YIRRAMBOI has unveiled 4 major new commissions, marking the next chapter for a festival that has become a leading platform for First Nations evolutionary and experimental arts.
Spanning experimental sound, street theatre, movement, language rematriation, film and installation – each work is developed from early concept through to full realisation, culminating in world premieres across narrm (Melbourne) during the 2027 festival.
Now in its sixth iteration, the YIRRAMBOI Commissions Program sits at the heart of the festival, laying the foundation for the broader program and offering an early glimpse of what’s to come. The program centres Victorian First Nations artists, providing resources to premiere ambitious new works rooted in community and creative sovereignty.
“There is nothing more powerful than backing our artists to create on their own terms, to play, to explore, to take risks and to speak their truths. That is where the most urgent and pivotal work is born,” said Co-Lead/Artistic Lead of YIRRAMBOI Festival Sherene Stewart.
“We’re deeply honoured to be entrusted with new works by senior artists, cultural leaders and the next generation of First Nations creatives. Artists who helped shape past festivals now return as pillars of the 2027 program, leading ambitious new work that reflect the strength and continuity of this platform,” said Stewart.
“At a time of uncertainty across the arts sector, YIRRAMBOI doubles down on ambitious, self-determined commissioning. As a First Nations festival, resilience is not new to us. We have always created within constraint,” said Co-Lead/Executive Lead of YIRRAMBOI Festival Emily Wells.
“We will continue to push, to carve out opportunity, and to honour our responsibility as a vital and enduring platform for First Nations practice.”
THE 2027 YIRRAMBOI Commissions:
GANBINAN!
Allara, Yorta Yorta | Dr Lou Bennett AM, Yorta Yorta / Dja Dja Wurrung
Written entirely in Yorta Yorta, GANBINAN! is a new album celebrating language reclamation, renewal and cultural resilience. Co-written and composed by Allara and Dr Lou Bennett AM, in partnership with Binung Boorigan, the project fuses contemporary music-making with deep cultural practice, positioning song as both pedagogy and activism.
For YIRRAMBOI 2027, the work evolves into an immersive live music experience, bringing Yorta Yorta language, music, and community together on stage. Drawing on Allara’s strengths as a bassist and sound designer, and Bennett’s leadership and research in language rematriation through song pedagogy, GANBINAN! stands as both a process of language activism and community empowerment, affirming the living and evolving presence of Yorta Yorta.
Somewhere Over the Blak Rainbow
Bryan Andy, Yorta Yorta / Yullaba Yullaba
A theatrical street-based songline mapping the Blak and Queer histories of Fitzroy, Somewhere Over the Blak Rainbow blends memory, drag, music and monologue to honour generations of Aboriginal LGBTQIA+ lives on Wurundjeri Country. Guided by two drag personas, Flora, a chocolate lily drag queen, and Fauna, a drag king wombat, audiences are taken on a journey through stories of survival, kinship and resistance.
The work honours ancestors including Lisa Bellear, Uncle Jack Charles and Aunty Vicki Liddy, while reimagining John Harding’s The Dirty Mile through a contemporary Blak and Queer lens. The project is led by Bryan Andy, co-produced by Sarah-Jane Bond, and guided by Wurundjeri Elder and Queer cultural advisor Annette Xiberras.
Withewa (To Return Home)
Jedda Atkinson-Costa, Wemba Wemba / Yorta Yorta / Mutti Mutti / Barapa Barapa
Withewa is a poetic film work honouring unsung Aboriginal Elders whose life stories risk being lost if not preserved. Filmed in places rich with memory, the work weaves voice, landscape, natural light and archival material to create intimate portraits of cultural leadership, care and quiet strength.
The first in a proposed series, the project positions Elders as living archives, preserving humour, wisdom and story as both cinematic works and deeply personal family keepsakes. Guided by cultural mentorship and community consultation, Withewa acts as a living eulogy, ensuring these stories continue to echo long after Elders return to the Dreaming.
What Yet
Maggie Church-Kopp, Arrernte | Johnny Brown, Anaiwan
What Yet is a new contemporary circus work examining how cultural knowledge is transferred – and disrupted – for young First Nations people today. Developed through extended research on Arrernte Country, the work transforms lived experience into powerful physical storytelling, addressing incarceration, education, childhood and cultural survival. Led by Director Maggie Church-Kopp and Choreographer Johnny Brown, and created by an all–First Nations team, What Yet delivers a visceral call for listening, accountability and cultural continuity.
YIRRAMBOI Festival platforms the interconnectedness and diversity of First Nations creatives. Deeply rooted locally, traversing nationally and internationally, YIRRAMBOI creates space for expressions of culture, identity, unity and truth through evolutionary and experimental practices.
For more information about the 2027 YIRRAMBOI program, visit: www.yirramboi.com.au for details.
Image: courtesy of Joshua Scott