YIRRAMBOI aims be a platform to promote the interconnectedness and diversity of First Nations creatives. Its intent is to create space for expressions of culture, identity, unity and truth through evolutionary and experimental practices.
In 2025 YIRRAMBOI is expanding its reach globally, intending to deepen international First Nations connections and promoting cross-cultural dialogue. Northern Turtle Island (Canada) has been invited as the Focus Nation, a step toward global cultural unity and collaboration.
This year, YIRRAMBOI will host a significant cross-cultural gathering, bringing together Australia and Canada in celebration of shared histories, diversity and the enduring solidarity of their First Nations communities. The collaboration will feature the world premiere of two major new commissions and showcase the talents of over 20 Canadian First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists.
Read: 6 signature projects for 2025 YIRRAMBOI festival
“As First Nations Peoples, we have long valued and understood the power of trade and exchange – practices that have shaped our cultures for thousands of years,” says Sherene Stewart, a Taungurung/Filipino woman and YIRRAMBOI co-Lead/Creative Lead. “While we may come from different corners of the world, our fight to thrive is shared. It is in our unity that we will create the transformative change our future generations deserve.”
A major honour for the Festival and an Australian exclusive, is the return to the stage of internationally acclaimed Cree-Saulteaux Métis artist, multidisciplinary performer and writer, Margo Kane. Renowned for her trailblazing contributions to Indigenous performance, Kane’s new work is an evolution of her artistic legacy, which includes pieces such as Reflections in the Medicine Wheel, Moonlodge and Confessions of an Indian Cowboy. Her works will be presented in collaboration with Arts Centre Melbourne, and aim to evoke deep reflection and transformation.

Also premiering at YIRRAMBOI 2025, We are the land we walk upon is a new work from artists Adrian Stimson (Siksika), Frances Belle Parker (Yaegl) and Tess Allas (Wiradjuri), co-presented by the Immigration Museum (Museums Victoria).
“Our two countries share many things – one being colonial brutalities and our historical resistances to these acts,” say the artists. “We are the land we walk upon explores our sense of belonging to these histories and the lands which our ancestors campaigned for and also walked upon.”
Denise Bolduc, an Anishinaabe woman and YIRRAMBOI’s Senior International Curator, says, “Decades of creative connections by Indigenous visionaries have cultivated extraordinary exchanges. The trails blazed and the deep roots planted continue to inspire relations between our lands. The international collaborations between Australia and Turtle Island respectfully continue this legacy of amplifying our sovereign voices and strengthening our collective fires by honouring the past, uplifting the present and igniting the future.”
YIRRAMBOI returns 1 -11 May 2025, Naarm/Melbourne
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