Support Us
Kaya! We Welcome You
Do you want to help us to Train and Nurture the next generation of Aboriginal artists?
As Australia’s leading Aboriginal theatre Company (Grahame Farrow - Festival Director Belfast, Ireland)
I invite you to consider making a contribution to our endeavours. Every gift counts and, when combined with the support of others, can make a significant impact. Together, we can play a crucial role in fostering the education of future generations of young Australians in awareness of Aboriginal culture in all its diversity. I hope you will join us. (Kyle J Morrison, Artistic Director)
As documented by UNESCO, 1996: Culture is the foundation of progress and fundamental to human existence.
What cannot be ignored and is well documented that engagement in the creative process or as an audience member of the arts has direct benefits to health and wellbeing.
Involvement in the arts affords a range of wellbeing benefits. (ABS report 4160.0 Measuring Wellbeing: Frameworks for Australian Social Statistics, 2001)
Arts and culture are a life-enhancing and essential part of our existence. (Cultural Learning Alliance (U.K.))
We invite you to:
Support an Artist
| Ian Wilkes - Actor / Director/ Dancer / Cultural Leader | Rubeun Yorkshire - Actor / Workshop Facilitator | Andrea Fernandez - Emerging Writer / Actor | James Taylor - Actor / Writer / Director |
The Yirra Yaakin Writer's Group currently has no direct funding. This program supported 10 writers in 2017 through an annual 3 month training program culminating in an invitation for 6 writers to present their work at our annual Yirra Yarnz event during NAIDOC Week.
The current program requires $15,000 per year to run. Therefore $1500 per writer to participate. To extend this program for more writers to access or to extend to a 6 month program requires additional funding.
Partnering or sponsoring with us
Ngalark Yirra Yaakin - Donate Now
Why?
We are irreplaceable
Yirra Yaakin is more than just a theatre company, we are recognised locally, nationally and internationally as cultural leaders in the sharing of Aboriginal Stories. From our base in Western Australia, we reach out to some of the most remote communities in the world. We are a passionate team, and we are proud of the impact Yirra Yaakin has on our diverse and wide-ranging audience.
Yirra Yaakin knows that for many we are their first point of contact with an Aboriginal Performing Arts experience. We acknowledge our significant role in the creation and presentation of contemporary Aboriginal theatre, and also how the theatre we create can be a powerful educational tool for both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous audiences.
Yirra Yaakin is one the Australia's few Aborignal-led performing arts organisations, and is fuelled by the belief that the arts are a unique and vital forum of human exchange, spiritual contemplation and celebration. We believe that participation in creative expression, produced and facilitated at the highest levels of artistic excellence, contributes to the health of a community (in Yirra Yaakin’s case, in particular Aboriginal people) and generates its own inherent social capital. In addition to our direct audience interaction, the company enjoys many other forms of dialogue, which both inform and are informed by our creative work. In all areas of Yirra Yaakin’s operations, cultural expression and transmission is in a constant conversation between past and present, between the traditional and the contemporary.
Yirra Yaakin in the twenty first century acknowledges its relevance, its role and its place as a cultural leader with a responsibility to continue to actively nurture and grow understanding and awareness of Aboriginal arts and culture as expressed through theatre. Through the realm of theatre we can speak across and to the diverse ways in which society functions and make art that has an even greater capacity to dialogue with the human experience.
How have we achieved our success?
Through YOU!
Our supporters and partners make a real difference; together we are a genuine community of leaders, advocates and friends who share a vision to create a future where Aboriginal people are empowered socially, culturally and creatively.Our donors assist us to fund exciting new theatre works and help build capacity within our organisation so we can do what we do best!
While we are a financially stable organisation through ongoing State and Federal investment, this support only goes so far in enabling the company to achieve its objectives and realise its programs. Right now we receive static funding that limits the potential to grow our organization, so we rely on our partners, sponsors, donors and on ticket sales for approx. 50% of our Annual income.
How to SUPPORT Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
We invite you to join us on our next endeavour by becoming a Yirra Yaakin supporter.
$25 - subsidises a single seat at one of our shows, enabling a student from a dis-advantaged area to experience and enjoy one of our performances.
$200 - supports a professional mentorship with our Yirra Yaakin Writers Group.
$300 - provides a rehearsal day for a performer for our new production Boodjar Kaatijin.
$500 - supports maintaining our rehearsal space and office for a week.
$1000 - brings core creative team members together for a day's development on a new theatre work.
$1500 – gives access for an emerging writer to join our Annual Writers Group training and Yirra Yarnz script reading.
$5000 + gives us real time and resources to ensure Yirra Yaakin’s future.
Are donations tax deductible?
Yes
All donations over $2.00 received by 30 June enable a tax deduction for the current financial year. In return we’ll keep you up to date with our developments, invite you to meet our artists, and share with you new work and projects as they unfold.
Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
Yes, this is sent to you via email once your donation has been approved.
Donate online now
If you have any questions, or simply wish to know more, please give us a call on 08 9380 3043 and feel free to contact our Partnerships Manager Fleur Allen.
Yirra Yaakin is a not for profit organisation registered as a Public Benevolent Institution endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient with the ATO since July 1 2000
Private Giving - Support us to do what we do best!
Our Education Program
For over 21 years, Yirra Yaakin has presented a vital and strong education program suitable for young people. We have created more than 16 original youth-focused productions, undertaking residencies and workshops across the state. We tour locally and regionally every year, providing unique cultural experiences to some of the most remote communities in the world.
Right now?
With a focus on National Curriculum cross-curriculum priorities Yirra Yaakin is expanding its education program to meet the needs of schools, families and the wider community.
..."The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures priority provides the opportunity for all young Australian’s to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, deep knowledge traditions and holistic world views. This knowledge and understanding will enrich all learners’ ability to participate positively in the ongoing development of Australia through a deepening knowledge and connection with the world’s oldest continuous living cultures."… (National Curriculum Council)
Assist us in generating new in-school performances and unique workshop programs.
Join us in creating family based performance experiences with our community and presenting partners (eg: WA Museum and the Awesome Festival).
Support us presenting new works involving significant engagement with Indigenous stories and language locally, regionally and nationally
...."The performance of Honey Spot was one of the best I have ever taken a group of students to see in 20 years of teaching. Staff and students were captivated from beginning to end. One of the students thought it should have gone longer and all of the students talked about it in glowing terms all the way back to school on the bus." (Colleen Devlin - Teacher - Belmont City College)
Next Step Training Program
..."Yirra Yaakin has been a major employer of graduates and lead developer of new Indigenous work in Australia. Yirra Yaakin is a unique resource in Western Australia. Without it, graduates would be relying solely on the few professional, non-Indigenous companies in this state for mentorship and work." (Rick Brayford - Theatre coordinator - ECU WAAPA)
We are an Aboriginal led organisation and leading Indigenous employer. We have an important role in nurturing the next generation of Aboriginal storytellers, performers and those of our community seeking careers in the performing arts.
We aim to provide pathways for talented Aboriginal people to be identified, mentored and supported as they establish themselves in the Arts industry. Now in its fourth year, our Development Partner Woodside generously supports this highly successful initiative. Already it has resulted in over 25 talented Aboriginal artists and art workers participating in a range of professional development activities including workshops, performances, and master classes.
We also support artistic development through:
New Work Commissions
Workshops and individual development Opportunities
Company Residencies and Exchanges
Professional Mentorship
All Our Futures Cultural Leadership Program and related initiatives
Community Outreach
..."Yirra Yaakin has created many opportunities that would not be available to Aboriginal artists if it were not for the corporations’ commitment to its community. Yirra Yaakin has told many stories that would be lost without the corporations’ ability to develop and translate them into artistic outcomes consistent with the sensitivities of the Aboriginal Community. As an arts organisation, they have produced an outstanding body of work and continue to map unchartered waters through Aboriginal arts." (Bruce Devenish - CEO – ABMUSIC)
Assist us in maintaining Culture and our connection to Indigenous communities through storytelling and the sharing of the Aboriginal experience. We want the Aboriginal community to have a strong sense of ownership in what we do and what they can achieve through us. We provide:
Community Workshops: in local, regional and remote communities
Corporate Cultural Awareness presentations/workshops
The Noongar Shakespeare Project – Cultural Transmission and preservation
Yirra Yaakin Writer’s Group
Community Cultural Liaison (serving regional/remote communities)
FREE Community performances
There are many in our diverse communities who are doing it tough so we believe in providing free or subsidisd tickets and performances to the Aboriginal community; agencies, families, and those who might enjoy seeing a Yirra Yaakin show. By supporting the cost of these tickets it helps us to make sure as many as possible of our people can experience the best of contemporary Aboriginal storytelling, while also generating pride within our community.
“Last Tuesday 2 of us were able to bring people from Allawah Grove and Derbarl Bidja Hostels to see Waltzing the Wilarra. They all really enjoyed it and for several it was the first time they had been to live theatre in the city. Huge thanks to Yirra Yaakin for making the seats available to the group free of charge.”... (Jo Randell - Coordinator - Madjitil Moorna)
