VicScreen has officially launched its new First Peoples Screen Strategy, a four-year plan to help the career growth and storytelling of emerging and established First Peoples screen practitioners.
The plan has been developed under the VicScreen First Peoples Working Group, with strategy informed by direct consultation, with the stated goal of setting a ‘clear vision for a thriving First Peoples-led screen sector in Victoria that honours cultural sovereignty and champions storytelling excellence’.
‘Extensive consultation’ for the strategy reportedly took place through 2024 and 2025, with an exact plan developed alongside practitioners, industry stakeholders and community members. The collation of feedback and experience helped to identify key challenges and opportunities for advancing First Peoples careers, businesses and storytelling within Victoria.
Victoria’s First Peoples Screen Strategy – quick links
The core pillars of the VicScreen First Peoples Screen Strategy
Four key pillars back the VicScreen First Peoples Screen Strategy:
- Give voice:Â Empower First Peoples content creators and screen leaders
- Open doors: Grow First Peoples participation across the screen industry
- Grow audiences:Â Connect First Peoples stories with local, national and international audiences
- Be better:Â Continue evolving the way VicScreen works to better support the practices, aspirations and needs of First Peoples screen practitioners
There is hope these pillars will inform a stronger approach to delivering First Peoples stories on screen, with First Peoples practitioners at the centre of all new developments.
The important thing here is that these intentions are matched by practical actions to transform the screen industry for the better, and help it ‘reflect the depth, diversity and excellence of First Peoples storytelling’ across all screen mediums – from film to television, games, online content, and beyond.
VicScreen on its new First Peoples Screen Strategy
‘Screens have been a powerful platform for First Peoples’ communities in these lands for the best part of a century and the launch of the VicScreen First Peoples Screen Strategy offers an exciting opportunity to have the sort of conversations which have seemed out of reach for so many within our broader society,’ Tiriki Onus, VicScreen, Board Member said.
‘Stories of strength and resilience which come from First Peoples remind us that all of us who call these lands home are part of a continuum of creative practice which has thrived in this place for thousands of generations. The medium may have changed, and our audiences have become even more diverse, but the way stories call our whole selves to listen and invite us to grow, feel and dream together are, and will always remain, timeless.’
VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher also made clear that the VicScreen First Peoples Screen Strategy is not just words, but a guide for future, decisive action to help deliver new and deeper First Peoples storytelling on screen.
‘More than a statement of intent, this Strategy is a roadmap for action. It celebrates the storytelling traditions of the world’s oldest continuing living culture and sets a clear path to grow opportunities for First Peoples creatives, strengthen careers and businesses, and elevate First Peoples stories on screens locally and globally,’ Pitcher says.
