Access Ideas and Insights: First Nations Storytelling

Our upcoming event will focus on First Nations storytelling as a central platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures, Identity and Empowerment.

The Access Ideas and Insights panel will explore Storytelling as a living knowledge system - one that sustains First Nations Cultures, including language and traditional practices, while respectfully shaping community connection and advocating for collective responsibility.

About the Speakers

Aretha Brown

Aretha Brown is a Gumbaynggirr artist, screenwriter, and cultural advocate whose multidisciplinary practice reclaims Aboriginal historiography through a visually striking, politically driven, and culturally future-facing lens. Moving fluidly across mural painting, drawing, screenwriting, performance, and graphic design, Brown explores the pressures placed on First Nations storytellers while insisting on joy, humour, and experimentation as forms of resistance.

In 2019, Aretha founded the **Kiss My Art Collective, a femme, youth collective with a mission to take art beyond traditional gallery walls and into the public eye, where it can’t be ignored. The collective has created over 70+ murals across Australia, the UK, India, East Timor, Indonesia, the U.S., Canada, and Japan, transforming public spaces into powerful platforms for social change.

Brown is currently one of the youngest ever artists to exhibit at the National Gallery of Australia as a leading figure of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial, After the Rain, curated by Tony Albert. Her milestone work, ‘The Birth of a Nation: The True History of Australia’ is an extension of her ongoing ‘Teach Blak History’ project, which she carries worldwide.

Akala Newman

Akala Newman is a Wiradjuri and Gadigal multi-disciplinary artist, cultural producer, educator and First Nations advisor working across community arts, performance, and cultural institutions. Her practice centres on cultural care, storytelling and collective making, using creative processes as a pathway for wellbeing, identity strengthening songlines and knowledge exchange. Akala is the founder of Gili Gatherings (“to shine” in the Gadigal language), a community-led initiative that delivers workshops, performances and creative development programs designed to uplift First Peoples’ voices. Through this work she facilitates intergenerational art-making spaces, bringing together music, poetry, visual art and conversation to support connection to culture and community. Her recent workshop Ripples of Memories explores memory-making, sound, and place, guiding participants through reflective creative processes that honour lived experience and shared histories.

Alongside her independent practice, Akala works with Arts and Cultural Exchange (ACE) as a First Nations advisor and cultural producer, supporting First Nations artists, residencies and public programming. She also is an artist educator with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) contributing to conversations around access, protocol and cultural safety.

Primarily known through her music and performance career, Akala works in duality across sectors as a performer, facilitator, mentor and advocate, focusing on building sustainable pathways for First Nations artists and ensuring cultural knowledge is held with care.

Daniel McDonald

Daniel McDonald (he/him) is a proud Deaf First Nations LGBTQIA+ artist. As a Gadigal and Wonnarua man, he represents Aboriginal art through Deadly Hand Talk, blending traditional cultural practices with his own lived experience. He has been developing his skills as an emerging visual artist for over fifteen years.

His art is deeply rooted in the teachings passed down by his grandmother and Aunty Mum Shirl, who taught him the cultural significance of Aboriginal dot painting. This style, widely recognised across Australia by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, enables him to tell stories that reflect his identity, heritage, and community. While inspired by Western Desert dot painting techniques, Daniel also incorporates the textures, colours, and energy of his coastal NSW and inner Sydney upbringing. In his work, he fuses traditional methods with contemporary iconography to explore the intersections of identity, culture, and pride.

As part of Sydney WorldPride 2023, he was honoured to be named one of the 45 Rainbow Champions in recognition of his contributions to the Australian LGBTQIA+ community and culture. He offered the Welcome to Country at the iconic Mardi Gras Parade and delivered a speech, alongside his interpreter, at the Human Rights Conference. He is passionate about amplifying the voices of people living with disabilities in the arts and culture sectors and is committed to creating space for diverse stories to be seen, heard, and celebrated.

Monday 16 March

3pm – 4.15pm
Doors open from 2.30pm for a prompt 3pm start
1-hour panel conversation, followed by a 15-minute Q&A (in person and online)

4.15pm – 5pm
Networking and light refreshments (in person only)

FREE event – Registrations essential.

Join in person

Come to Bangarra Dance Theatre and enjoy networking after the event. The event will be held in Studio One. For details on how to get to Bangarra Dance Theatre click here.

Please avoid wearing fragrances in order to enhance inclusion for those with chemical sensitivities.

No high heels please.

Join online

Register to join online and a link will be emailed to you upon registration.

Access

This wheelchair accessible event will be Auslan interpreted and captioned. The in person event at the Bangarra Dance Theatre will be open captioned. The online event will be closed captioned.

Accessible Arts is proudly supported by Create NSW and this Hybrid Event has been made possible with support from the City of Sydney, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Livecrowd.

ENDS

Image description: Pink and white text on a black background reads: Hybrid Event Series: First Nations Storytelling. On the right there is a pink and blue swirling graphic.

Contact the host of Access Ideas and Insights: First Nations Storytelling