A groundbreaking project bringing The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) together with Indigenous performers from Arnhem Land is the recipient of the 2010 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship at The Australian National University.

The Fellowship, awarded each year by the Research School of Humanities and the Arts at ANU, aims to encourage creative arts in Australia through a residency at the University. As this year’s recipients, AAO – led by renowned jazz artist Paul Grabowsky - will bring their collaborative Crossing Roper Bar project to ANU with a series of workshops and a concert at the ANU School of Music, where they are also hosted.

Crossing Roper Bar is a collaborative project between the AAO and the Young Wagilak Group of the Wagilak people from Ngukurr in south east Arnhem Land. It began in 2005 with a series of workshops and has since evolved into an ongoing collaboration of the contemporary jazz of AAO with the traditional song and dance of the Young Wagilak Group.

Image: (L to R front row) Paul Grabowsky (keyboards), Benjamin Wilfred (voice/bilma), Desmond Wilfred (voice/bilma), David Wilfred (yidaki), Wesley Wilfred (voice); (L to R back row); Philip Rex (double bass), Niko Schäuble (drums), Stephen Magnusson (electric guitar), Tony Hicks (winds)