The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy #NAIDOC2025
Celebrate NAIDOC Week with NAVA by honouring First Nations artists and storytellers, while committing to respect, education, and support for First Nations self-determination in the arts.
From 6-13 July 2025, NAIDOC Week honours the rich histories, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy, ‘celebrates not only the achievements of the past but the bright future ahead, empowered by the strength of our young leaders, the vision of our communities, and the legacy of our ancestors.’
NAIDOC Week is a time to reflect on the enduring contributions of First Nations peoples and to actively support their leadership in arts, culture, and broader society. At NAVA, we celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists as storytellers, knowledge holders, and innovators who deepen our connection to Country, community, and culture through art.
Artist statement by Dylan Finney
This work pays respect to the past, present and future. Created in response to the 2025 NAIDOC theme, “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy,” it reflects on where we’ve come from, where we stand, and where we’re heading. It holds space for both memory and momentum.
Around the flames, our people gather. Multiple generations - Elders, parents, young ones - each carrying their own stories, experiences, and dreams. The fire at the centre speaks to culture; carried, tended, and shared. It’s a symbol of continuity, of something that’s never gone out. Above it, the smoke curls into the sky, forming the words The Next Generation - a reminder that in every moment we are shaping a future for those coming after us.
The orange trails that wind through the sky represent the wisdom of our Ancestors, the quiet strength that carries us as First Nations people.
This piece is about legacy as a living thing - not frozen in time, but moving, breathing, evolving. It honours 50 years of NAIDOC and the generations who fought for recognition and rights, while also casting our gaze forward: to the young ones watching, listening, rising.
We’re not just keeping the fire burning - we’re building on it, feeding it, letting it glow louder.
This is for the next generation, who inherit not only a legacy but a future they will shape with their own hands, hearts and fire.
Spotlight on First Nations Artists
Merindah Funnell is a proud Wiradjuri artist and illustrator based in Sydney, born on Dharawal Country. In this interview, Merindah reflects on the impact of rising living costs on her practice, the ongoing grief following the Voice referendum, and the urgent need for more First Nations artists to lead public art and cultural education. She also speaks to the value of cultural connection, community collaboration, and how time spent on Country strengthens her voice as an artist and educator.
Libby Harward is a Ngugi woman whose art practice spans performance, installation and graffiti. In this interview, Harward shares with the NAVA the importance of self-care while balancing her art practice and supporting other artists, and emphasises that being an artist is a serious, viable career filled with opportunities to express strong, political ideas.
Support First Nations art
Support First Nations artists by purchasing art from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses, First Nations Art Centres, galleries registered with the Indigenous Art Code or from independent First Nations artists directly. For information on how to buy art ethically, visit the Indigenous Art Code. For links to ethical dealers and First Nations Art Centres around the country, search members of the Indigenous Art Code or visit the peak bodies:
- Aboriginal Art Centre Hub Western Australia (AACHWA)
- Aboriginal Culture, Heritage & Arts Association of NSW (ACHAA)
- Arnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists (ANKA)
- Desart
- Indigenous Art Centre Alliance (IACA)
- UMI Arts
- Ku Arts
In NSW
In NT
In Qld
In Vic
Education and awareness
Organisations and individuals wishing to collaborate with First Nations artists and communities have a responsibility to follow ethical industry practices and protocols. Use the following resources and guides to strengthen cultural competency, and to recognise and address bias.
NAVA resources
- First Nations section in Code of Practice, NAVA
- Working with First Nations Art Centres, NAVA
- How to work with First Nations artists in the classroom by Thomas Readett and Alise Hardy
- Respecting ICIP in Collecting Institutions by Nathan Sentance, Tammi Gissell and Madeline Poll
- NAVA Talks AI and ICIP recording, NAVA
- How to ease the admin burden for artists by Joel Bray
External resources
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander principles and protocols, NSW Education Standards Authority
- Aboriginal Arts and Culture Protocols, Create NSW
- Aboriginal Cultural Capability Toolkit, Victorian Public Sector Commission
- Artists in the Black service of Arts Law for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities
- Deadly Arts collection for Foundation to Year 6 teachers and students
- Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) Info Sheet, Artists in the Black
- Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts, Creative Australia
- Terri Janke and and Company: Lawyers and Consultants
- Parallax Legal: Legal advice, Engagement and Protocols
Image credit
Image: Dylan Finney, The Next Generation, 2025, commissioned by NAVA.
ID: Graphic illustration of a multigenerational First Nations family gathered around a campfire under a starry sky. The firelight reveals the words “Strength, Vision & Legacy,” while smoke forms the title “The Next Generation.”
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is a national organisation with staff who work across multiple states. The NAVA Board, and the artists, arts workers and organisations that we represent are based across hundreds of sovereign nations and unceded lands throughout the continent that has become colonially known as Australia.
NAVA acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians and knowledge-holders of the unceded lands on which we live, learn, and work. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first artists and storytellers on this continent and pay respect to First Nations communities' ancestors and Elders. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
