Gomeroi Culture Academy doubles in size, welcomes in new year

The five-year-old organisation, which has already established itself as an institution of the Tamworth Aboriginal community, welcomed in 21 new students for the 2022 year.

It's double last year's intake, the biggest ever year at the academy.

Director Marc Sutherland told a start-of-year ceremony on Friday that they'd set themselves a major challenge by accepting everyone who signed up, for the first time.

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"As a program we are budgeted for 10 young people," he said.

"And we got sick and tired of telling young people they couldn't be part of the program, because of resources.

"And so we just made a decision that if you put in a good enough application, you guys are keen and we're not going to say 'no' to anyone."

Mr Sutherland said they had long aimed to provide an intensive, 12-month leadership education program for a relatively small group of children, rather than the traditional, more shallow lecture-style approach for a mass audience. He said it was an exciting prospect.

"This year we have doubled our intake for the Gomeroi Culture Academy, which is so exciting," he said.

"It's exciting because not only do we have groups of young people that are passionate to build leadership skills and to develop cultural knowledge.

"But also as a program that we are able to build that intake where we're kind of pushing the limits of what we're able to do."

The academy aims to build a network of trained-up graduates. A bigger intake means a faster-growing network, he said.

One of the 21 new students is Breanna Allan.

The Peel High School student said dancing is her way of paying her respects to the elders.

"I feel like they're watching over me," she said.

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By contrast, Maene Trindall was an "O G", joining up in the first year of the academy.

He said the best part of the course was "friendship".

"Making friends, that'd be the best part about it," he said.

"From being from different schools and stuff it's just good to make the friendship a bit bigger, the relationship between schools."

The academy is delivered in partnership with the Gomeroi Dance Company and Yinarr Maramali.

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