Matthew Hein is a young Aboriginal man based in Adelaide. For a number of years Matt has worked in Tandanya's retail shop - you may likely recognise him from there.

Matt has a keen interest in Indigenous history and contemporary political affairs and has supported any number of community events. He fancies himself just a bit as an orator and keenly accepted this opportunity to address a large group of people at Spirit Festival.

In keeping with the focus of the Festival, Matt is an accomplished drummer, an aspiring player of the yidaki and a budding actor.

The Spirit Festival is very proud to have Frances Rings introduce Spirit Dance Ceremony developed by sister Gina Rings.  

Frances is a descendant of the Kokotha tribe.  In 2002 she made her main stage choreographic debut for Bangarra to outstanding critical acclaim with the Rations bill of Walkabout. Frances has followed this by creating 4 works for the company; Bush (co-choreography), Unaipon, X300 and Artefact. In 2004 Bulletin Magazine named Frances in their Smart 100, following the world premiere of her work Unaipon at The Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Frances has choreographed works for many of Australia's leading Dance Companies including West Australian Ballet and Tasdance as well as continuing a successful Independent career.

Frances has danced in works by many of Australia's leading choreographers and companies including Meryl Tankard, Leigh Warren, and Legs on the Wall. In 2010 Frances returns to Bangarra to take up the position of Resident Choreographer for the company. Her awards include: Best New Australian Work at the 2003 Helpmann Awards for Walkabout; the 2003 Deadly Award for Female Dancer of the Year; and the 2004 Ausdance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for Unaipon. Most recently her work was recognised at the 2010 Helpmann Awards with Bangarra taking out outstanding achievement in Choreography for Fire and Best Regional Show for True Stories.

Brenton McKenna is a young Indigenous artist and writer from Broome, in the far north of Western Australia. Ever since he can remember, Brenton has been passionate about art and telling stories. He first developed an interest in comic books and this style of drawing when he was very young. He is the author of Ubby's Underdogs a graphic novel influenced by Brenton's childhood in Broome published by Magabala books. Ubby is a smart, young Aboriginal girl who is twice as tough as the streets she lives on. She is the leader of a rag-tag group of youth known as the ‘Underdogs'. When Ubby meets Sai Fong, a Chinese girl who has arrived fresh off the boat from Beijing, street life in Broome takes on a multitude of new dimensions. From the moment the two girls meet, they find themselves immersed in a series of bizarre adventures influenced by Aboriginal and Chinese myths and legend, and secrets never before exposed. 

Brenton is a guest of our writer's program Wongaidja Wave where he will contribute to the discussion about writing and publishing on Sunday from 3pm. He will also be presenting two illustration workshops.

Workshops - Do you have a character you like to draw? Would you like to learn how to draw your own character and put them in a story? This workshop is for you. Materials are provided and run for an hour. Suitable for all ages. Saturday 25th 3pm  Sunday 26th  11am