The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency’s Wominjeka Festival is an Arts and Cultural Festival for Aboriginal Children and young people, which is organised and produced as a young person’s initiative to support Aboriginal children and young people in the Northern and Western metropolitan regions of Melbourne. The aim is to provide opportunities for Aboriginal children and young people to have a voice, whenever possible and engage in and celebrate their culture in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them. This is supported through guidance by Elders and community members who work with the young people and help them to learn about and express their culture through the arts.
The children and young people have input into what workshops they would like to participate in the lead in to the festival, what activities take place on the day of the festival, young people create the promotional material; they are the emcees on the day and the performers. In all aspects it is a day to celebrate young Aboriginal people and their role in the learning and continuation of their culture.
While the main target group are youth, the benefits of the festival extend to families, community members and the artists and Elders themselves, who gain so much pride and satisfaction in passing on cultural knowledge and spending time with young people.