The OpenField Arts Festival returns to Berry next week, bringing the town to life with contemporary art, storytelling, and connection to place.

A powerful First Nations program grounded in culture, Country and community is an integral part of the festival, which begins at 10am on Friday.

A special outdoor ceremony at the Berry Showground Pavilion, including a Welcome to Country by Nabumarra Aunty Delia Lowe and a Smoking Ceremony with Drew Longbottom, will kick off proceedings.

The launch will also feature songs in language performed by Yaala, Emma Stewart and Tamika Townsend. All locals and visitors are warmly encouraged to attend.

Curated by Guringai and Yuin cloak-maker and storyteller Amanda Jane Reynolds, the First Nations program includes performances, workshops and cultural activations across the weekend.

“One of the things we’re doing through OpenField is holding space,” Reynolds said.

“For deep history, for truth-telling, for continuing presence — and for joy. It’s about honouring our ancestors, our Elders, and the generations to come. We want people to fall in love with this Country and understand the responsibility we all share in protecting its future.”

The centre of the First Nations program is the First Nations Hub at the Berry Rural Youth Hall — a place where all are welcome to pay respects to Ancestors, Elders and younger generations, and to honour Country in all its forms: mountain, water, land and sky.

Set between sacred mountains and one of the region’s best-loved community venues, the Hub is a symbol of resilience, pride in younger generations, and a space for open-hearted connection. It reminds us that First Nations culture belongs at the centre of community life.

Throughout the weekend, the Hub will host weaving, storytelling, art-making and drop-in workshops, along with a stall selling handmade crafts, bush healing items and bush-tukka. Visitors can also view Cullunghutti: the Mountain and its People, a striking series of banners created by Uncle Noel Wellington in partnership with local Elders, community and National Parks and Wildlife, to share history and connection to place.

A major feature of the First Nations Hub is the collaborative creation of a large-scale Story Cloak on cowhide. This evolving artwork responds to OpenField’s theme RE:Place, inviting participants to contribute markings and stories that reflect the cultural and environmental impacts of colonisation.

“Cattle were one of the first major impacts on our lands and people,” Ms Reynolds said. “This cloak helps us reflect on that history while reconnecting with species like dingoes and whales, which are now under threat. Creating art together lets us listen, share, and reconnect with Country in powerful ways.”

On Friday and Saturday, Wandi Wandian artist and environmental activist Amethyst Downing will lead Dingo Belonging workshops, where participants can learn about the significant role of this totem species within our biodiversity.

During this workshop there is opportunity to create a dingo pup to carry in Saturday’s art parade through the streets of Berry (beginning at 4pm, Queen Street).

“These animals are a cornerstone species - dingoes keep our biodiversity balanced which sustain all life and are the only Apex land animal of its size.” Downing said.

“Through creative conservation workshops we can share, exchange knowledge and collectively activate the dialogue to decolonize forms of pest control."

A panel discussion on Sunday afternoon (3–4.30pm) at the Berry School of Arts will feature Reynolds, Downing, Dr Jodi Edwards, Lauren Carpenter/Chapman and Dr Lou Netana Glover in conversation about First Nations heritage, story and art.

The completed Story Cloak will also be shared with the community.

The festival will close at 5pm on Sunday with a special outdoor performance by acclaimed First Nations violinist and vocalist Eric Avery, drawing on his family’s custodial songs and the stories held by the land around Berry.

OpenField is a free, not-for-profit festival supported by local volunteers, artists and community partners. The First Nations program is central to its vision of reconnection, learning and celebration.

“There’s so much strength in sitting together — creating, listening and learning from Country and from each other,” Reynolds added.

“These are the kinds of connections that stay with you. That’s what makes festivals like this matter.”

View the full program and book now at www.openfieldartsfestival.org.au.