Activity: The Goolarri Writers Program is a series of tutorials, masterclasses and mentoring opportunities that supports emerging Indigenous performance writers in the Kimberley to gain the professional skills to create their own stories for film, stage and online platforms. Goolarri will continue their support of 8 writers as well as nurture a new cohort of 6 writers in developing the craft required to create new professional stories for regional, national and international audiences, and to build a more sustainable local industry by enabling artists to grow the skills integral to making outstanding artistic products while staying in their communities.

Outcome: The project was “hugely successful” and provided skills to 15 First Nations writers who participated across the various streams. Many of the Broome-based writers are still engaged with the program but Goolarri Media now engages them as facilitators to run sessions with their newer cohort of writers. Many have also gone on to screen success with their works developed during this program, including 3 short films, a short documentary and a theatre production developed that will be produced in 2026 by Ilbijerri in partnership with Goolarri Media. Goolarri Media has been able to attract ongoing project funding from the WA Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries and Creative Australia to continue with running Nuts and Bolts sessions and smaller masterclass sessions – though not only focussed on screen, but performance writing in general.

“Writing is the foundation stone of any screen production so the more we can empower our First Nations storytellers to write their stories, the more we can get them seen on screen and the more First Nations creatives can start to earn an income from what comes naturally – storytelling. The Cultural Fund support allowed us to run this program on country in Broome so that people did not have to leave and go to Perth or Sydney as is usually the case to attend these types of programs. Writing is a great example of an industry that can be done from home, on country, with no need to ever hit the big city and for many First Nations people, that is what they are looking for.” – Jodie Bell, Goolarri Media