Monash University has announced a new Indigenous-led arts festival, Kindred People. The week-long festival and research symposium will take place at the university’s Clayton campuses on Kulin Country from 1 to 5 September next year.
Kindred People – quick links
Kindred People: imagining new futures
Kindred People will invite artists, elders, knowledge holders and communities to share traditions, champion creative expression and imagine new futures.
It will be curated by Monash’s Head of First Nations Programming and Engagement, the Gunditjmara man Tom Molyneux, and supported by an Indigenous Steering Committee.
Molyneux said: ‘Kindred People is unique. It is a celebration of First Nations art, culture, ceremony and wisdom. It is a coming together of global communities, an exchange of knowledge, stories, truths, and research. It is a weaving together of our collective experiences in the face of existential challenges. It is healing. It is transformative. It is where tradition and the contemporary collide.’
Monash’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) and Senior Vice-President, Professor Tristan Kennedy, said the festival was an expression of the university’s commitment to the amplification of Indigenous voices.
‘We seek to bring about deep connections and to energetically encourage the creation and sharing of Indigenous knowledges and creative practices,’ he said.
The new festival – which joins the likes of YIRRAMBOI in Melbourne, Garma Festival in the Northern Territory and Parrtjima—A Festival in Light in Alice Springs – is intended to serve as a place of listening and learning, as well as creativity and exchange.
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Kennedy added: ‘We’re proud and grateful to be presenting this groundbreaking festival on the unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung and welcome all those who wish to join us in listening and sharing.’
Sharing cultures and stories
The visual identity of Kindred People has been created in collaboration with Gumbaynggirr artist and activist Aretha Brown.
Brown’s work reached a wide audience earlier this year through a commission for the North of Ireland hip-hop trio, Kneecap. Her design for Kindred People employs a constellation of symbols from past and present, from eels and eel traps, to mangrove roots, turntables and trumpets, connecting ancient knowledge to protest, music and change.
Professor N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs AM, a senior Boon Wurrung elder and member of the Kindred People Steering Committee, worked closely with both Brown and the design studio Clear to guide the development of the design and ensure it reflects the living murrup (spirit) of Country.
Briggs said: ‘Kindred People will be a ngargee (celebration) of our cultures, strength and different ways of sharing knowledge and telling stories. The brand has been designed to be responsive to Boon Wurrung seasons, and we can’t wait to watch it evolve as we get closer to the event.’
Kindred People runs from 1 to 5 September 2026 at Monash University in Melbourne.
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