Blak & Bright Festival Official Opening Event
Series
Where
When
Friday, 18 Mar 2022, 06:00pm - 08:30pm
Event Status
Past event

Doors open at 6pm AEDT for a 6.30pm AEDT start on Friday 18 March 2022. Event concludes at 8.30pm AEDT
Join us to celebrate the official opening of the 2022 Blak & Bright Literary Festival! Witness Solace, the commissioned performance by Bryan Andy, James Henry and Steven Rhall, exploring men’s mental health. A special guest will then talk to the theme, ‘What’s Changed? What’s Stayed the Same?’, with a spotlight on writers Jazz Money, Alexis Wright, Crystal McKinnon (with Glenn Shea).
Presented in partnership with Blak & Bright and RMIT Culture.
View the full Blak & Bright program of events at blakandbright.com.au
Featuring

Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The author of the prize-winning novels Carpentaria and The Swan Book, Wright has published three works of non-fiction: Take Power, an oral history of the Central Land Council; Grog War, a study ... Read more

James Henry is a singer/songwriter, musician and recording engineer, and the grandson of Jimmy Little. His music spans country rock, reggae and hip hop and addresses issues such as Aboriginal identity and society’s rules and expectations. Henry is also a much-sought after photographer.

Steven Rhall (he/him) is a post-conceptual artist operating from a First Nation, white-passing, cis male positionality, geographically located on neighbouring Woiwurrung and Wathaurung lands. Rhall’s cultural background consists of Taungurung and colonial heritages – a state endemic to living in... Read more

Jazz Money is a poet, digital producer and filmmaker of Wiradjuri heritage, currently based on the beautiful sovereign lands of the Darug and Gundungurra nations. Her poetry has been published and spoken widely across so-called ‘Australia,’ and reimagined as murals, installation and film. Jazz i... Read more

Crystal McKinnon is a Yamatji woman and is currently working at RMIT as a Vice Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, where she sits within the Social Change Enabling Capability Platform (ECP) and an Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous Project, Indigenous Leaders: Lawful Relatio... Read more

Bryan Andy (he/him) is a Yorta Yorta man from Cummeragunja, NSW. Bryan is a freelance writer, radio broadcaster and theatremaker. He has been published by Lonely Planet, NITV, ABC Online, IndigenousX, the Guardian, Witness Performance and Meanjin. Bryan is the host of ACMI’s First Nations Film... Read more
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