Image: Kiri Tawhai with mural. Photo by Leiko Manalang-Frequin.
“YOOKAPA is a First Nations creative program, created by mob for mob, grounded in the sovereignty and self-determination of First Nations people.”
YOOKAPA is the Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong word for the notion of giving and receiving. The program celebrates YOOKAPA as action, as a method of practice and as purpose in building relationships through interconnectedness, collaboration, exchange and reciprocity. It reiterates what it means to be part of the Blak community, and acknowledges and honours the way that Blackfullas not only relate to one another, but also to Country, to kin and to story.
The program is based at Platform Arts on Wadawurrung Country and is being established to respond to the critical need for more accessible and culturally safe spaces in the community to ensure First Nations futurity in the arts. The program celebrates Blak excellence that already exists in the here and now. We are the original story tellers, creators, dancers, singers, performers and artists. YOOKAPA will provide support, build capacity and foster opportunities for First Nations creatives to keep being excellent.
YOOKAPA is not a fixed program. We hope to offer First Nations community within the arts a framework for creative development and a shared hub to explore and experiment with creative and cultural practice. We want to acknowledge and celebrate ways of Being, Knowing and Doing that signifies the diversity of social experiences, cultural identities and subjective positions of First Nations people. A space to have autonomy and agency in how we tell our stories.
Supporting the Yookapa program is an advisory committee of strong Blak Matriarchs, creatives, industry and community leaders, including Aunty Vicki Couzens (Gunditjmara), Lisa Couzens (Gunditjmara), Kait James (Wadawurrung), Nikki McKenzie (Wadawurrung) and Jody Haines (Tommeginne).
Words by Tarryn Love
2023 ARTISTS
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“As a proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong woman and visitor on Wadawurrung Country I would like to thank the Traditional Owners and First Nations community of this place for Welcoming and supporting the development of YOOKAPA. I would like to pay my deepest respects and acknowledge the Elders and Ancestors, living and past, that paved the way for spaces like this to exist. I want to thank all the mob involved and recognise their generosity in which they have shared their individual stories and experiences as Blackfullas in shaping what this program might look like now and beyond. I want to thank Platform Arts for listening, learning and centering Blak Voices.”
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“Our power as First Nations people is something I recognise as greater than ourselves, drawn from those before and those to come. Big love to Country, to the mob who love us and the community that raised us. ”
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Video & YOOKAPA title design: Tarryn Love