TALKABOUT SONGABOUT: To give a brief overview, due to increased literary activity and interest in the region, Barkly Arts devised a project for August's Desert Harmony Festival whereby stories from across the Barkly could be collected, recorded and performed in diverse and innovative ways to celebrate this year's festival theme, 'The Barkly - our story'. Talkabout Songabout was partly funded by Festivals Australia with Barkly Arts offering in kind support, and was hinged upon two writers/performing artists visiting the region and conducting creative writing and story-telling workshops in community for the three weeks leading up to the Desert Harmony program.The workshops culminated in two major performances; 'Talkabout', a showcase of Barkly personalities and their tales presented in various mediums such as film, poetry, music and performance, and Songabout, a music festival held at Mary Anne dam where thirteen regional acts played original music with local content from midday to sunset.

Theatre director and writer Peter Trist and infamous Brisbane poet Sam Wagan Watson took up residence in Tennant Creek and quickly began meeting with local people, from senior citizens to primary school children and every one in between with stories to tell and enthusiasm for being involved in the project. A special trip with Peter Trist was arranged for a group of elderly ex-Warrego citizens to visit old Warrego for a story-telling session and picnic amongst the mining town's relics. Film footage taken during this time was screened during Talkabout performance, along with many other filmed interviews conducted around the region over several months. Station people, Aboriginal elders, community teachers, stockmen and even Tennant Creek's first town mayor Alf Chittock featured on the film, which will be available for sale later in the year. Also on the night of Talkabout (30th August) were stunning poetry performances by Rosemary Plummer and Valerie Nelson and original acoustic music by Brian Murphy from 'Nomadic' and guitar legend Barry Benning. Tennant Creek sign writer John Stocks performed a haunting rendition of 'The Drover's Boy' and energetic yarn spinner Jimmy Hooker delivered several wild and wonderful yarns to a captive audience. We were also very honoured to have the show opened by a group of elderly Warlpiri women, who performed two Dreamtime songs and dances. The cultural content of their performance was narrated by Bunny Naparula, who was generous in the time and energy she gave to the project. However the act which received loudest applauds from proud parents was the performance given by Tennant Creek Primary School students, who delivered their own very humorous poems behind quirky animal masks. The event was M.C'd by Sam Wagan Watson and beautifully lit and miked by Barkly Arts Music Project Officer Jeff McLaughlin. Barkly Arts was pleased to receive positive feedback from various locals who felt that Talkabout Songabout had involved people from across all Barkly demographics, and had sought to portray the rich and multi-facetted history of our region - so - thank you to all of those people who gave their time and creativity to the project, and who shared their stories so generously with us all.