Monash University Performing Arts Centres (MPAC) proudly launches Blakout, a dynamic new program spotlighting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists through six weeks of powerful music, dance, and storytelling.
Running from 28 May to 9 July, Blakout is bookended by two of the most significant weeks on the calendar for First Nations Australians, National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week, with a multi-generational lineup that showcases First Nations excellence on Boon Wurrung Country at Monash University’s Clayton campus.
Program highlights include Marrow by Australian Dance Theatre (pictured left) , a muscular, emotionally charged dance work set on shared ground where identity and politics are challenged, reframed, and reimagined. Another standout is Gikilangangu Wergaia, a collaboration between Alice Skye, James Howard, and Michael Julian which won the ‘Best Music’ award at the 2024 Melbourne Fringe Festival, blending songwriting, sound art, and improvisation in an evocative celebration of Wergaia language, culture, and Country.
The Blakout program embodies the 2025 Reconciliation Week theme, “Bridging Now to Next”, offering a powerful journey through culture, connection, and creativity. Mobtix are available to all First Nations people for the Blakout series.
Proud Gunditjmara man Tom Molyneux, who is MPAC’s Senior Producer First Nations and has led the curation of this new series, says “We could not be more thrilled to bring such a deadly group of performers to our venues. MPAC’s audiences will be able to fully immerse themselves in the very best of First Nations music and dance and proudly show their support for the reconciliation journey we continue to tread together in this nation.”
MPAC’s Blakout program includes:
Uncle David Arden – 28 May, Live at The Count’s
Kicking off Blakout with heart and soul, Kokatha/Gunditjmara singer-songwriter Uncle David Arden delivers a powerful solo performance. With a career spanning decades and collaborations with Uncle Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, and Aunty Ruby Hunter, Arden brings stories of family, justice, and Country to the stage through his signature blues-infused sound and lyrical storytelling.
Fred Leone – 1 June, Sundays in the Sound Gallery
One of the Butchulla Songmen and a pioneering voice in Indigenous music, Fred Leone blends traditional language and song with contemporary genres like hip-hop, soul, and electronica. His performance is a cultural experience—part ceremony, part innovation, merging ancient knowledge with urgent modern expression.
Jess Hitchcock – 4 June, Live at The Count’s
An extraordinary performer across pop, opera, folk and country, Jess Hitchcock (pictured right) brings her genre-defying voice and magnetic presence to Blakout. Known for her collaborations with Kate Miller-Heidke and Paul Kelly, Hitchcock’s live shows are both intimate andexpansive, showcasing her storytelling range and emotional depth.
Marrow by Australian Dance Theatre – 6 June, Alexander Theatre
Marrow is a striking dance work that explores identity, memory and power through movement. Created collaboratively by some of Australia’s finest First Nations creatives and set in a charged space of smoke and shifting light, the piece interrogates dominant narratives and reveals complex truths. Marrow is a choreographic course correction for a nation searching for a new direction. Visceral, poetic, and uncompromising, this is contemporary dance at its most urgent.
Christian Thompson AO – 11 June, Live at The Count’s
A renowned visual and musical artist making his first appearance at The Count’s, Dr. Christian Thompson AO presents an atmospheric and immersive sound performance. Drawing on his practice as a multidisciplinary artist, Thompson blends operatic vocals, spoken word, and ambient classical composition to explore themes of cultural hybridity and personal ancestry.
Gikilangangu Wergaia – 18 June, Live at The Count’s
Featuring Alice Skye, James Howard, and Michael Julian, this powerful collaboration honours Wergaia language and culture through an evocative blend of music, sound art and improvisation. Gikilangangu Wergaia is an invitation to listen deeply; to Country, to each other, and to stories shared across time.
Singing Our Futures – 25 June, Live at The Count’s
urated by singer-songwriter, producer, and proud First Nations woman Candice Lorrae, Singing Our Futures showcases the original sounds and stories of emerging talents: ARIA (Palawa/Wiradjuri), Wren Arkose (Wakka Wakka), Breanna Lee (Wemba-Wemba), Naomi Diane (Gamilaroi), and Torres Green (Meriam Mur) in one incredible show. Supported by the Archie Roach Foundation, each artist has undergone a year of tailored mentoring in songwriting, recording, and live performance guided by mentors including Dan Sultan, Emma Donovan, BUMPY, Emma Wurramara. Tickets coming soon.
Benny Walker – 2 July, Live at The Count’s
Yorta Yorta singer-songwriter Benny Walker is known for his smooth vocals, commanding stage presence, and fusion of blues, roots, and soul. His performances are rich with emotion and groove, drawing audiences into stories of love, land, and legacy with each note.
Allara – 6 July, Sundays in the Sound Gallery
Allara is a Yorta Yorta winyarr and a compelling multidisciplinary artist who weaves together double bass, electronic soundscapes, and spoken word. Her work is grounded in connection to Country and community, using music as a vessel for storytelling, resistance, and cultural resurgence.
Jessie Lloyd – 9 July, Live at The Count’s
Closing the Blakout series, Jessie Lloyd brings her acclaimed work as a powerful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander songkeeper, musician, and cultural historian to the stage. Through her revival of Indigenous songs from missions, families, and communities, Lloyd creates a space for truth-telling, cultural memory, and musical brilliance.
From 28 May to 9 July
