Blak Futures Collective and First Nations Performing Arts Companies Network make submissions to Australia’s next National Cultural Policy

BlakDance, the Blak Futures Collective and the First Nations Performing Arts Companies Network (FNPAC) have collectively written a major suite of submissions responding to the Australian Government’s consultation on the next National Cultural Policy.

The submissions were collaboratively developed through the leadership and participation of organisations and artists working across dance, theatre, intercultural practice, workforce development and national cultural leadership.

Participating Organisations and Leadership

Participating organisations and representatives include:

Self Determined Organisations

National First Nations Training Organisation

Indigenous Intercultural Practice

  • Marrugeku – Dalisa Pigram, Rachael Swain and Guy Boyce

Organisations led by First Nations Artistic Directors

A logo grid with the Bangarra Dance Theatre, BlakDance, Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Joel Bray Dance, Karul Projects Dance Theatre, Moogahlin Performing Arts, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, Na Djinang Circus, Gary Lang NT Dance Company and other logos.

Summary

Three Indigenous performers with arms outstretched perform at NAISDA’s end of year performance at Carriageworks last year.

Over recent months, the Blak Futures Collective and FNPAC have undertaken a significant collaborative process to develop a connected suite of submissions responding to the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy consultation. The process brought together First Nations-led performing arts organisations, independent artists, intercultural practitioners, producers and leaders working across dance and theatre nationally and internationally.

The submissions were developed through:

  • collective meetings and working groups

  • sector consultation and feedback processes

  • cross-organisational drafting and refinement

  • alignment discussions with broader national sector bodies and advocacy groups.

The process was grounded in principles consistent with:

  • self-determination

  • cultural governance

  • Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)

  • Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)

  • collective leadership and accountability.

The framework reflects the diversity and intersection of First Nations leadership models across:

  • self-determined organisations

  • intercultural practice

  • non-Indigenous organisations led by First Nations Artistic Directors

  • independent and small-to-medium practice

  • workforce development and training infrastructure.

Importantly, this process has not operated in isolation. The Blak Futures and FNPAC framework has actively informed and been integrated into broader national sector submissions across the performing arts ecology, reflecting a significant level of cross-sectoral collaboration and alignment. This resulted in:

  • the Network of National Dance Organisations (NoNDO) integrating and aligning with priorities from the First Nations Dance submission

  • the National Performing Arts Partnership (NPAP) Framework companies integrating key priorities from the overarching Blak Futures and FNPAC submission

  • Theatre Network Australia (TNA) incorporating key priorities and systems framing from the First Nations Theatre submission

  • Live Performance Australia (LPA) engaging with and integrating First Nations international exchange, touring and market development priorities

  • the Australian Live Performance Export Alliance incorporating First Nations systems framing around Indigenous diplomacy, reciprocal exchange, market development and Tri-Nations implementation

  • broader alignment discussions occurring across dance, theatre, touring and export advocacy frameworks nationally.

This collaborative alignment process reflects a growing sector-wide recognition that First Nations cultural governance, workforce development, touring, commissioning, international exchange and cultural continuity are not isolated concerns, but foundational systems impacting the future sustainability of the Australian performing arts sector as a whole.

Together, the submissions articulate a connected systems framework for First Nations performing arts in Australia.

Key themes across the submissions

The submissions collectively position First Nations performing arts as:

  • cultural infrastructure

  • social infrastructure

  • workforce infrastructure

  • diplomatic infrastructure

  • community infrastructure

rather than solely arts industry activity.

A core argument across the framework is that the next phase of Revive must move beyond symbolic recognition toward structural implementation and long-term sustainability.

Key priorities and themes include:

Workforce development

  • establish a coordinated First Nations performing arts workforce system

  • develop pathways across producing, touring, technical, leadership and governance roles

  • recognise cultural labour as core infrastructure

  • support vocational training and intergenerational learning pathways

Commissioning and touring

  • establish dedicated First Nations commissioning systems

  • invest in equitable touring infrastructure

  • support audience development and long-term presentation pathways for First Nations performing arts

  • recognise commissioning and touring as employment systems

Cultural governance and ICIP

  • embed cultural governance and ICIP frameworks across all funding and policy systems

  • recognise governance and protocol work as essential labour

  • support culturally safe and self-determined practice

International exchange and Indigenous diplomacy

  • establish dedicated First Nations-led market development infrastructure

  • support Indigenous diplomacy, reciprocal exchange and international cultural relations

  • implementation support for the Tri-Nations Indigenous-to-Indigenous transnational exchange, export and commissioning strategy between Australia, Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand

Organisational sustainability

  • develop pathways from project funding toward long-term operational sustainability

  • recognise the absence of a properly resourced small-to-medium First Nations performing arts sector

  • support First Nations-led infrastructure and organisational growth

Climate, Country and cultural continuity

  • recognise culture as part of Australia’s resilience infrastructure

  • acknowledge that climate adaptation and cultural adaptation cannot be separated within First Nations cultural practice

  • support place-based cultural relationships and environmental knowledge systems

The submissions

An Indigenous man holding a microphone with both arms up. He is wearing a black leather vest with the Aboriginal flag emblazoned on the back.

The framework includes:

Together, these submissions articulate interconnected systems of First Nations cultural leadership, governance and artistic practice across the performing arts sector.

A central proposition emerging across the submissions relates to the gaps experienced by First Nations performing arts:

“This is not a workforce shortage. It is a failure to recognise and structure the workforce and systems already sustaining the sector.”

The submissions also collectively argue that:

“First Nations performing arts organisations are not solely arts producers. They are systems of governance, employment, diplomacy, knowledge transmission and community infrastructure.”

Putting First Nations performing arts first

Collectively the submissions assert that the work is already happening nationally and internationally. First Nations artists, organisations and communities are already sustaining:

  • workforce systems

  • cultural governance

  • international exchange

  • audience development

  • artistic innovation

  • truth-telling

  • language revitalisation

  • cultural continuity.

The challenge for the next National Cultural Policy is whether Australia’s systems evolve to properly sustain, recognise and resource the important work that is already occurring.

The systems must now match it.

Credits

Images (in order of appearance):

NAISDA End of Year Performance: Echoing the Future, Carriageworks. Photo: Anthony Edgar.

Courtesy of Ilbijerri Theatre Company.