2025 marks 50 years of NAIDOC Week as a national platform for honouring and amplifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, culture and resilience.
Appropriately, this year’s theme looks to the future: ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’.
Dunghutti woman, and early education consultant, Deborah Hoger says the theme, “carries on beautifully from 2024, where we joined together to ‘Keep the fire burning’. This year celebrates not only the achievements of those who have come before us, but the path that lies ahead of us – a path empowered by the strength of our children and young people, the vision of our communities and the legacy of our ancestors.”
NAIDOC Week runs from 6-13 July 2025; here are six ways you can get immersed in First Nations culture during the celebrations.
Things to do:
1. Listen to live First Nations music
Bringing their self-described ‘Yolŋu surf-rock’ to the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW), the five-piece, ARIA Award-winning Northern Territory group King Stingray will headline a jam-packed program of music, performance, films, talks, workshops and exhibitions.
Volume presents: Lightning song is a free, one-off evening celebrating cutting-edge First Nations music on Wednesday 9 July from 5-10pm (no bookings required). King Stingray will be supported by Alice Skye, a multi award-winning Wergaia/Wemba Wemba musician, and singer-songwriter Keanu Nelson from the remote community of Papunya in the Northern Territory.
The program coincides with the important exhibition, Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala, showcasing over 300 works created over nine decades by more than 90 extraordinary Aboriginal artists connected to the community of Yirrkala in the Northern Territory. Take one of the children’s tours during NAIDOC Week – scheduled for 2pm on 10, 11, 17 and 18 July (ticketed) or before 6 October.
And in Canberra, Kingston Arts presents award-winning singer and songwriter artist Emma Donovan on the eve of NAIDOC, live at Kingston Arts, Saturday 5 July at 7pm. A proud Gumbaynggirr and Yamatji woman, Donovan has spent over two decades sharing songs rooted in family, culture and community, performing in language and championing stories from Country. She will be joined by special guest Alice Skye, a rising star known for her emotive song writing and distinctive sound. Ticketed.
2. Buy art directly from First Nations artists
The National Indigenous Art Fair (NIAF) returns to the Overseas Passenger Terminal on Gadigal Country in The Rocks, Sydney from its sixth edition to coincide with NAIDOC Week. It’s a great way to connect with more than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists – to hear their stories and to ethically buy their art directly. More than 30 remote art centres from across the country will be represented.
“This event is more than an art fair – it’s a living, breathing expression of culture,” says Peter Cooley, CEO of First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation, which presents the event. “It’s a space where remote artists, many travelling thousands of kilometres to be here, are recognised on equal footing with urban-based practitioners.”
The weekend of 5-6 July will also showcase a program of live music, fashion, weaving circles, talks and workshops led by First Nations creatives. Check out the program and plan your visit. Entry is $3 (free for children under 12).
3. Be art of contemporary conversations
As part of the major exhibition The Neighbour at the Gate at the National Art School in Sydney, artists Jacky Cheng, Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, Dennis Golding, Jenna Mayilema Lee, James Nguyen and James Tylor will give talks on Friday 11 July between 10am and 4pm. And on Saturday 12 July from 11am until 3pm, visitors can listen to a panel discussion with exhibiting artists and curators, as well as visit drop-in workshops for ceramics, tassel making and screen printing with designs by Dennis Golding. At 8pm, ticket holders can enter the Cell Block Theatre for the Shared Skies music concert headlined by BARKAA.
The exhibition has been curated by Wardandi (Noongar) and Badimaya (Yamatji) woman and senior curator Clothilde Bullen OAM in tandem with Micheal Do and Whadjuk Balladong and Wilman (Noongar) woman Zali Morgan, and reckons with the echoes of immigration policies and the legacies of Colonialism in Australia – and how they continue to shape First Nations and Asian Australian experiences and relationships. It continues until 18 October.
4. Restore hope and futures
We Sit in Circle is a powerful new exhibition presented in partnership with Queen Victoria Women’s Centre (QVWC) and The Torch, which celebrates strength, hope and survival through artworks created by First Nations women who have lived experience of incarceration and have been impacted by the criminal legal system.
The curators explain: “We Sit in Circle has been curated to reflect the symbol of the circle – a meeting or resting place. The artworks positioned near the entrance and exits of the gallery space are created by artists in the community, continuing their journeys after prison. The works placed at the centre of the exhibition are by women currently inside. They are regrouping, reconnecting and resting, and in time will continue on their own paths.”
The exhibition is curated by Flick Chafer-Smith (Ngarrindjeri) and Sharn Geary (Bundjalung), and you can catch it at 210 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne from 1-18 July. The Torch assists artists to reconnect with culture and earn income from art sales (with 100% of the artwork price going directly to the artist).
5. Immerse yourself in First Nations stories on stage
The true story of Australia’s first signed Indigenous Olympian, Francis Roy ‘Frank’ Roberts will be shared on stage by his cousin, Rhoda Roberts AO, in NORPA’s My Cousin Frank at Arts Centre Melbourne from 9-12 July 2025, making its Victorian debut this NAIDOC Week.
The story has been written, and will be performed solo, by Roberts – who “introduces audiences to her cousin, a Widjabul Wia-bal and Githabul man, Frank, who spent his entire life fighting tirelessly, both in the boxing ring and for his family and culture”.
Frank competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the welterweight division as the first Aboriginal Australian athlete to gain selection, and one of the first Indigenous Australians to participate in the Olympic Games.
“My Cousin Frank serves as both a celebration of achievements and a call for deeper reflection on our past and the work still to be done,” says Roberts. Following its presentation in Melbourne, My Cousin Frank will tour to Wodonga’s HotHouse Theatre 13-16 August 2025, with further destinations to be announced.
6. Learn to partner better
Copyright Agency will host a national webinar during NAIDOC Week 2025 that guides Australian businesses and artists on how to engage ethically and respectfully with First Nations visual artists and art centres.
Titled ‘Doing it Right: Respectful Brand Alignment with First Nations Art’, the webinar takes place on Wednesday 9 July from 11am to 12pm AEST and is open to brand, marketing, legal and creative professionals across Australia.
Led by legal expert Terri Janke, the session will offer practical steps and insights on working with Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), with perspectives from art centre leadership and the Copyright Agency’s Visual Arts team.
“If you’d like to know more about working with First Nations artists, this is a great place to start. You’ll hear directly from an Indigenous author and lawyer, an artist, a remote art centre leader and the team that helps the partnerships come together,” says Janke.
The webinar is free to attend and will include a post-event resource pack. To register.
Quick list of more exhibitions to see this NAIDOC Week
- NSW: Blak Douglas: The Halfway Line at Penrith Regional Gallery until 20 July. Co-curated by Djon Mundine OAM and Penrith Regional Gallery Director Toby Chapman.
- NSW: Warraba Weatherall: Shadow and Substance – first major survey by this Queensland artist at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia), until 21 September 2025.
- NSW: Betty Kuntiwa Pumani: maḻatja-maḻatja (those who come after) at Bundanon – the artist’s inaugural museum survey explores her shimmering landscapes of red earth, bright blue waterholes and stippled white tobacco flowers, until 5 October.
- Vic: Stronger Families, Stronger Communities: Healing the Past for the Future at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, included with general entry to Melbourne Museum.
- Vic: NAIDOC Week 2025 Exhibition of Glass Artwork by participants of the Glaas Inc First Nations Workshop Program and First Nations Melbourne Polytechnic glass at Australian Centre for Glass Design, Prahran, opening Thursday 10 July at 6pm to 8.30pm.
- ACT: Our Story: Aboriginal Chinese People in Australia at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra brings to life a previously overlooked but important part of Australian history and the experiences of two communities coming together; showing until early 2026.
- NSW: Seeing Sydney, Knowing Country, an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney that explores the city’s landscapes and waterways from two very different perspectives: those of the British colonists and First Nations people; until 2 November.
- Vic: Taking Back Language showcases a selection of works by acclaimed Aboriginal artists who engage with text to reclaim language, at Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre until 4 October.
- NSW: Parramatta’s (Western Sydney) annual festival Warami at Burramatta NAIDOC returns – a free family festival transforming Parramatta Park into a vibrant hub of music, markets, art and culture with headline acts by R’n’B favourite Becca Hatch, soulful singer-songwriter Kee’ahn, psychedelic groove-makers Velvet Trip and storytelling songsmith John James.
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. It is an acronym that has evolved to represent a week-long celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, history and achievements in Australia.
