6AM – 6PM
Live bands, cultural activities, surfing, skating, yoga, yarn circles, painting, dancing, food etc.
The ICEA Classic has been around for seven years now, each year getting bigger and better. The Classic is a youth surfing competition that combines with a skating competition and an Aboriginal Cultural Festival – the only one of its kind in Australia (and probably the world!). The overarching significance of this event is that it engages people of all walks of life in active and genuine reconciliation.
As the first Indigenous person in ICEA’s history to take on this role, there are a few changes that I have been making over the months leading up to the event, to be held on the 11th of September, in order to bring a new face to the Cultural festival. The most important of these small missions is to make every inch of the event (even the surfing and skating) have relevance and significance to the Wajuk Noongar culture of the Perth area. Too often people from metropolitan areas feel as though they need to travel to remote areas like the Kimberley to see Aboriginal Australian culture and are oblivious to the Noongar culture at their doorstep. This year I aim to make it impossible to miss: with every turn you take at the Classic you will see Noongar culture that you may not have seen before or expected to see at a surfing/ skating competition.
I myself am a Nyikina and Nyul Nyul woman from the Kimberley. I am not a Noongar and as such it is incredibly important to me to ensure that there are Wadjuk Noongar people on the team organising my event. For the first time a Wajuck Noongar, William Collard, is the Cultural Coordinator of the Classic to not only ensure that the event remains culturally appropriate but to also bring his unique Wajuck Noongar perspective and rich knowledge to the event.
I also believe that it is important to give people the opportunity to talk about issues that they may not get the opportunity to or may not have thought about before. In-keeping with this, there will be a Yarn circle at the Classic. Coming out of ICEA’s Yarn Program and running throughout the day, this experience will give the public an opportunity to start a conversation about Australia’s shared history and the journey we will need to travel on to achieve reconciliation.
ICEA is not just the Classic. We run three other programmes, including Remote Communities, Yarn and the Marja Series. The ICEA Classic falls under Marja Series as the largest of six events, which means that your support will also have reach across the whole year. The Marja Series follows the same framework as the ICEA Classic but on a smaller and more intimate scale to give young Australians the opportunity to foster genuine cross-cultural relationships and have positive experiences with each other’s culture.
By supporting this event you will be giving ICEA the opportunity to bring more Noongar cultural facilitators to engage and share their knowledge with all Australians, both young and old. You can trust in us that with your support, we will be making an active step on the journey to a better future for all Australians based on mutual respect and greater understanding. We hope that you’’ll join us in this celebration of Wajuck Noongar culture.
