TFFF CEO Neal Harvey shares his reflections from a recent visit to Darwin during festival season, including time spent with partner organisations working across the arts, youth, and community sectors in the Northern Territory.

Each August, Darwin becomes a meeting place for artists and communities from across the Northern Territory and beyond. Darwin Festival fills the city's parks and stages, and the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) brings artists and art centres from remote communities all over Australia to the Darwin Convention Centre. I was very fortunate to be able to visit during this year’s festival season, spending time with TFFF partners whose work reaches young people, artists and communities right across the Territory.

My visit came at an important moment for Darwin Festival. After four years as Artistic Director, Kate Fell has handed over to Ben Graetz, the first Northern Territorian and the first Aboriginal person to lead the festival. With Darwin Festival approaching its 50th anniversary, the transition felt particularly significant. I met with Festival CEO James Gough and Kate and had the opportunity to congratulate her on an enormously successful tenure. Alongside delighting audiences, she has made space for the next generation of Territory leaders – a legacy well worth recognising.

The visit also coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. An installation tracing the Fair’s development over two decades showed the scale of its economic contribution to artists, arts workers and communities. Walking through the Fair itself, I was struck by the depth of cultural knowledge and artistic excellence represented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art centres from across Australia; many having travelled great distances from remote and very remote communities.

The Fair embodies an extraordinary commitment to culture, Country and community. Importantly, 100% of art sales return directly to the communities that produced the work. The room was full of longstanding supporters celebrating everything the Fair represents, and it was great to catch up with friends and collaborators from Brown’s Mart, Magpie Goose, and the Sidney Myer Fund.

I was also pleased to spend time with new TFFF partner, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, or Corro as the locals call it. Based in Darwin, Corro works with children and young people across urban, regional, and remote communities, nurturing creativity, confidence, leadership, and community engagement through high-quality arts experiences. I was particularly struck by the organisation’s reach across the Territory and the way it supports young people to participate in the arts, and in doing so to see themselves as creators and leaders.

My catch-up with Catherine and Mark from MusicNT, the peak body for contemporary music in the Northern Territory, came as the organisation headed into one of its busiest periods. Preparations were well underway for the National Indigenous Music Awards, celebrating First Nations musicians from across the country, and for the Bush Bands program, which supports musicians from remote communities to develop their skills and perform. Hearing about both initiatives gave me a strong sense of MusicNT’s role in supporting contemporary music and distinct creative voices across the Northern Territory.

It was a great privilege to spend some time with the leadership team at Brother to Another. The organisation works to keep young people out of the youth justice system by responding to their practical needs alongside their emotional, mental and social wellbeing. Many team members bring lived experience of the correctional system to their work, drawing on it to mentor young people at risk of contact with the system or disengagement from school. Their support includes counselling, job training and opportunities to reconnect with education.

On the day I visited, staff were preparing to take a group of young people on an on-Country trip. Meanwhile, in Brother to Another’s air-conditioned quiet room, a 3D printer was producing small crocodile figurines designed by participants, that they hope to sell in local shops as the first step towards creating a small social enterprise of their own.

My visit to Darwin ended with a tour of the 2026 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAAs) at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. The exhibition has grown considerably and now fills much of the gallery, with several works of remarkable scale and ambition. Seeing the exhibition alongside fellow funders from the Sidney Myer Fund and Ian Potter Foundation was a fitting conclusion to the trip, and reinforced the value of philanthropic partners working together to support the arts in northern Australia.

If you ever have the chance to visit Darwin at this incredible time of year: grab it with both hands.

Darwin Festival, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, MusicNT, and Brother to Another are supported by TFFF through the Resilient funding stream.