Sovereign Hill’s MAGNA Award winning Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival.

Sovereign Hill wins MAGNA award for Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival, Sovereign Hill, 16 May 2017

Sovereign Hill’s Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival, designed to deepen Australians’ understanding of our shared history, was named a winner in the Museums & Galleries National Awards (MAGNA) last night.

Winning for the category of ‘Indigenous Projects’, The Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival, was held in partnership with the Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation (trading as Wadawurrung) last May. The Festival was held to celebrate Aboriginal stories, traditions and history, as well as the important contribution that Aboriginal people made to the goldfields.

Sovereign Hill’s fashion event ‘A Victorian Silhouette’ received a Highly Commended award in the category of ‘Interpretation, Learning and Audience Engagement’. The event, staged at this year’s Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival as a part of the Arts Program, showcased the secrets of the 1850s Victorian silhouette.

“At Sovereign Hill, our team works tirelessly to deliver innovative, unique events, and it’s an honour that two of our events have been honoured in the MAGNA Awards,” says Sovereign Hill CEO Jeremy Johnson.  “Working with a level of innovation that is second to none is the key to constantly re-inventing Sovereign Hill, while telling the story of the 1850s”.

“Indigenous people contributed greatly to the history of the goldfields, and we’re proud that the Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival celebrates the richness and importance of Aboriginal culture. We share this award win with the team at Wadawurrung, because without their collaboration, our Festival would not have been the enormous success that it was.”

MAGNA is the Museums and Galleries National Awards. The MAGNAs primarily focus on innovation and excellence in exhibition, audience engagement and indigenous projects, and are open to all non-commercial museums, galleries, zoos, botanical gardens and other cultural and collecting institutions who are members of Museums Australia.

The Awards Ceremony was held last night at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Brisbane’s South Bank, as part of the Museums Galleries Australia National Conference.

Tickets for the 2017 Gnarrwirring Ngitj Festival (26th May – 3rd June), which will include a Gourmet Wadawurrung Dinner, guided tours to learn about Aboriginal experiences on the goldfields, and the highly anticipated Corroboree, are now available at http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/visit/what-s-on/gnarrwirring-ngitj-festival/