The 2024 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards were presented last night in a ceremony timed to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum and the start of National Reconciliation Week.

Among the recipients in the music sphere this year were Yuin composer-musician Brenda Gifford (winner of the First Nations Fellowship), First Nations and Zimbabwean emerging R&B artist Dean Brady (who received a Dreaming Award supporting the creation of a major body of work), and Darug-Boorooberongal soprano Sarah Prestwidge, who was presented with the First Nations Emerging Career Development Award.

Recipients Dean Brady, Tibian Wyles, Sarah Prestwidge, Brenda Gifford, Uncle Badger Bates and Meleika Gesa. Photo supplied

The First Nations Fellowship, awarded to Gifford, is worth $80,000 and grants two years of support in career development and creative activity to mid-career and established artists.

Actor Tibian Wyles, a Warrgamay and Kalkadoon descendant who has featured in Melbourne Theatre Company’s 37 and Yirra Yaakin’s Hide the Dog, was also presented with a First Nations Emerging Career Development Award. Recipients of the Award receive a $10,000 to fund professional development across multiple art forms.

In the visual arts, senior First Nations artists...