Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung, Dr Lou Bennett AM is a former member of the internationally acclaimed trio Tiddas, and during her ten years with the band, Lou wrote several the group’s signature songs. Lou’s versatile work within the Arts industry over the past thirty years includes various roles as Performer, Songwriter, Musical and Artistic Director, Composer, Actor, Soundscape Designer and Academic.
Lou was a member of the Black Arm Band and was an instrumental force in the company’s transformative journey from being a one-off ‘special project’, into becoming an Indigenous performing Arts company.
Mundanai will open the event, five Kulin Nation Songwomen, Mandy Nicholson (Wurundjeri), Renee Sweetman (Boonwurrung), Corrina Eccles (Wadawurrung), Isobel Paipadjerook (Taungarung) and Aunty Dr. Lou Bennett (Dja Dja Wurrung) invite all communities across Naarm, to share the spirit of healing through the power of culture and the richness of ceremonial song.
Stand up and join legendary musicians in a one hour BLAKTIVISM set. Artistic Director Deline Briscoe brings together Bart Willoughby, Emma Donovan, Fred Leone (MC), Kee’ahn, Lou Bennett, Sprigga Mek, Sorong Samarai, Tasman Keith and the world class BLAKTIVISM house band under Musical Director Airileke, as they perform in an unstoppable movement.
Followed by a huge set from Yothu Yindi whose voices have made powerful anthems across decades, playing some of their big tunes Tribal Voice, Djapana and Treaty. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement leapt out of the United States and proliferated around the globe; Australia was no exception, but our movement has its own unique history and identity.
BLAKTIVISM presents truth-telling of the Blak Activist movements in this country, through a powerful one-night only special event.
Lou completed her PhD in October 2015 and her dissertation discusses the importance and relevance of Indigenous language retrieval, reclamation and regeneration through the medium of the Arts to enhance community health and wellbeing.
In 2017, Lou was accepted as the McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and was inducted onto the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll. In 2019, Lou accepted the appointment as member (AM) of the Order of Australia for her significant service to the performing arts, particularly to music, and the Indigenous community. Lou received a Westpac Research Fellowship in 2020 continuing her research project ‘Sovereign Language Rematriation Through Song Pedagogy’ in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Melbourne.
Date: Thursday 8 December Time: 7:30pm Venue: Hamer Hall
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