It has been a very busy time for us over the past month with NAIDOC celebrations commencing on the 1st of July with a team from KARI attending the National NAIDOC Awards in Cairns, QLD. KARI was a proud sponsor of this year’s awards and it was a real honour to have our Chief of Operations, Casey Ralph, presenting the Youth of the Year Award alongside Eurovision finalist and X-Factor winner, Isaiah Firebrace. Initiatives such as these awards are hugely important as they pay tribute to the many amazing successes in our community.
Some of you may have seen the KARI logo featured on the South Sydney Rabbitohs Indigenous jersey on Sunday the 2nd of July, which was worn by the team during their win over the Penrith Panthers. We are immensely proud of the work we do with this team and this year I had the privilege of speaking to the players about the importance of wearing an Indigenous jersey and the meaning behind it.
Last week, our Marketing & Fundraising team hosted a NAIDOC Luncheon for our growing corporate partners. I am pleased to report that the event was a sell-out, with 120 guests in attendance as well as others on a waiting list. We enjoyed performances by the Muggera Aboriginal Dance Group and our very special performance of Djapana by our talented Vocal Identification Program (VIP) students. Former Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris closed the afternoon with a memorable keynote, which touched on her early life and future success. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special event and I hope that every year this unique initiative will continue to grow.
KARI as an organisation also celebrated NAIDOC Week with all internal staff members enjoying the opportunity to attend a cultural bushwalk in the Blue Mountains. Although NAIDOC Week is a very busy time for us, it is crucial that we also take the time to acknowledge and celebrate this week as an organisation.
I hope you all enjoyed NAIDOC celebrations in your workplace and thank you for our partners who attended our corporate event last week – we look forward to celebrating with you again in 2018.
Paul Ralph
CEO KARI
