April - June 2021 (Back on track) | June - September 2021 (Get your geek on) Dare to Dream is about the transformative power of theatre at its most simple, most raw, most potent. JUTE Theatre Company initiated the ‘Dare to Dream’ program with the intention of featuring new theatre works by, about and for First Nations peoples. JUTE initially commissions a First Nations playwright to create the work, assembles teams of First Nations creatives to rehearse and produce the work before the residency program takes performances and First Nations creative teams to regional and remote communities for up to ten weeks. The team stays in each community for a week after the performance, working for the school day with a group of students creating their own stories of hope. The students then get to perform their own version of Dare to Dream at the end of the week back to their community.    

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16 August - 21 August 2021 Othello, William Shakespeare’s classic tale of jealousy, betrayal and revenge is thrillingly re-imagined by Jimi Bani and Jason Klarwein for its premiere 2021 season. This tri-lingual (Kala Lagaw Ya, Yumpla Tok and English) production is set between Cairns and the Torres Strait, illuminating the vital role of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion during World War II. More than 800 Torres Strait Islanders signed up to protect the northern tip of Australia, including Jimi Bani’s great grandfather, the late Ephraim Bani Snr and his grandfather, the late Solomon Gela.    

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13 August 2021 Far North Queensland-born First Nations singer-songwriter, storyteller, dancer, actor, visual artist, Cultural Leader and Global Ambassador for Indigenous Australia, David Hudson, presents a showcase performance of new work that brings to the stage the story of his lifetime that is both as epic as The Dreamtime and as intimate as a campfire yarn.    

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7 July - 28 August 2021 Tropical Punk Backpacks is an international design collaboration between Torres Strait designer Francoise Lane and Scottish Designer Emily Millichip. Drawing upon her Meriam and Kaurareg heritage (Kerriri – Hammond Island), Lane is inspired by her cultural heritage and her connection with nature which informs her seductive surface patterns. Working as a practicing artist and interior designer as part of Indij Architecture and Design; a 100% Indigenous-owned architectural studio that she co-operates, Lane’s work straddles the intersection of art, design, and the built environment.    

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1 July - 28 August 2021 The Coming of the Light exhibition is an assertion that Torres Strait Enlightenment is how Torres Strait Islanders looked at their situation and circumstance in the 1800s and how they recognised their salvation from the commercial world that was obsessed with resources raiding. Image: Robert Tommy Pau, Time (detail), 2021, linocut on somerset velvet white 300gsm 100% cotton, 59.5 x 78.5 cm, courtesy of the artist    

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26 June - 4 September 2021 The Bulurru Dagil-ndu exhibition illustrates a very unique and compelling cultural narrative that draws from traditional lore and contextualises the contemporary experience of Djabugay artists and Djabugay bulmba (country). Through new installation, object and video-based works the rising Djabugay Artists Collective tells the story of Gurra-minya and Gurra-bana, the dry and wet sides of the traditional Djabugay moitey system. Image: The Djumburru Nyiwul Dancers picked up some Wanggalay (White Cockatoo) feathers from Birdworld Kuranda to create new headdresses for the Bulurru Dagil-ndu exhibition at NorthSite    

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26 June - 4 September 2021 Twelve contemporary Lardil and Kaidildt artists have worked together to produce a suite of refined collaborative paintings, jointly selecting the eight institutional artworks to exhibited at NorthSite Contemporary Arts as a feature exhibition of CIAF 2021. Image: Amy Loogatha, Elsie Gabori, Dolly Loogatha, Ethel Thomas, Nyinyilki Ngurruwarra (detail), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 198 x 197 cm. Courtsey of Mornington Island Art Centre.    

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10 April - 26 June 2021  This exhibition chronicles plants and their medicinal properties from the Siwai region of Bougainville Island, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, through photographic light recordings. Image: Kate Robertson, SIGARATA (detail) (kang koring peu ahkarei koring/for white spots on skin, dandruff and nappy rash)  

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10 Feb - 8 December 2021 If you are excited about the idea of developing your acting, stage craft and ensemble work, then JUTE Actors Studio will provide you with the development of your creative capacity and deepen your understanding of acting as a professional practice.    

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