Five Things We're Looking Forward To At Barunga Festival

In its 31st year in 2016, this Queen's Birthday long weekend Barunga Festival is once again set to take over the NT community of Barunga. A festival celebrating music, sport and culture — and this year the theme 'Celebrate Women, Celebrate Community Life' — here are some of the things we're looking forward to when we're onground at the three-day festival.

courtney barnett and jen cloher's performance

Despite the fact that Milk! Records is doing so well and Barnett has been winning over the Americans with appearances at Coachella and on SNL, Ellen Degeneres, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, it's super heartening to see that Barnett hasn't forgotten the smaller, beloved festivals she started out at. Barnett and Cloher will have free reign during their set at the APRA Music Stage and with the festival's ethos of making sure everything isn't too structured and is artist-driven, we're keen to see what the ladies come up with.

bush medicine workshops

This is a chance to see how the people of Barunga have lived thousands of years using the wonders of bush medicine. The women running the workshops will have samples and explanations on each medicine and you can buy them to take home, too. Bush medicine workshops aren't all that's on offer — with a heavily women-focussed cultural program, there are also lessons on how to weave your own mats and much much more.

wildflower's set featuring a special guest

Arnhem Land's Wildflower are a five-piece that we're itching to see. The five women from the remote Outstation of Mammadawerre perform indigenous pop music and they're slated to have a special guest this year at Barunga — we've got a hunch it's someone you won't want to miss.

Justine Clarke's children's show

The ARIA-winning singer, actor and Playschool host is fantastic with kids and will be bringing her quirky songs to Barunga this year. She's no stranger to Barunga and this year has enlisted a bunch of indigenous children to sing some songs from the Barunga area with her. We're sure the kids are stoked to be working with someone of Clarke's statute and it's gonna be awesome to see Clarke go from hanging with Jemima to hanging with some local kids.

the Art Shed

Barunga is full of talented local artists and we reckon The Art Shed will be the best place to grab a local craft to take home to remind you of your time at the festival. A lot of the artists display their work, have a chat to you about it before you buy, so it's a really organic process. Straight from the paintbrush to your wall!

Five Things We're Looking Forward To At Barunga Festival

courtney barnett and jen cloher's performance

bush medicine workshops

wildflower's set featuring a special guest

Justine Clarke's children's show

the Art Shed

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