alice springs

Documentary Award-Winner Songs Inside comes to Araluen – Shalom Almond

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Director, Shooter and Producer, Shalom Almond spoke with Big Brekky's Kate Lyons-Dawson about her documentary Songs Inside, the 2025 winner of the Documentary Australia Award for Best Australian Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival. The award is supported by Documentary Australia with a $20,000 cash prize acknowledging excellence in Australian documentary production, and makes the winning film Academy Award eligible. SONGS INSIDE follows nine women in Adelaide Women's Prison who participate in a music program led by Barkindji singer-songwriter Nancy Bates. Together, they learn to write songs about their experiences of incarceration, culminating in a performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra inside the prison. Shalom Almond, producer Lauren Drewery, and four film participants, are travelling to Alice Springs for a panel discussion on Wednesday June 25 as part of the 2025 Reintegration Puzzle Conference program, and to present the film at Araluen 7pm on Thursday June 26 to both conference attendees and the general public, with a Q&A session to follow. Shalom is an AACTA-nominated and award-winning filmmaker whose trademark lies in her natural ability to form strong and trusting rapport and relationships with her subjects and their environments, which translates directly to the screen.

Katie Harder – Slow Walking

Local songwriter Katie Harder visited Big Brekky to chat with Kate about today's release of her album Slow Walking. She spoke through some of the production for the album, as well as her recent Listening Party at the Alice Springs Cinema last week.

Telegraph Station Blacksmith – Shaun Leyland

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The Big Brekky team went out during this year's Heritage Festival 2025, where Shaun Leyland has set up at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station. He's hoping to continue demonstrations for the next few months. Listen to how the current blacksmith workshop has been set up.

Mparntwe Speaks: Andrew McPhee – Owen Kelly

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Owen Kelly, Director of Dogspike Design and Architecture joined Kate Lyons-Dawson on the Big Brekky Show to tell us about tonight's Mparntwe Speaks talk with Andrew McPhee. Mparntwe Speaks is a series of talks that brings together leading voices in design, architecture, art, culture, and research. Linked by creative thinking that emerges from living and working in Central Australia.Andrew’s visionary work helped shape the built environment of Alice Springs and remote Aboriginal communities from the 1960s through the 1980s. His architecture goes beyond buildings — it’s grounded in a deep understanding of place, people, and culture.You’ve likely seen his iconic designs all over town — from the Council Chambers to both the Catholic and Anglican churches, and many distinctive homes. His work reflects a rare sensitivity to landscape, climate, and community needs.A Conversation with Andrew McPhee - Pyramids, People and Place, this Thursday, 12 June 2025 from 5.30pm for 6.00pm Start – 8.00pm at the Hartley Street School Museum.

Emma Trenordan and friends at the Roastery this Winter Solstice

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The Big Brekky Show hosted Emma Trenordan in the lead up to her performance at the Roastery. This Saturday from 6pm, Emma will lead a Winter Solstice Celebration, reading poems from her High Fire Danger collection to musical accompaniment. She will also play music from her reWILD EP, as well as original music with Rosie Ballard, Anchor and Kite and the Splinter Sisters. Expect a great night of entertainment and food around the fire, at this popular venue for artistic and musical events in Mparntwe.

Desert Fruit Company 2025 harvest – Kim Mackay

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Kim Mackay visited the Big Brekky show to update listeners on the Desert Fruit Company's new website and ways to order the 2025 harvest - ready now! It will go out in boxes bearing the 2021 design from the Northern Territory Artist Date Box program by Pip McManus. "A simple image of the farm, embellished with Classical Arabic lettering and swirls. Pip is a fabulous ceramicist, designer and public artist , who has made an enormous contribution to Central Australian art over the decades." the Tamara Date Plantation was established in 1991, and has been managed by members of the Tamara Co-operative since 2014. 

PLACE Tour Listens to Mparntwe

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PLACE Listening Tour in Mparntwe with Fred Chaney and Sean Gordon with Jimmy CockingPartnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment (PLACE) is a national organisation that supports the adoption and impact of place-based approaches in local communities across Australia. PLACE’s vision is for communities to share decision-making with governments on the issues that matter most to them. PLACE answered an EOI from Desert Knowledge Australia DKA to include Mparntwe on their current Listening Tour. The Board Chair Sean Gordon AM and Director Fred Chaney AO, with DKA's Jimmy Cocking joined Kate Lyons-Dawson on the Big Brekky to talk through some of the reflections from their trip.

Feature Album – Katie Harder – Slow Walking

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Local legend Katie Harder is featured this week with her album Slow Walking, to be released 13 June 2025 via...

Corrugations 21 – Robbie Avenaim

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Join Robbie Avenaim at this Sunday's Corrugations 21 from 6pm - doors open half an hour before, one of Australia’s great innovating drummers will fill the Museum with extraordinary polyrhythms and mind blowing robot powered sounds.Legendary Melbourne drummer and percussionist Robbie Avernaim is coming to Mparntwe - an indoor concert with his awesome robots! He spoke on the Big Brekky about his body of work and his project Safe in Sound, where musicians draw on extensive experience in sound art and improvisation to encourage focused listening and enjoyment for people with disabilities, family and carers.RSVP Jon Rose [email protected]

Go Extinct! Megafauna game has Australian focus – Dr Vera Weisbecker

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Go Extinct! Megafauna was developed by CABAH (Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage) Chief Investigator Dr Vera Weisbecker, an evolutionary biologist at Flinders University. Vera spoke on the Big Brekky Show about how she developed this Australia-focused edition of the game with STEM education game designer Dr Ariel Marcy, who created the original Go Extinct game. Beautiful artwork provided by Nellie Pease. Go Extinct! Megafauna is a curriculum-aligned STEM educational card game about Australia’s megafauna and the evolutionary relationships between species. All are welcome at the launch on Saturday 7 June at Megafauna Central, Mparntwe.

Eleanor Hogan takes us into the archives for the NTWF 2025

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Eleanor Hogan, a local literary non-fiction author whose writing focuses on revisiting history and place, is presenting a workshop at the Library on Friday 30 May as part of NTWF 2025. She visited the Big Brekky to chat about the importance of archives in any historical writing. Libraries and Archives NT will provide an overview of how to use their resources, and she will discuss the challenges that can emerge from encountering historical records and how other writers have tackled these in their writing.

CDU Open Day 2025 is Community Day for Jodie Summers

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CDU Associate Vice Chancellor, Central Australia & Barkly, Jodie Summers is someone who arrived for 3 weeks and stayed for 3 decades, loving the community of Mparntwe Alice Springs. She spent some time on the Big Brekky Show to give a run down on all the great offerings at this year's Open Day on Friday 30 May. From tours, reptiles, hands on experiences with hair, visual arts and digital storytelling to musical entertainment, food, children's university activities, trades corner and prizes to be won! That's all in addition to the great information you'll be offered about the right course for you from the dedicated CDU staff.