Naretha Williams is an established artist and professional producer with over 20 years of experience in the Australian Creative Industries sector, working across music and audio practice, dance, theatre, visual arts, installations, public arts, experimental and interdisciplinary arts, video works and live performance.
She is a Wiradjuri, First Nations creative and is deeply connected to Darebin, having lived in Reservoir for 8 years. Community-focused, passionate about the arts and a strong advocate for its capacity for collective cultural change.
Director for Liquid Architecture and owner/operator of independent record label Groundstar Music. Her management experience in creative project delivery is extensive and ranges from staging underground independent presentations to large-scale festival programs.
She has worked with leading Australian companies and First Nations initiatives, flagship festivals and events, has toured internationally and won several awards.
Credits include St Kilda Festival, Bless Your Blak Arts Festival, Australasian World Music Expo, International Symposium on Electronic Art, Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival, Science Gallery London, Chunky Move, Montsalvat, Performance Space New York, The Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ, Sydney Myer Music Bowl, Sydney Dance Company and Melbourne’s Flash Forward.
Lorena talks to Naretha this morning on Big Brekky 8:30am about the FUSE Festival and Ganbu Gulin: Lore which invites all residents, old and new, to be welcomed onto Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country.
Co-presented by FUSE and the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Ganbu Gulin: Lore invites all residents, old and new, to be officially welcomed onto Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country.
Ganbu Gulin, meaning “One Mob” in the Woi-Wurrung language, is an annual inclusive celebration where new citizens to Darebin are formally welcomed to Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony.
This year’s event, Ganbu Gulin: Lore has been curated by FUSE Curator-In-Residence, Maylene Yinarr. Maylene is a Kamilaroi, Wiradjuri, Kuku Djungan and Gangalidda woman, artist and Director of Mindful Mob. Ganbu Gulin: Lore honours the lore, healing and songlines that thrive within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and communities today and continues celebrating this year’s NAIDOC theme ‘For Our Elders’, with a line-up of incredible First Nations talent and Eldership.
Ganbu Gulin: Lore includes a screening of Daniel King’s documentary, ‘Ganbu Gulin’, which tells the story of Darebin City Council’s decision to cease holding citizenship ceremonies on January 26. In 2019, the inaugural Ganbu Gulin was held, created in collaboration with the Wurundjeri Land Council and the Darebin Aboriginal Advisory Committee. The film explores how this inclusive annual program has evolved as a platform for Traditional owners to welcome new citizens in their own way.
Ganbu Gulin:Lore is an event for every Darebin citizen.
Featuring:
Uncle Bill Nicholson Jnr Djirri Djirri Dancers Murrundaya Yepengna Dancers Timmy Commerford Maylene Yinarr Aunty Janice Bakes Uncle Robert Bundle Uncle Herb Patten The Deans of Soul
Plus, The Mindful Mob Healing Markets, workshops and more. Food and drinks will be available for purchase at this event.