MILPIRRI
(2007 to 2010)

 

Milpirri is a cultural celebration by the Warlpiri people who live on the fringes of the Tanami desert in the Northern Territory. Milpirri is based in the Lajamanu community but incorporates the other Warlpiri communities of Yuendumu, Willowra, Nyirrpi, and Warlpiri Ngurra in Katherine. Milpirri engages the communities in music, dance, ceremonies and painting in order to stem the drift of the younger Warlpiri from their cultural roots. The result has been a strengthening of intergenerational bonds and growing self esteem among young Warlpiri. The benefits are being seen in better school results; a cultural revival; the acquisition of the many skills needed to stage a large cultural festival, and an improvement in the physical well being of those involved in staging Milpirri. The RTAF is providing major support for Milpirri from 2007 to 2010.

 

 

BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE
(1999 to 2011)

 

The Bangarra Dance Theatre is Australia's leading Aboriginal contemporary dance company. The Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund is supporting Bangarra's Artist professional and education development programme (PEDP) from 2008 to 2011. This support builds on previous funding since 1999 and, in particular, support for the Junior dancer development programme from 2004 to 2007. The PEDP is a natural progression from the junior programme and helps the young artists nurtured under that programme to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to become the next generation of cultural teachers. Over time, their efforts will inspire young Aboriginal Australians in regional and remote Australia.

 

 

 

INDIGENOUS PROJECTS COORINATOR
(2006 to 2007)

 

The Indigital Centre is a culturally inclusive Aboriginal training centre run by Fraynework Multimedia staff. Through the artistic use of music and multimedia the Centre assists young Aboriginal people to reflect on and express their identity and aspirations. It strives to increase their technology skills and so build confidence to seek further employment, education and performance opportunities, as well as documenting important Aboriginal community history. In 2006 and 2007, the RTAF supported an Indigenous coordinator whose efforts have contributed to improving the prospects of young Aboriginal people judged to be at risk. The Centre is now expanding its activities across urban, rural and remote Victoria.

 

 

 

KEEPING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ALIVE
(2007)

Many of Australia's Aboriginal languages are near extinction. In Geraldton, WA, the Bundiyarra community are working to preserve the regional Irra Wangga languages. The community believes television to be the best way to reach a widely spread audience with varying degrees of literacy. So Bundiyarra are developing, producing, and broadcasting locally, a TV advertisement that aims to promote the revival and maintenance of Indigenous languages. The advertisement encourages adults to speak their Indigenous language with their children.

 

 

ABORIGINAL RULES
(2006)

 

The RTAF was a supporter of the recently released Aboriginal Rules DVD and CD produced by Warlpiri Media, which highlights the role that football plays in the lives of the Warlpiri communities of central Australia. It follows the fortunes of the Yuendumu Magpies as they use football to reinforce pride in self, family and community. Intertribal rivalry is channelled into football competitions that give a sense of purpose to young men who might otherwise feel alienated. Aboriginal Rules portrays positive activities within communities.

 

 

 

CAAMA DOCUMENTARY & MUSIC PROJECT
(2003 to 2005)

The CAAMA- Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund project supported cultural preservation by providing resources to facilitate the recording of Aboriginal stories and music in the artists’ own language for broadcast on CAAMA programmes. The programme ran for three years and ended in mid 2005.

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NGAANYATJARRA & NGAATJATJARRA TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY
(2002 to 2005)

 

IAD Press is the publishing arm of the Institute for Aboriginal Development, an education provider, based in Alice Springs, which is at the forefront of efforts to preserve Australia's remaining Indigenous languages. In 2002 the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund committed to provide financial support for four years to IAD. The funding has contributed to the publication of the Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra to English dictionary.

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FIRE, FIRE BURNING BRIGHT
(2001)

The Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund sponsored the Kimberley based Neminuwarlin Performance Group to take its spectacular Joonba (corroboree) performance of Fire Fire Burning Bright to the 2002 Perth and Melbourne festivals. The performance told the story of the poisoning, early last century, of a group of Aboriginal workers on a Kimberley cattle station.

 

ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
(2000 to 2002)

The Fund, along with the Australian Council and the Aboriginal Affairs Department, provided funding to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, to create a new three year position for an Indigenous trainee assistant curator. Stephen Gilchrist has recently completed his traineeship and taken up a position at the National Gallery of Victoria as the curator, Indigenous art.