This week we congratulate Creative Producer Alex Kelly who today in Sydney is being awarded the Kirk Robson award, which recognises outstanding leadership in community cultural development demonstrated by the young artist, who died in 2005. Congratulations also to Ngapartji Ngapartji choir member Makinti Minutjukur, who has been selected to participate in the ‘Options for the Future of Indigenous Australia’ topic of the 2020 Summit, initiated by the Prime Minister to ‘bring together Australia’s best and brightest’ to discuss future issues for Australia.

Creative Producer Alex Kelly, speaking at the Media call for Ngapartji Ngapartji at Belvoir St, and Makinti Minutjukur who we congratulate this week.

In Alice Springs workshops last week Helen from CAAMA joined us for afinal session on digital storytelling and Sadie produced the firstdigital story for the group, using photographs and voice over to tellabout her experiences with Ngapartji Ngapartji. We’re planning toupload these onto the www.ninti.org site as part of an aim to makespace for more community-developed content such as photos, stories anddigital material whie putting the brakes on making ‘lessons’ for now.Sadie also plans to use her story to present at the upcoming NPY KungkaCareers Conference in May.

Jane and Sadie working on Sadie's digital story. 

It’s been a quiet week on the workshop front this week for one reasonor another. Yesterday I attended a memorial service for JenniferMitchell’s husband who recently passed away after being very ill forsome time. The service, put on by the Salvation Army at the hostelwhere Mr Mitchell had been living, coincided with the funeral inBlackstone and offered a chance for people in town to gather and paytheir respects. Jennifer was involved in the first pilot show inMelbourne in 2005, in Alice Springs in 2006 and in the language show atthe Sydney Opera House later that year. Jennifer has found itincreasingly difficult to tour with us as she has been caring for herhusband in Alice Springs. She has now gone back home to Iruntju(Wingelina). It was a beautiful afternoon service made special by thesinging lead by Imuna Kenta and her sister.

Imuna’s granddaughter Tjinkuma came in for the day this week whom wehadn’t seen for ages. Tjinkuma was a regular early last year but hasbeen back living in Pukatja growing up her daughter Kerry-Anne.

Thanks to Beth and Zoe who ran a discussion last week at the FriendshipFestival in Melbourne focussing on cross-cultural workingrelationships. The three-day festival is designed to ‘bring togethernon-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians as an expression offriendship, support and respect to the Indigenous people and theirhistory and culture from non-Indigenous Australians’. And Alex attended a forum held by Sydney-based public relations firm PulseCommunications at the Tourism NT office in Alice Springs this week who have beenemployed by the Northern Territory Government to develop positive stories aboutAlice Springs in the national media.

At present I am organising the upcoming bush trip with NPY Women’sCouncil. The week after next, myself and film maker David Wardell willspend two weeks way out west (near the SA, WA border) betweenPiplylatjara and Kalka, doing storymaking activities with young peopleusing writing, drawing and filming. 

So that’s it for the news for the next few weeks but we hope to havesome great community content from our trip for you when I get back.

Palya
Dani