The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, usually referred to as Tandanya, is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily co ...

located on Grenfell Street in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

. It specialises in promoting Indigenous Australian art, including visual art,

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pr ...

. It is the oldest Aboriginal-owned and -run cultural centre in Australia.

Naming

The institute derives its name from ''Tarndanya'', the

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna ...

Aboriginal people's name for the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

and parklands area, meaning "place of the red kangaroo".

History

Tandanya is the oldest Aboriginal-owned and -run cultural centre in Australia, opened in 1989. The first exhibition featured artworks on silk created by women from

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island soc ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

, entitled ''Utopia — A Picture Story''.

Building

It is housed in the old

Grenfell Street Power Station The Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) was the South Australian Government-owned monopoly vertically integrated electricity provider from 1946 until its privatisation in 1999. Precursors Early days (1882–1900) Charles Todd, an ea ...

(later a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

college) at the eastern end of Grenfell Street in the

, also the office headquarters of the

South Australian Electric Light and Motive Power Company The Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) was the South Australian Government-owned monopoly vertically integrated electricity provider from 1946 until its privatisation in 1999. Precursors Early days (1882–1900) Charles Todd, an ea ...

. The original building dates from 1901, but it was extensively modified and rebuilt in 1912–13, including the

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

-style facade. The building was

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many i ...

on the

SA Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

in November 1984. There is an "Historic Engineering Plaque" on a ground level

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

just east of the north-east corner of the building, which was dedicated by the

Institution of Engineers, Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized or ...

, the Electricity Trust of South Australia and the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

on 6 April 1995.

Governance and functions

Its core activities, as listed in the 2015-6 Annual Report, are: visual arts (exhibitions program); performing arts (events, theatre and performances); community arts (public art); cultural performances and information; school education activities; cultural and artistic tours; Indigenous infused café; Gallery Shop retailing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Artworks. The centre is governed by a 10-member Board of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and residing in South Australia. A

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

is responsible for its day-to-day operations. , Dennis Stokes, who is of the Wardaman,

Luritja The Luritja or Loritja people, also known as Kukatja or Kukatja-Luritja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Their traditional lands are immediately west of the Derwent River, that forms a frontier with the Arrernte ...

and

Warramunga The Warumungu (or Warramunga) are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Language Their language is Warumungu, belonging to the ...

peoples of the

as well as the Wagadagam people of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total la ...

, is CEO. He is also a member of the

South Australian Film Corporation South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are manage ...

's First Nations Advisory Committee, launched in November 2020 as part of their First Nations Screen Strategy 2020-2025. Funding is through the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

21st-century activities

The centre runs programs and performances as part of

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which was originally National Aborigines Day ...

. Since 2015 the centre has hosted the annual Art Fair, part of the

Tarnanthi Tarnanthi (pronounced tar-nan-dee) is a Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art held in Adelaide, South Australia, annually. Presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in association with the South Austral ...

Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art each year.

2020

In 2020, with its 30th-anniversary celebrations interrupted by being forced to close for over six months due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

, Tandanya re-opened in October with an exhibition called ''Atnwengerrp — Our Apmere, Our Place'', which included the work of five of the original women whose work was shown in the first ever exhibition at the gallery. On 13 November 2020, as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations, the centre hosted a new music festival called TREATY, featuring established and emerging First Nations musicians from South Australia. Performers included

J-Milla J-Milla, often styled J-MILLA, is an Aboriginal Australian hip hop musician . He was born as Jacob Nichaloff in Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin in the Northern Territory. Early life and education J-Milla was born as Jacob Nichaloff, and is o ...

, Sonz of Serpent,

Dem Mob Dem Mob, stylised as DEM MOB, is an Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal hip hop group from the APY lands in northern South Australia, the first to rap music, rap in the Pitjantjatjara language. Background Starting out as a musical duo, duo compris ...

, RKM ( Rulla Kelly-Mansell),

Tilly Tjala Thomas Tilly may refer to: Places France * Tilly, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Tilly, Indre, in the Indre ''département'' * Tilly, Yvelines, in the Yvelines ''département'' Elsewhere * Tilly, Belgium, a village in the municipality of Vill ...

, MRLN ( Marlon Motlop) and Katie Aspel, with

Natasha Wanganeen Natasha Wanganeen is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film ''Rabbit Proof Fence'', aged 15, and numerous television roles. Her debut film as co-writer and co-producer is the 2022 short fil ...

sharing the presenting with J-Milla. Discussions have been taking place with regard to the new Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC) as part of the

Lot Fourteen Lot Fourteen is a business and technology precinct at the eastern end of North Terrace in Adelaide city centre, South Australia. The site formerly accommodated the old Royal Adelaide Hospital, which was moved to a new building at the western ...

precinct on North Terrace, with a planned opening in 2025.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in South Australia Arts in Adelaide Australian Aboriginal art Museums in Adelaide Organisations serving Indigenous Australians Art museums established in 1989 1989 establishments in Australia Culture of Adelaide