Emerge in Yarra will ignite the cultural landscape of Melbourne’s inner north with a vibrant multi-arts program from Thursday 29 June to Saturday 8 July 2017. Now in its 14th year, Emerge in Yarra continues a tradition of unearthing and celebrating Melbourne’s emerging refugee and culturally diverse communities.
Following Refugee Week, the festival showcases 10 events over 10 days and will include commissioned works and new collaborations across food, visual arts, multimedia, theatre, dance, music, storytelling, spoken word and poetry.
Festival favourite Cookin Up Community returns over two evening and combines food with music and storytelling. The first event on Tuesday 4 July is held at the Collingwood Community Kitchen and will be hosted by Iranian-born Neda Rahmani and restauranteur Saba Alemayoh, who was born in Sudan to Ethiopian parents.
Rahmani grew up in Australia and has been performing in the Melbourne arts scene for many years. Stories, family and sharing food play a key role in Rahmani’s life and her performance for the event will draw elements from Cherry Cherry, a unique performative dining experience in 2014 produced by A is for Atlas.
Alemayoh relocated to Melbourne with her mother in 1999 and her first business, Saba’s Health Foods, grew from her passion for Ethiopian culture combined with wholesome grains.
The second evening is all about Latin flavours and will be held at the Fitzroy Community Kitchen. Chilean theatre director Jaime Wilson-Ramirez and Colombian singer/songwriter Oscar Jimenez will cook up a feast of stories, songs and traditional cuisine that evoke nostalgic aromas from distant Latin American homelands.
Emerge in Yarra is the result of MAV’s Emerge program, which aims to empower and connect artists and communities through culture.
Image credit: eventbrite.com.au
