BlakDance’s newest team members

Join us in welcoming our newest team members at BlakDance!

Eva Mullaley, Senior Producer
Eva Grace Mullaley, a Widi woman from the Yamatji Nation in Western Australia, graduated from WAAPA’s Certificate IV in Aboriginal Theatre in 2003. With over 20 years in theatre, she has worked as a Director, Stage Manager, Producer, Actor, Dramaturge, Lecturer, and more. She recently produced, developed, and managed the 2024 ISPA Congress in Perth. Eva’s extensive experience spans administration, tour management, and workshops, making her a vital force in the performing arts industry.
 

Emma Holgate, Production Coordinator
Proud Mandaburra woman Emma Holgate, raised on Ngarigo Country, found her passion for live performance shadowing her DJ father. Moving to Naarm during COVID, she completed a Production Traineeship at Arts Centre Melbourne in 2023, earning Trainee of the Year at the Victorian Training Awards and Runner-Up at the Australian Training Awards in 2024. Now working across production and design, she joined BlakDance as Production Coordinator to train under BlakDance's production manager Simon Cook and her first project is Bunyi Bunyi Bumi. Emma advocates for vocational training and a more inclusive arts industry.

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House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts 

In collaboration with ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, Marrugeku, Moogahlin Performing Arts, and National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA), BlakDance contributed to the Inquiry calling on the government for;

  • Increased funding for all of the First Nations dance sector via the Australia Council for the Arts

  • Development of a national cultural policy led by First Nations cultural arts sector

  • Closing the Gap to fund Culture

  • Targeted support for Elders

  • The establishment of a national Indigenous cultural arts peak body

  • Research on baseline data for Indigenous performing arts, including our contribution to GDP.

Read the full submission.

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THE FIRST NATIONS PERFORMING ARTS SECTOR RESPONSE TO COVID-19

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THE FIRST NATIONS PERFORMING ARTS SECTOR RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

This is a submission by the First Nations Performing Arts sector to the Senate Select Committee on COVID- 19, outlining the measures the sector took to respond to the pandemic and to contribute to the broader Australian Cultural Arts industry response. It is intended to complement the Performing Arts Peak bodies submission.

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C-Virus Dilly Bag

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C-Virus Dilly Bag

C-Virus Dilly Bag is an ongoing collection of resources for our sector during COVID-19. The threat is increasing over the coming weeks and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent a particularly vulnerable group within the community. Our local Elders have requested that we develop a First Nations lead approach to COVID-19. Our approach consists of an online dilly bag filled with resources, by all communities, for all communities.

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Calling for Champion Companies – Crisis Cash for Artists Fund

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Calling for Champion Companies – Crisis Cash for Artists Fund

A consortium of companies in the performing arts, led by TNA in partnership with Creative Partnerships Australia, are currently working on a fundraising campaign to provide equity bursaries to independent artists who have been adversely affected by Covid-19 and who do not have a financial safety net.

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In times of crisis, we turn to the arts. Now the arts is in crisis.

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In times of crisis, we turn to the arts. Now the arts is in crisis.

In times of crisis, we turn to the arts. Now the arts is in crisis – and Scott Morrison is silent.

Staying indoors and washing our hands may keep us alive, but the Australian government needs to protect the arts in order to help us live.

by Benjamin Law

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ARTS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

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ARTS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Over fifty of Australia’s leading arts, creative, cultural and entertainment industry bodies have united to send a clear message to the Prime Minister: act now to ensure that Australia’s cultural life survives COVID-19.

Targeted stimulus to a value of 2% of the $111.7 billion industry is urgently required to save hundreds of thousands of jobs and prevent business closures, so that Australia’s social and cultural life can adapt and survive through COVID-19’s perils.

Preparing Ground

Preparing Ground

Behind this new work, Preparing Ground, are three dynamic women – all of whom worked as dancers with the legendary Bangarra Dance Company before leaving to start independent choreographic careers, where they’ve made work that’s been seen throughout Australia and Canada. From six very different Indigenous Nations, they are joining forces to make a work about what it means to Prepare Ground, prepare the land, prepare communities and next generations for the future survival of this land.

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MATRIARCHS UPRISING 2020

MATRIARCHS UPRISING 2020

For this year’s Talking Stick Festival in Vancouver, Olivia Davies has curated and co-produced a two part program of contemporary dance and performance with works from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada - Matriarchs Uprising 2020 - presenting works by Mariaa Randall, Henrietta Baird, Louise Potiki Bryant & Aria Evans.

Ausdance members vote to maintain Ausdance National

Ausdance members vote to maintain Ausdance National

Following the announcement by the National Council of the Australian Dance Council – Ausdance Incorporated (Ausdance National) that the organisation would be wound up, an alternative option to maintain the organisation was proposed to the board by members of the Association. The motion was accepted by the membership at a Special General Meeting on 4 December 2019.

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Department of Arts axed in government power play

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Department of Arts axed in government power play

Artists around the country are reeling from the news that the Federal Government has removed them from the political agenda. As of 1 February 2020 the arts will no longer be represented as a department name as the former Department of Communications and the Arts has been rolled into a newly formed Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

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Funding uncertainty brings arts companies to a crisis point

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Funding uncertainty brings arts companies to a crisis point

The applications the companies submitted this week are crucial because their success – or otherwise – will lock in the small-to-medium funding landscape well into the next decade. 2020 marks the end of four years of federal funding for 124 companies. The next round, which starts in 2021, will dispense more than $110m until 2024.

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Dance Rites 2019 Winners Announced

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Dance Rites 2019 Winners Announced

Australia’s fifth annual national First Nations dance competition, Dance Rites, has drawn to a close after an intense two-day competition on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. Over the weekend of 23-24 November, more than 350 dancers from 17 dance groups, hailing from the far corners of Australia presented their traditional welcome, farewell and ‘wildcard’ dances.

INDIGENOUS DANCE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP - CRITICAL PATH

INDIGENOUS DANCE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP - CRITICAL PATH

5 First Nations Australian Artists will come to the Drill Hall in September to participate in a three-day development workshop. Together the group will explore and share where they find themselves in their practice now, their connections and responsibilities to community, and consider how they represent their work (in text, image and when speaking about it) along with what they communicate with others.

Matriarchs Uprising, Indigenous women gather to build international dance community

Matriarchs Uprising, Indigenous women gather to build international dance community

For Randall, that means working with paint on skin and mapping the countryside where she lives. “It’s me and I’m painting my country,” says Randall, who explains her elders would “paint up” before dancing. “There is meaning to every single stroke that’s put on the body.”