News

YIRRAMBOI has unveiled 4 major new commissions, marking the next chapter for a festival that has become a leading platform for First Nations evolutionary and experimental arts. Spanning experimental sound, street theatre, movement, language rematriation, film and installation – each work is developed from early concept through to full realisation, culminating in world premieres across narrm (Melbourne) during the 2027 festival.

Usually, when people talk about "accessibility," they’re talking about how easy a product or a building is to use. It’s a dry, technical term. But the context is much deeper than that. Accessibility is about making sure our people can show up, participate, and lead on their own terms.

YIRRAMBOI is proud to announce our new Advisory Group. This powerful cohort of eight creators, innovators and change-makers from across Victoria will walk alongside the festival as we shape the next evolution of YIRRAMBOI, ensuring First Nations leadership, diversity, and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do.

A moment of pride, sovereignty and collective progress. A future our old people always knew was possible.

YIRRAMBOI appoints Emily Wells (Kamilaroi) as Festival Co-lead/Executive Lead YIRRAMBOI Festival proudly announces a new chapter in its leadership, one that builds on the legacy, bold vision and deep cultural and community responsibility that has defined the festival’s global impact. Sherene Stewart (Taungurung/Filipino) will continue to guide the festival’s creative vision as Artistic Lead, alongside Emily Wells (Kamilaroi), who steps into the role of Executive Lead — marking a significant and powerful evolution in YIRRAMBOI’s leadership.

YIRRAMBOI Artistic Lead, Sherene Stewart, was selected to join The Festival Academy’s Atelier for Young Festival Managers, held across Amman and Aqaba, Jordan, in partnership with IDEA Festival, Studio 8, and Wujud.

Emily Wells, Executive Producer of YIRRAMBOI was invited to attend Yellamundie Festival – a biennial showcase of 6 new and distinct theatre, dance and music works in development by First Nations creatives, presented by Moogahlin Performing Arts.

The Motherless Collective are the crew behind Three Blak Ravers — their YIRRAMBOI 2025 production was a blistering collision of horror and rave culture. Set against a shadowy cityscape, three friends stepped into a night that spiralled into the unimaginable. What began as a high turned into a descent, where petrifying demons and bone-shaking visions blurred the line between reality and nightmare. Drawing from decades of iconic horror cinema, the work delivered an uncanny, hallucinatory trip that left no one unchanged. With YIRRAMBOI’s 2027 Commissions EOI open, we sent some questions over to the 2025 Commissions artists.

Apryl Day and Jirra Lulla’s collaborative exhibition and film work HOLDING SPACE at Queen Vic Women's Centre stood as a space that honoured grief, resilience, and joy simultaneously. Through photography and visual storytelling, the exhibition was a love letter to Cummeragunja, preserving stories and knowledge of Elders, the knowledge holders, whose guidance shapes the survival and revitalisation of cultural practices for future generations. With YIRRAMBOI’s 2027 Commissions EOI open, we sent some questions over to the 2025 Commissions artists.

CALLING ALL VICTORIAN BASED ABORIGINAL AND/OR TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ARTISTS, COLLECTIVES & ARTS ORGANISATIONS Expressions of Interest for the YIRRAMBOI 2027 Commissions are now open.

This week, we farewell a deeply loved and integral member of the YIRRAMBOI family, J-Maine Beezley, as he wraps up his time with us in the role of Co-Lead / Lead Creative Producer.

YIRRAMBOI lives, breathes, and evolves as a living testament to the power of First Nations Peoples.

DOWNLOAD THE YIRRAMBOI 2025 FULL PROGRAM AND FESTIVAL TIMETABLE

What do people with access needs want others to know?
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We are seeking expressions of interest for festival staff to help deliver YIRRAMBOI 2025. Roles include Front of House, Back of House & Box Office.

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With over 180 performances across 10 days, we’ve made it easier to guide yourself through the festival — whether you're chasing purpose, following your friends' picks, or going where the party’s at.

YIRRAMBOI is set to close out their 2025 festival with Barring Yanabul (‘We all walk the path’) and The Uncle Archie Roach Block Party, transforming the heart of narrm/Melbourne with live music, DJs, voguing, performance art and installation - breaking away from colonial spaces and returning stories to Country that have held them for over 80,000 years.

400+ FIRST NATIONS CREATIVES, 10 DAYS, ONE CITY. A 10-day feast of mediums spanning the breadth of artistic expression, YIRRAMBOI returns for its fifth iteration, breaking new ground as it takes centre stage in Narrm’s arts precinct. This year’s festival explores four powerful anchors—Legacy, Joy, Reclamation, and Akin—that form the foundation of its most ambitious program to date. Deeply rooted in purpose, YIRRAMBOI platforms expressions of culture, identity, unity, and truth through evolutionary and experimental practices, breaking away from preconceived ideas of First Nations ‘art’. YIRRAMBOI provides a stage for First Nations voices to be heard, for stories to reverberate through generations, to drive change and create a future where First Peoples are rightly celebrated.

Returning for its fifth festival from 1–11 May 2025, YIRRAMBOI reclaims centre stage in Narrm’s arts precinct with a dedicated festival hub, the Uncle Jack Charles – named as a tribute to the late Uncle Jack Charles, a trailblazer of First Nations storytelling. Taking over Malthouse Theatre and Chunky Move, the Uncle Jack Charles will transform the space with striking installations and performances, including five world premieres, two international works, and up-late gatherings activated by First Nations DJs.

In anticipation of their most ambitious festival to date, YIRRAMBOI has announced a groundbreaking global program deepening international First Nations connections and promoting cross-cultural dialogue. For the 2025 festival, taking place from May 1 to 11 in the heart of Narrm, Northern Turtle Island (Canada) has been invited as the Focus Nation, marking a significant step toward global cultural unity and collaboration.