Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, Moogahlin Performing Arts, and BlakDance sought assistance and feedback from the First Peoples Independent Performing Arts sector to ensure that your needs are being heard for sustaining your arts practice during and post-COVID-19 restrictions. We have secured places on some high level gatherings of government and arts sector, and we want to put our peoples key needs front and centre in these conversations.

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.

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.

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.