Blak Day Out is an annual festival in Brisbane, this winter running as part of the Open Season programme at The Tivoli.
It aims to bring First Nations community together to celebrate Blak excellence, Blak joy and Blak music.Alethea Beetson co-founder of Blak Social, the team behind Blak Day, was kind enough to shine a light on the work done behind the scenes to pull this festival together, and what can be expected from this exciting day.
"Blak Social is an Indigenous collective, working predominantly in Meanjin so called Brisbane, led by myself, Loki Liddle and Jhindu-Pedro Lawrie.
"I founded Digi Youth Arts, which is an Indigenous youth arts organisation operating here in Meanjin, and I was always pretty aware that I would create a space that wasn't just focused on youth, even though it's always intergenerational.
"And that space became Blak Social; we work across theatre, film and music, predominantly, but not in a siloed kind of setting and so Blak Day Out came about through a partnership with The Tivoli.
"We've been talking to The Tivoli about creating a space within that presenting venue to bring more mob in not just in terms of performing but in terms of audience as well."
Alethea is justifiably excited about the Blak Day Out line-up, which is full to the brim with talent. "You can expect some legends of blak music; we have The Last Kinection which I know a lot of people are really excited about. We had Naomi play last year, so we're just so grateful that they are coming back with The Last Kinection.
"Then there's a range of local emerging talent like Ethan Enoch and Keely. And then there's also some more emerging artists that have been doing it for a while we haven't had up here.
"I haven't seen Kee'han up here in a while. Kee'han was actually in the very first Blak Social event. So it's really great to have Kee'han back. We've got CLOE TERARE, Alf The Great, SOLCHLD and Djanaba. They're all doing amazing things.
"I think it's a really great mix of supporting local music because this is where we are, the community that we live in, we work in and we are ancestrally obligated to.
"Also bringing in DRMNGNOW and Birdz both rappers who are culturally connected through their art and have been making an impact across the country for some time. Being able to have Birdz here is huge, Birdz obviously living somewhere else, but has cultural connections to up here."
When asked what they are most looking forward to about the event, Alethea says it's the vision for Blak Day Out. "Hopefully it will be the blackest we've ever seen the Tivoli so we set it up that way and that's our main goal.
"The main goal is that we look up and we realise that it's a space that blackfellas feel safe in but also all black and brown people, and all people that the colony does not serve are able to be in that space and know that that space is for them and that we'll do everything we can to look after them."
Community underpins everything that Blak Social stands for. "It's all that we do. Creating community spaces.
"I quite clearly in my own work can feel the difference when I'm running a First Nations programme inside of Western space to what Blak Social feels like to what Digi Youth Arts feels like and so it's really important, with the way that the colony exists at the moment.
"I'm still working in some Western spaces doing that work. It is positive and it is good, but it's always for me personally, it's important to have work that is just solely for community that is solely owned and led by us."
By making this event happen Alethea exudes: "We think about absolutely everything. And we're really lucky that we've worked with our elders in residence in the past: Uncle Charles and Aunty Colleen.
"So we have places to go to get guidance, but we think about everything. So while we're partnering with a venue like The Tivoli, which is incredibly committed to creating a safe space for everyone, including mob, we know that it's not necessarily an Indigenous space.
"While we try to create a space that includes everyone in our community, and that's why we are having it an all-ages gig, it's not necessarily how we would run an all-ages gig in a youth arts context, but it's certainly so that in particular families can come.
"Being able to bring their entire family is so incredibly important and ensures that everyone can have access to these events, as well.
"It's really important for us to create inclusive environments when we did Blak Warehouse Party, which was an electronic dance party for the entire community. It was really great to see children also enjoying that type of music at six o'clock at night."
Alongside the strength of community that brings Blak Day Out together, is the ancestral spirit that flows through the event and those involved with it. "If you went to Blak Day Out last year and you saw all of those Indigenous artists performing together you know, musically, they were phenomenal.
"Energetically, they were phenomenal. But it's the big ancestor energy that they bring and having them all together, and all of that ancestral power that they bring with all their different old people that travel with them at all times.
"That is incomparable and big ancestor energy is the heart into why we do everything. It's why it doesn't matter how many people turn up to events, we know that there's 1000s of us in a room that we have to continue story, whichever way that is whether that's through telling our own stories with film and theatre, or whether it's also providing a platform for artists to perform at Blak Day Out. It's important to provide opportunities to continue that."
Blak Day Out takes place at The Tivoli (Brisbane) 16 July.
Blak Day Out 2023 Line-up
BirdzThe Last Kinection
CLOE TERARE
DRMNGNOW
Kee'ahn
Djanaba
SOLCHLD
Ethan Enoch
Keely
Alf The Great
Kritty
