Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival

The Melbourne Indigenous Arts festival is in full swing down under with more than 40 artists gathering to share, celebrate, educate, contribute and inspire.

"Culture is knowledge, and knowledge is survival" Deborah Cheetham writes of the Melbourne Indigenous Arts festival for The Guardian. An Indigenous musician herself she continues:

For us the visual and performing arts have always been the way we know the world and give meaning to everything in it. For more than 1000 generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have passed on all knowledge of geography, the sciences, medicine and humanity through the visual and performing arts. No fear of a hard-drive meltdown in traditional culture. As long as you knew the song or the dance or the story, culture would survive.

The festival presents a range of art forms including Indigenous theatre, music, literature, film, cabaret and dance. Bringing their musical talents to the second annual, 12 day celebration are artists Bart Willoughby, Tiriki Onus, Jessica Mauboy, Archie Roach and Cheetham.

"Come and witness first-hand an ancient culture that has always been contemporary to its time, informed and shaped by the knowledge of 1000 generations" Cheetham invites in her list of highlights (get the full report here).

Scope full festival schedule here and watch Bart Willoughby - who performs "We Still Live On" this Wednesday at the festival - now:

VIDEO: Bart Willoughby - "We Have Survived"