Koorie Heritage Trust turns the big 3-0!

The Koorie Heritage Trust is one of the oldest community owned Aboriginal arts and cultural centres in Australia and this year it turns the big 3-0. To help celebrate this milestone they’re throwing their doors open to their new premises on levels one and three of the Yarra building at Federation Square, Melbourne. The new location will be officially opened by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Natalie Hutchins, on Saturday September 19 from 2-4.30pm.

Celebrations will include a free public concert on the Federation Square stage and the launch of an exhibition of new works in the level one gallery titled ‘Wominjeka: A New Beginning’.

CEO, Tom Mosby, says: “Our relocation brings Koorie peoples, communities and culture from the literal and figurative fringes of Melbourne, placing it at the centre of a contemporary and urban meeting place. Federation Square prides itself as being the heart of Melbourne. The Koorie Heritage Trust at Federation Square is its soul.”

Mosby continues: “At Federation Square we will promote and support the diversity of South East Australian Aboriginal peoples and celebrate our strong and continuing contemporary culture grounded in a 60,000 year old history.”

“In line with our values of Respect, Honesty, Reciprocity and Curiosity, we will develop and deliver an authentic and immersive urban Aboriginal arts and cultural experience to Federation Square visitors in a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment. In doing so, we add to Melbourne’s pre-eminence as a centre of creativity and innovation and, particularly, cultural diversity of the city and its arts”.

The new premises – including a state-of-the-art gallery, retail shop, offices and collection facilities – was designed by Lyons Architecture, in consultation with Aboriginal architects Jefa Greenaway and Reuben Berg from Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria. The influence of Koorie art and design is reflected throughout the building and the level three public area features a custom designed eight metre canoe-shaped gathering table, reflecting the significance of the Birrarung (Yarra River) to the local community and the relocation of the Koorie Heritage Trust to the Yarra Building at Federation Square, located next to the river.

‘Wominjeka: A New Beginning’ (19 September to 22 November, 2015) is an exhibition inspired by 30 years of collecting at the Koorie Heritage Trust, continuing the Trust’s history of incubating, supporting and promoting South-East Australian Aboriginal art. Five emerging Koorie artists, partnered with established artist mentors, have been engaged to create new works responding to the Trust’s significant collections of objects, artworks, archives and oral histories, amassed over the past 30 years. The five artists; Georgia MacGuire, Marlene Gilson, Mitch Mahoney, Josh Muir and Raymond Young worked with mentors Maree Clarke, Lee Darroch, Ray Thomas and Peter Waples-Crowe. The exhibition will feature the new works, installed with the items from the Trust’s Collections that inspired them.

  

Upstairs the Koorie Heritage Trust’s Collection of artworks and objects will be out on display in custom-designed visible storage cabinets throughout level three. CEO, Tom Mosby, has said “The new visible storage allows us to put more of our Collection out on display than ever before. This will provide all our visitors, especially our Koorie communities, unprecedented access to the only Collection in Australia dedicated to South-Eastern Aboriginal contemporary and historic artworks.”

Outside, the Koorie Heritage Trust will rock Federation Square with a free 30th Birthday Public Concert celebrating Koorie peoples, cultures and communities. A birthday cake will be cut and served and the concert will be hosted by Constantina Bush featuring Victorian Aboriginal performers including Jessie Loyd with the Mission Songs Project, Philly, Indigenous Hip Hop Projects, the Koorie Tiddas Choir and a cultural performance by Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri women’s dance group.

www.kooriheritagetrust.com

Glenda Nicholls (Wadi Wadi / Ngarrindjeri), Feather Flower, 1994. Koorie Heritage Trust Collection

Marlene Gilson, Marngrook – Football, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100cm

Josh Muir, We Will Survive, digital print on aluminium, 101.6 x 127cm

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