ILD 2023: Over 300,000 tune in for music-filled celebration
Last Wednesday, 6 September, was Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD)—the annual event hosted by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) to celebrate First Nations peoples’ storytelling and raise funds to support literacy in remote First Nations communities.
Following the event’s first livestreamed coverage from the Sydney Opera House, the ILF reported a 50% increase in attendance this year, with over 300,000 people tuning into the event, which was co-hosted by ILF Ambassadors Justine Clarke and Gregg Dreise.
With the theme of ‘Celebrating Stories, Cultures and Languages’, the 2023 ILD celebration featured a 15-minute film, which invited the audience to ‘journey across the country into First Nations storytelling and learn some new words in Kriol, Yawuru and Thaynakwith languages’. The film also included a performance of the song ‘Shordi Krik’ by Barunga young people at the Barunga Festival in the Northern Territory, which, in the words of their mentor, Clarke, the young people wrote ‘about their local creek where they play and fish’.
‘Shordi Krik’ was also adapted into one of the three bilingual children’s books showcased as part of this year’s ILD, alongside Country Tells Us When… (Yawuru edition) (Tsheena Cooper, Mary Dann, Dalisa Pigram-Ross & Sheree Ford, ILF) and We Look, We Find (created by Napranum women and children from the Napranum Early Childhood Centre).
Following the film was a 45-minute celebration at the Sydney Opera House, which featured the eight young people involved in creating ‘Shordi Krik’, among other special guests. During this ‘action-packed, joyful performance’, ‘Shordi Krik’ was announced as the 2024 Busking for Change song—young people will be invited to learn and perform the song to raise funds for the ILF through the organisation’s ‘newest musical fundraiser designed specifically for primary schools’. During the livestream, ILF Ambassador Josh Pyke also performed the 2023 Busking for Change song ‘Words Make the World Go Around’.
ILF CEO Ben Bowen said of this year’s ILD: ‘The day showcased the rich and diverse stories, cultures and languages of First Nations peoples with three bilingual books created in Community. There was lots of fun, singing and energy from the stars of the livestream, the Barunga Kids who spent a week in Sydney.’
The ILD said that many booksellers and publishers participated in the day by fundraising, watching the film and livestream and sharing it within their networks. ‘We’re so grateful for our ongoing relationships with booksellers and publishers,’ said Bowen.
The 2023 ILD livestream is available on the ILF website.
Pictured: ILF Ambassadors Gregg Dreise and Justine Clarke with Barunga young people who were involved in creating ‘Shordi Krik’.
Photo credit: ILF supplied.
Category: Local news
