CELEBRATING AUSTRALIAN STORIES THROUGH MUSIC, DANCE AND CULTURE
The Albanese Labor Government is funding three new arts projects which will grow partnerships with our Pacific neighbours, celebrate Australian songs and showcase First Nations dance.
The first project will support 11 Pacific delegates to attend the 2026 Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) National Conference at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD).
The delegates from Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu, Palau, Solomon Islands and French Polynesia will build connections with Australia’s museum professionals and exchange ideas to build capability in the cultural sector at home and abroad.
The second, the Australasian Performing Right Association and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS) was supported to announce the inaugural National Songbook inductees at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).
Coinciding with the centenary of APRA AMCOS and ninety years of the NFSA, the celebration marked the start of a permanent collection of Australian songs, including inductees such as Waltzing Matilda, My Island Home and Beds Are Burning.
Lastly, NAISDA Dance College, Australia’s leading performing arts training organisation for First Nations students, will be supported to host a symposium marking NAISDA’s 50th anniversary.
The symposium will bring together national and international First Nations choreographers, cultural leaders and dancers through creative practice and sector exchange.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke:
“Australia shares more than a border with our Pacific neighbours; we share a love of culture. MoAD provides an ideal setting for sharing ideas and strengthening sector capability across both nations.
“The National Songbook is quite literally the soundtrack to life in Australia - each song reaching every Australian in one way or another. Across the ten songs inducted, it’s hard to find a piece of the Australian experience that’s been left behind.
“For 50 years now, NAISDA has been sharing stories that go all the way back to the first sunrise. May there be many more years of training students and sharing culture through dance and the performing arts.”
More information about the projects can be found here: