YIRRAMBOI Festival has announced four major new commissions set to premiere across Melbourne in 2027, signalling the next phase for a festival widely recognised as a leading platform for First Nations experimental and evolutionary arts.
Spanning music, street theatre, installation, film and movement, the works will be developed from early concept through to full realisation, with world premieres staged across narrm during the festival.
Now in its sixth iteration, the YIRRAMBOI Commissions Program remains central to the festival’s identity, offering early insight into its broader direction while supporting ambitious, community-led creative projects.
The 2027 program places Victorian First Nations artists at its core, with a focus on creative sovereignty, collaboration and cultural continuity. Among the headline works is GANBINAN!, a music project by Dr Lou Bennett AM and Allara, written entirely in Yorta Yorta language. The project explores language reclamation through contemporary music and will be presented as an immersive live performance.
Somewhere Over the Blak Rainbow by Bryan Andy takes to the streets of Fitzroy as a roving performance mapping Blak and Queer histories through drag, storytelling and song. The work honours figures including Lisa Bellear and Uncle Jack Charles, weaving past and present into a living narrative.
Withewa (To Return Home) by Jedda Atkinson-Costa is a film and installation work centred on Elders, preserving stories through portraiture, landscape and archival material. Meanwhile, What Yet by Maggie Church-Kopp and Johnny Brownexplores the transmission of cultural knowledge through contemporary circus and movement.
YIRRAMBOI Co-Lead and Artistic Lead Sherene Stewart said, “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.”
“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.”
Co-Lead and Executive Lead Emily Wells said, “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. We will continue to push, to carve out opportunity, and to honour our responsibility as a vital and enduring platform for First Nations practice.”
Further program details are expected ahead of the 2027 festival. More information is available here.
