Indigenous Community Volunteers

Staging one of Australia’s major Indigenous cultural festivals in a remote part of the country requires a wide range of expertise.

Some of these skills are supplied by the army of volunteers working at the Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land underway from August 6th –10th.

Indigenous Community Volunteers [ICV] are part of a team of 130 who have given up their time to help in making it a positive experience.

Festival Director Rhoda Roberts who is a Bundjalung woman from northern New South Wales is in her first year of a three year contract with the festival.

“You couldn’t run a festival like this without volunteers..The reality of the arts is that it is a struggle… You would need a big bank balance if you were to do it any other way.”

Rhoda has been involved with major arts events such as the staging of Sydney’s New Year celebrations and founded “The Dreaming.”

The festival now is in it’s 12th year which makes Rhoda very aware of the need to continue and build on the festival’s success into the future.