Conversations with Artists
TANG on Top End lyrics and taking fem rock to Nhulunbuy
When Darwin fem rock trio TANG head to Nhulunbuy this Friday for Roadshow NT, they’ll be taking more than a setlist with them. They’ll be bringing songs shaped by Top End life and the kind of Darwin stories that are instantly recognisable to anyone who has spent any time in the north. The sold-out Roadshow
Laurie May on opening up opportunities for remote artists through poetry
When poets Laurie May and Melanie Mununggurr travel to Nhulunbuy with Roadshow NT in May, they’ll be bringing much more than a performance. Across school and community workshops, the pair will also be creating space for people to write, experiment, share stories, and build confidence, while also opening up conversations about where poetry can take
Touring Clay on Country: The logistics behind a national exhibition
When Clay on Country was being moved from Bunbury Regional Art Gallery earlier this year, Artback NT’s Visual Arts Coordinator Shanrah Austin travelled west to see the exhibition being packed up and gain a firsthand understanding of the scale and complexity involved in touring a major exhibition of this size across Australia. It’s currently being moved
Inside POD: Place, collaboration, and sensory storytelling
When POD travels to Cairns Children’s Festival this May, it brings with it a rich, sensory performance world shaped by Top End seasons, deep collaboration, and a creative process grounded in both cultural guidance and disability-led practice. Drawn from Larrakia understandings of season, POD invites young audiences into a gentle, immersive experience of music, movement,
Tahlia Biggs on building skills, touring TINA, and finding her ‘why’
Tahlia Biggs is a proud Barkindji Nhuungku and Ngyiampaa Wangaaypuwan, born and raised on Wiradjuri and Duduroa Country. She is a storyteller, producer and facilitator committed to amplifying First Nations voices. And when TINA – A Tropical Love Story hit the road earlier this year, she was right at the centre of it, keeping the
Clay on Country: Stories beneath the surface
As Clay on Country continues its national tour, this weekend two special events were planned at Geraldton Regional Art Gallery. Unfortunately, due to Cyclone Narelle, these have had to be cancelled. Artist Sally Mumford and ethno-ecologist Fiona Walsh, collaborators on the work Putu Frottage (2021), and both based in Mparntwe / Alice Springs, were going
Why being in the room matters: Reflections from APAM
CEO Michelle Bell attended her first Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) in Boorloo / Perth a few weeks ago, coming back feeling inspired – and grateful for connections new and old.
Finding Refuge: Alex Edmondson on developing her voice as a playwright
Here at Artback NT, development is more than a step in the process, it’s where Territory stories find their shape. On Friday 6 March, a select audience will be invited into that process for a dramatic reading of a new work by Garramilla / Darwin-based writer Alex Edmondson. We caught up with her on the process.
Taiwan travels: Strengthening global Indigenous cultural connections
Michelle Bell, Artback NT CEO, shares her reflections on traveling to Taiwan at the end of last year. As 2025 wrapped up, I had the privilege of travelling to Taiwan as an invited guest of the Taiwan Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), attending the annual Indigenous Women’s Forum and continuing important conversations with the Taiwan
Artback NT Turns 30: Celebrating Three Decades of Territory Stories
Thirty years ago, a bold idea took shape in the Northern Territory: that local artists, performers and storytellers deserved to be seen, heard and celebrated on stages and walls across Australia and beyond. That idea became Artback NT, and today, three decades later, it stands as one of the Territory’s most enduring and influential arts









