The Art Gallery of New South Wales today announced its program for the first national Indigenous festival, Corroboree Sydney, a festival which will celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in the heart of Sydney.

Michael Brand, director of the Gallery, said: I am honoured that the Gallery can play such a significant role in this festival for what promises to be such a culturally enriching experience for visitors during this nine-day program in November. It’s also a unique opportunity to further our understanding of the art and culture of the original people of our land.

The Gallery’s program consists of talks, tours,workshops, live music, food and film. We know this festival will be enormously popular as there is such growing interest in our Indigenous art and culture not just by Australians but by our international visitors.

Highlights of the festival at the Gallery include the presentation of Illuminate, an immersive installation created with paper, light and sound by the Euraba Artists and Papermakers focusing on the Goomeroi people. This project will explore issues of home and housing.

Gallery director Michael Brand will reflect on the significance of the historic Pukumani poles from Melville Island followed by a sneak preview of the extraordinary crayon drawings featured in the upcoming exhibition Yirrkala drawings with curator Cara Pinchbeck.

Festival director Hetti Perkins will be speaking at the Gallery, writer Anita Heiss will host a glamorous Champagne and choc-lit celebration and Indigenous folk/jazz duo Microwave Jenny will perform. These events will take place as part of Art After Hours on Wednesday 20 November between 5 and 10pm.

Throughout Corroboree, the Gallery will host free daily guided tours of our Indigenous art collection with Indigenous Gallery educators, plus there will be live music in the cafe at lunchtime and a chance to sample a special bushfood menu.

Festival weekends feature talks by Gallery experts and artists Judy Watson, Daniel Boyd and Ken Thaiday, art-making workshops, and a special performance by the much-loved character Ngununy the cheeky fruit bat for children and families. Film director Wayne Blair also joins us to introduce a free screening of his acclaimed movie The Sapphires on Saturday 23 November.

To coincide with Corroboree, the Gallery will also launch Indigenous Australian: Art Gallery of New South Wales, a new app for iPad offering the chance to explore key artists and works from our Indigenous collection through high-quality images, stories of the artists and their art, explanations of art terms, artist interviews, videos and audio.

Full program