Yoonggama Ma Nga Launch: Deborah Cheetham Fraillon in Conversation

Join us this NAIDOC Week to meet with Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO and launch Yoonggama Ma Nga: A First Nations Transdisciplinary Research Initiative 

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO has a string of accolades for her opera performances, and as a composer and artistic director. She leads Short Black Opera, which provides training and opportunities for emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musical artists. In this keynote we will hear about her journey and her aspirations for the First Nations academy.

Yoonggama Ma Nga is an initiative to build the First Nations academy. It is a centre for land-based learning where First Nations Knowledge Systems are privileged and community research, training and learning needs are prioritised. The initial focus areas for Yoonggama Ma Nga are art, performance, language and culture, and the dedicated hub at RMIT provides a physical meeting point for First Nations scholars, from pre-doctoral candidates to senior academics.

Founded by Dr Vicki Couzens, RMIT Research Fellow, and Suzi Hutchings, Swinburne University Professor, Yoonggama Ma Nga is an RMIT initiative led by Vicki Couzens. Links are also being built with Swinburne University.

Speakers

• Dr Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO FAHA 

• Dr Vicki Couzens, Research Fellow, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University  

• Professor Tim Marshall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, College of Design and Social Context, and Vice-President, RMIT University  

• Professor Suzi Hutchings, Director, Indigenous Research, Moondani Toombadool Centre, Swinburne University of Technology

• Dr Eugenia Flynn, Vice Chancellor's Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow in Writing and Publishing, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University 
  

Refreshments will be provided and there will be opportunities for networking at this event.

Read more about Yoonggama Ma Nga.

Image credit: Dr Vicki Couzens