Past Projects

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Kulchajam has undertaken a range of one off projects since we started in 2010, along with the regular program of events we host at our arts hub in Byron Bay. Highlights of our previous work include:

Turning the Tide was an intercultural awareness project that brought together the voices of Australia’s Indigenous elders together with leading Australian musicians in an effort to calling for action to address the grave threats posed by climate change in a manner that respects all the people who share our planet. The voices of traditional Aboriginal elders are interspersed amongst songs from leading Australian artists including Missy Higgins, John Butler, Ghostwriters, Lior and more. The album features fresh material, some produced especially for the album from a range of Australia artists including Wolf and Cub, After The Fall, Good Buddha, Ben Fink, Watussi, Declan Kelly, Gelbison and more.

The project highlighted how the energy choices we make now profoundly affect other societies and future generations of humanity. Our choices over energy affect those who play no part in creating the problem of climate change. Indigenous people, including the Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory and our Pacific neighbours have been most affected by the destructive impacts of a uranium/nuclear cycle and the impacts of our inaction over climate change.

Island Rhythms:

Kulchajam collaborated with Island Vibe Festival to create a dedicated space for creative collaboration, cultural exchange and sharing between the artists attending the festival and the local Island community of Minjerriba (North Stradbroke Island) leading up to the Island Vibe Festival 2009

Participants in the Island Rhythm project arrived for a week before the festival to take part in a program that includes opportunities for musical and artistic exchange and sharing, as well as other activities that support capacity building and knowledge exchange, workshops on issues relevant to participants across cultural, artistic, community and environment, social and justice themes.

Outcomes of the program were integrated into the programming of the festival as collaborative performances, workshops, speakers forums, projections, dance, films and as part of the site decoration, ceremony and visual arts program.

The cultural exchange program and its showcase program at the festival contributed to ongoing efforts at cultural reconciliation through increasing understanding and opportunities for positive and inspiring interaction and cultural exchange between indigenous communities and mainstream Australia.

Nareeba Kungeel Boorool ("My Corroboree Ground" in the Jandaiwal language") was a diverse ten day program of arts and culture exchange, developed in collaboration with the Indigenous community of Minjerriba (North Stradbroke Island) and in partnership with the Island Vibe Festival

Representatives from Indigenous Nations across Australia (including Bundjalung, Gabi Gabi, Yolgnu, Wiradjuri, Ngapa, and the Pacific (including Aotearoa(NZ), Solomons, Papua, Samoa) joined the Quandamooka people for a weeks program preceding Island Vibe Festival.

This program features local Yullu Buri Ba dancers, Archie Roach, Paula Fuga (Hawaii), King Kapisi (NZ/Samoa) amongst more than twenty musicians, dancers, weavers, healers from Australia and the Pacific ‘jamming it up’ with local Quandamooka peoples and the Stradbroke community.

The week's activities including workshops, films, forums, cultural exchange, healing and a recording studio set up for the week that brought local school students, youth and traditional song group to record, with showcases during the festival, including a collaborative closing ceremony and contemporary all star finale.
 

The Acacia Evenings was a nine day performance art program culminating in a ‘creative assembly’ a roving performance evening that took audiences on a journey through seven secret locations in the Byron Arts and Industy Estate. From an evening of one minute performances, to presentation of solo works and a week of diverse creative development workshops that culminated in a series of performances, the Acacia Evenings was a unique and much loved initiative to create networking, unique collaborations and skills sharing amongst the region’s artists.