We are committed to walking softly on Ngunnawal land.
Since 2006 we have offered mentoring projects supporting First
Nations dance artists from across Australia travelling to the ACT
to be mentored and perform across Canberra including Parliament
House.

Tammi Gissell is our First Nations advisor and has been working with
Stellar since 2014. She regularly advises us on Indigenous Cultural
and Intellectual Property rights (ICIP) and ensures we recognise,
respect and work to all culturally correct and safe protocols.

One of our core programs is supporting Darug woman Emma Laverty and
her directorship of Canberra’s First Nations dance company Project
Dust. Project Dust is an emerging First Nations dance group with
a vision to build young mob confident and strong in their culture
through dance.

The Stellar team are acutely aware of the pressures on independent
artists face when looking to establish a new venture and in 2022 we

began to support Emma and her work with Project Dust by bringing
her into the team as a satellite company. We provide financial support
to cover her basic fees and also offering mentoring, in producing,
presenting and company structure development. Additionally Emma
teaches for our Stellar Step UP!, Chamaeleon and BOLD Moves
programs and we program Project Dust in all our performance
presentations.

Project Dust has grown from one class to three running across the
ACT with over 55 regular participants and Emma is emerging as a
cultural leader of great integrity and power.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all
Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by
respectful relationships between the wider Australian community,
and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our relationships must be grounded in a foundation of truth and
respect and we work to keep this ethos flourishing.