Darebin Council in Melbourne/Naarm’s north is breaking new ground. For FUSE Festival 2024, Allara Briggs Pattison is leading the way.
FUSE Festival 2024 returns for another year of connecting community through art and culture from September 14 to September 22. This year, it’s led by Allara Briggs Pattison’s Ganbu Gulin on opening day. Meaning ‘One Mob’ in the Woi-Wurrung language, Ganbu Gulin leads FUSE with a Welcome to Country for new Darebin citizens, replacing the traditional citizenship ceremonies on January 26th.
Allara Briggs Pattison, a musician, composer, producer, director, storyteller and local Darebin resident, has closely followed FUSE’s evolution. “I’ve been watching Fuse grow since its beginning,” she says. “I love different ways of telling stories, and so when I saw that they started offering a Curator-In-Residence opportunity, I had my eye on it.”
Ganbu Gulin at FUSE Festival
- September 14
- Bundoora Park Farm
- Register for free here
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Allara notes that alongside FUSE Festival’s growth in size, quality and scope, there has been a deeper, more meaningful change. “I’ve been watching the way that the City of Darebin has been trying to decolonise,” she says. “Ditching the 26th of Jan was a pretty big deal a few years ago, and they lost their citizenship ceremonies. I think it’s a pretty good sign for a council to be doing that.”
The free event will be held at Bundoora Park Farm, in the heart of Darebin. “I just wanted the opportunity to bring people together in a more holistic fashion but create lots of different ways to tell the same story,” Allara says. “I wanted to create an experience, for the story to continue telling, for sharing our culture and the way that it connects across so-called Victoria.”
Ganbu Gulin to open FUSE Festival 2024
Allara has curated Ganbu Gulin around the theme of Gugung Murrup, or Grandmother Spirit. The day’s events offer a wide range of celebrations and activities that invite participants to connect to community and the grandmother spirit that guides them. Highlights include a First Nations food justice panel, music throughout the day, Djirri Djirri dancers, a welcome from the mayor, and a community planting workshop featuring First Nations food plants.
The three plants to be planted, Allara says, “are the Murnong or the yam daisy, Kangaroo Grass, and Dianella, which is also known as Flax Lily – the ones whose berries you can eat.” The panel, titled Food for Thought, will delve into discussions on Land Back, Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP), Climate Justice, access to land and more.
Food for Thought workshop and panel
“It’s difficult to practice your traditions when you don’t have access to your land,” Allara says. “Or when you are living in one place but you might be from somewhere very far away. [Food for Thought] is raising the conversations around our rights to our native foods and what that means.”
Allara emphasises that all Ganbu Gulin events connect to “what First Nations women’s roles have been and what they still are.” Ganbu Gulin is being led by Gugung Murrup, by the Grandmother Spirit.
“I want to share our culture”
“Our country is our wise teacher, the holder of knowledge and this whole event. And the stories around the event are about remembering and reminding us of the matriarchal wisdom, that’s also within country and our grandmothers. It’s within us all; you don’t have to be a woman or a mother to experience that. This event is about encouraging people to connect more deeper with themselves and the intuition and connection to that matriarchal wisdom.”
As a musician and composer, Allara has naturally curated an artist-driven day of innovative music. “In terms of what we’re doing with our storytelling, it’s just a continuation of what our people have always done,” Allara says. “The ultimate story is still being sung by our Song Women and supported by all of us as First Nations people.”
“Experience Ganbu Gulin in all your senses”
Ultimately, Allara promises that Ganbu Gulin will be an event unlike any other. “I think it’s going to be a really unique festival,” she says about FUSE 2024. “And it’s going to be a really unique day,” she adds about the opening.
“I don’t think people will have been to an event that looks anything like this. I think it will be a really exciting day for people to come and not only be blown away by music but have really big conversations offered in terms of knowledge and wisdom and culture while also being able to feel it and taste it and experience it in all of their senses.”
You can check out the full program for FUSE Festival here.
This article was made in partnership with City of Darebin.
