Message Sticks Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Message Sticks Festival/Homeground |
|
|---|---|
| Begins | 1999 or 2000 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Most recent | 25–26 November 2017 |
The Message Sticks Festival was a special arts event in Australia. It celebrated the amazing culture of Aboriginal Australians. This festival took place at the famous Sydney Opera House from 1999 to 2013.
At first, it showed many different art forms. These included film, music, theatre, and dance. Later, it focused more on films made by Indigenous filmmakers. In 2014, a new festival called Homeground took its place.
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Message Sticks Festival: A Celebration of Indigenous Arts
The Message Sticks Festival started around 1999 or 2000. It was first held at the Sydney Opera House. After its Sydney shows, the festival would travel to other cities across Australia. This allowed more people to experience the rich culture.
Focus on Indigenous Film
In its early years, Message Sticks featured many types of art. You could see Indigenous dance, music, and theatre. From 2002, the festival began to focus mainly on film. Two important filmmakers, Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale, helped choose the movies. They wanted to show films by both well-known and new Indigenous filmmakers. This helped new talents get noticed.
The festival received funding from the Australian Film Commission. This later became Screen Australia. This support helped the film festival grow. It allowed them to showcase many wonderful stories.
Ruby's Story: A Musical Highlight
In June 2004, a special musical show called Ruby's Story was part of Message Sticks. This show told the life story of singer-songwriter Ruby Hunter. She performed it with her partner, Archie Roach. They worked with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra.
The show was very popular and received great reviews. Its music won an award called the Deadly Award. Ruby's Story then toured around the world until 2009.
Growing the Festival
The festival continued to grow and become more popular. In 2011, Create NSW helped the Sydney Opera House. They supported a new role: Head of Indigenous Programming. Rhoda Roberts took on this important job. Her goal was to make the festival even bigger.
She wanted it to include more traditional and modern Indigenous art. This meant more theatre, dance, music, film, and visual art. In 2013, the number of people attending the festival increased a lot. It went up by 40% from the year before. Many of these visitors were new to the festival. In its later years, Message Sticks lasted for six days. It also toured to cities like Brisbane, Perth, and Darwin.
Homeground Festival: A New Chapter
In 2014, the Sydney Opera House started a new festival called Homeground. This festival replaced Message Sticks. Homeground is a two-day event. It focuses mainly on Indigenous music and dance.
Why the Change?
Rhoda Roberts explained why they changed the festival. She said it became hard to get new Indigenous films. This was because Indigenous films were becoming very successful. They were being shown in regular cinemas and other big festivals. So, Homeground shifted its focus to music and dance.
What Homeground Offers
Homeground is an international event. It features performers from many different First Nations cultures. You can see artists from New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and even Tibet. The festival offers music and dance workshops. Visitors can also see displays of modern art and traditional art forms.
The last Homeground festival listed on the website took place on 25 and 26 November 2017. The famous band Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project performed there.
