ANTaR  ACT Newsletter – March 2022

An update on ANTaR locally and nationally, and information about other events of interest.

ANTaR ACT

Our next committee meeting will be on Monday 11th April 6pm via Zoom. If you would like to join us, please email at info@antaract.org.au and we will send you details.

Our focus currently is continuing our program of meetings with ACT Government MLAs, ministers and shadow ministers, to monitor progress on issues of interest and commitments made in the 2020 election. We most recently met with Rebecca Vassarotti MLA, Minister for the Environment; Heritage; Homelessness and Housing Services; and Sustainable Building and Construction. In particular, we discussed issues around homelessness and housing difficulties for First Nations people in the ACT. We also covered other initiatives outside but connected to her portfolio, including Truth Telling, the Bush Healing farm and Our Booris, Our Way. We raised the Winnunga call for a Royal Commission into all circumstances for Aboriginal peoples in the ACT, asking about the ACT Government response.

Our aim in these meetings is to add our voice and support to issues of concern to First Nations peoples in the ACT. We will continue to follow up on issues raised and monitor actions against commitments.

ANTaR National

Treaty: ANTaR believes that as Australians, all of us need to understand, as best we can, what Treaties are, why they are important, what they might come to represent and where they might lead us together as reconciled peoples. The series of Treaty Talks is continuing with the first talk for 2022 (which was on 10 March) on: Treaty’s global context: towards Treaty in the Northern Territory. Find out more and watch past talks at: https://antar.org.au/treaty .

Close the Gap: This week, 17 March is National Close the Gap Day, when we have an opportunity to send our governments a clear message that Australians value health equality as a fundamental right for all. One way to do this is to watch or host a screening of Take Heart: Deadly Heart, looking at the impact of rheumatic heart disease, exploring issues recently raised on Four Corners (Heart Failure). Find out about the film and how to attend or host a screening

You are also invited to attend the online launch of the 2022 Close the Gap Campaign Report, “Transforming Power; Voices for Generational Change”: Thursday, 17 March, 11.30 – 1.00. Produced by the Lowitja Institute, the report focusses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led transformation, highlighting the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities. To register: https://bit.ly/CloseTheGap2022Launch .

Webinar on Ongoing Racism

Saturday 19 March, 3.00pm – 4.30pm

The First Nations Peoples Concerns Committee of Quakers Australia, and the Committee on Racial Equality (ACT) invite you to join a Webinar on Ongoing Racism. 

The presenter will be Ljudan Michaelis-Thorpe. Ljudan is a proud Bidjara/Dhunghutti filmmaker who works as a director/producer/writer in factual and drama space with Indigenous communities. She brings connection to country, place and people through her Indigenous directing lens and introduces her audience to the subtle ways of Indigenous knowing, being and doing. At this webinar Ljudan will be talking about ongoing racism which she has researched in great depth.

To register for the webinar, please contact CORE Convener Gedda Fortey at gtfortey@gmail.com with a CC to Ngambri Elder Shane Mortimer at shanejmortimer@gmail.com  ASAP no later than Friday 18  March to receive the zoom link. Please note, the webinar will be recorded.

4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony

National Gallery of Australia, 26 Mar – 31 Jul 2022
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/national-indigenous-art-triennial-ceremony/

Celebrate the opening of the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial Ceremony with a weekend of free performances, premieres, talks, workshops, and live music. Saturday 26, Sunday 27 March

The Triennial is the National Gallery’s flagship exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Ceremony remains central to the creative practice of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. This exhibition and program of events will animate and heal to reveal how ceremony is at the nexus of Country, of culture and of community.

Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow

https://washmysoulfilm.com/ A new documentary currently screening in Canberra.

Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow is a cinematic reinvention of a legendary concert that premiered in 2004. Kura Tungar-Songs from the River was a collaboration between two of Australia’s greatest artists—singer-songwriters Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter—working with Paul Grabowsky and the 22-piece Australian Art Orchestra.

Using footage combining conversations, rehearsals, and the opening night, with breathtaking images of Hunter’s Ngarrindjeri country in South Australia, the film is a portrait of artists at the peak of their powers and a profoundly moving story of loss, love and what it means to truly come ‘home’.

Also: Archie Roach will be playing at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over Easter, 14-18 April: https://www.folkfestival.org.au/.

Voices of Power Podcast

https://aiatsis.gov.au/whats-new/podcasts/voices-power

Over six episodes this podcast series explores critical turning points in the fight for First Nations rights and self-determination and for meaningful representation in places of power.

Indigenous Churchill Fellows from around Australia share their views and experiences on the key influences and events that have shaped Australia’s history, and on what a strong future looks like.

Voices of Power is produced by AIATSIS in partnership with the Winston Churchill Trust.

ANTaR ACT wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which Canberra is situated, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region. We would also like to acknowledge other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may visit this area.

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