First Nation mothers with diabetes and create a network of breast milk donors for mothers unable to breastfeed because of diabetes or other illness. The work of the Thumbs Up - Good Tucker program, founded by First Nation musician Jimmy Little, will encourage healthy eating from the programs recipe book and will include promotion of the phone app.

The festival aims to assist communities along the lower Baaka to further develop First Nation arts and cultural tourism as an important economic driver in the region. It is dedicated to developing partnerships with government, business and community organisations to build this base to create further mutually beneficial linkages in a holistic approach across health, tourism, education, environment, heritage, sporting and leisure areas. The program also aims to open up opportunities for First Nation performers to further develop their skills and collaborative partnerships in a national event, building a new performance program in regional NSW where the dirt is red, and assisting with the further development of First Nation arts in Australia.

You can read details  at www.ngunna.com

Walgett – Saturday 28 September – Namoi River.
Brewarrina – Sunday 29 September – Barwon River at Doyle Street Park.
Bourke – Monday 30 September – 2CUZ FM at 1 Wangkumarra Drive.
Wilcannia – Tuesday 1 October – Reid St Park. 
Menindee – Wednesday 2 October – Burke & Wills Campsite, Lake Pamamaroo.

Partners:

Maari Ma Health: Improving Aboriginal health and closing the gap, Dhariwaa Elders Group, Walgett Shire Council: Shire of Walgett, Tribal Warrior, Moogahlin Performing Arts Inc, Bourke Shire Council,  Brewarrina Shire Council, Museums and Galleries NSW, Thumbs Up - Good Tucker program, Central Darling Shire Council, Water for the Rivers and the Aboriginal Culture, Heritage Arts Association, Yama Guroo, Mundagutta.

Yours sincerely

Bruce Shillingsworth Snr, Director
Jenny Brown, Co-ordinator  / Curator

Contact:
Jenny: 0407677371 - jenny@jennybrownjenny.com
Bruce: 0498646225 - bruce.shillingsworth@det.nsw.edu.au

SUPPORT LETTER from Maari Ma Health