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Clancestry: Conversations and our Living History
by Rhonda Hagan 26 October 2015
T
he Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC’s) annual festival Clancestry, A Celebration of Country will run from 30 November to 6 December 2015 in Brisbane’s Cultural Precinct at South Bank. Clancestry’s Conversation Series will be held from 2 to 4 December. Dr Chelsea Bond is Curator of the series and hopes audiences gain a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and culture. “For non-Indigenous audiences, I hope they take away a sense of the vibrancy and vitality of Indigenous people and cultures today, right here in the city of Brisbane,” said Dr Bond. “I hope they come away with
Dr Chelsea Bond hopes Clancestry will provide a new way of imagining [Indigenous] people. Images supplied
a new way of imagining us and engage in the journey through all of the events we are having and allow themselves to challenge their pre-existing imaginings of indigenous people and cultures and capabilities.” Dr Bond told First Nations Telegraph there are many presenters who will be able to provide audiences with a variety of viewpoints but all with the same theme, particularly with reference to the Setting up Sovereignty conversation. “I have invited a variety of guests and the presentation will be loosely framed on the TedX format where they will be given seven minutes to articulate Sovereignty and how they conceptualise it.
“I love to showcase how clever we are. I love how we have powerful presenters who have different styles and language to communicate Indigenous concepts and ideas. I’m quite certain that there will a common them for everyone to be able to give us a strong sense of what Sovereignty means.” Complementing the Conversation Series will be Clancestry’s Black Screen Film program, supported in partnership with National Film and Sound Archive. Nadine Mcdonald-Dowd is curator of Clancestry’s Living History exhibition at QPAC’s pedestrian tunnel, showing the lives and careers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community
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members. Other curators include wellknown identities Shannon Ruska, Traditional Owner and presenter. Nancy Bamaga will curate a range of activities including workshops, song, dance and market stalls.
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Fred Leone will curate Yawar a coming together of Traditional Owners, Elders, dancers and Songmen which has become the largest gathering of clan groups in the area since settlement. Clancestry, A Celebration of
Country is FREE and runs from 30 November to 6 December 2015, across QPAC and in The CourierMail Piazza, South Bank. To view the full festival program visit http://www.qpac.com.au/ clancestry/