• Our Response to the Referendum

    Our Response to the Referendum
    Image: Akira Monaghan
    Looking down onto Contos Beach

    Last week we paused – supporting the silence of First Nations people – and we walked. Our office took to the Cape to Cape on Wadandi Country; it helped, but the profound sadness returned as soon as we came home.⁠

    We are still grappling with what to do next. We have read Marcia Langton’s powerful words in the Saturday Paper and are contemplating our place in the reconciliation movement. We wholeheartedly agree with Mary Crooks AO when she writes:⁠

    ‘Our nation needs to face some uncomfortable and ugly truths as to who we are when it comes to matters of Indigenous justice, entrenched racism and political and public discourse.’⁠ ⁠

    We have read the open letter, ‘ A Statement for Our People and Country ’ and are in support of its 12 salient points. We commit to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their pursuit of justice and rights. This is our focus and the only way forward.⁠

    Our hearts are with our remote First Nations clients and friends who overwhelmingly voted Yes.

  • Kanyirninpa Wangka Nantirrpa

    Kanyirninpa Wangka Nantirrpa
    KJ Martu Wangka Lesson

    The Fulcrum Fund exists to support community-led projects in First Nations communities across Australia. We invest a percentage of all our income into the Fund, and are always on the look out for projects that enhance quality of life, or enable cultural practice, or deliver justice for Aboriginal people.

    Most recently, we made a donation to Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa , a Martu organisation committed to delivering cultural, environmental and social initiatives that preserve Martu’s rich cultural identity. Language sits at the heart of cultural practice and personal identity and we were delighted to support the production of a set of resources to facilitate the teaching of Martu languages and cultural knowledge.

    585 sets of flashcards, posters, charts and booklets and audio files were developed to be used in Martu playgroups, local schools and with at-risk youth during trips on Country.

    KJ shared this story with us about the project:

    Heather Samson, a Martu elder who contributed to the resources, asked to use the draft set of alphabet flashcards to lead a lesson about literacy in Martu language to a class of young Martu children who usually only learn in English at school. As she began to introduce the flashcards, the room buzzed with enthusiasm. Heather’s wealth of knowledge shone through as she patiently went through each letter of the Martu alphabet and its corresponding flashcard, explaining the orthographic differences between Martu language and English and encouraging the students to speak aloud the sounds and words from the flashcards. She effortlessly wove tales of the cultural significance of each word featured on the flashcards, from animal names to the ways traditional tools were used. Through this simple but profound lesson, the students not only learned about their language but also discovered a deeper sense of pride in their cultural heritage.

    Thank you to the Fremantle Foundation for facilitating the payment of the donation.

  • TFA supports new First Nations work at The Blue Room Theatre

    TFA supports new First Nations work at The Blue Room Theatre
    Salted Pretzels

    Together with our friends at Block Branding , we are thrilled to announce our sponsorship of Salted Pretzels, a new play by Cezera Critti-Schnaars, to be presented at the Blue Room Theatre in October.

    You know the rules. Boy meets girl. They go on a date. Fall in love. Hit a slight speed bump. Work it out. And then live happily ever after. Everything moving easily into place.

    Turns out, real life isn’t a rom-com and love isn’t always enough to keep things on the straight and narrow. In a world where so much depends on who knows who and most importantly, whose heart beats for who, sometimes the most enduring love stories come from the messiest of meetings.

    The play is described as a ‘heart-busting modern celebration of identity, self-discovery and authenticity interrogates the complexities of falling in love at the messiest of times’.

    We can’t wait to see it and are proud to again support First Nations storytelling in WA.

    Book your tickets via the Blue Room website .

  • A guide to talking about the Voice

    A guide to talking about the Voice

    The Yes Campaign has developed a very handy guide to talking about the Voice to Parliament. It gives you the tools to design a conversation about tricky issues and provides straightforward answers to genuine questions.

    We cannot afford to be complacent about this referendum and it’s incumbant on all of us to educate ourselves and be open to sharing our knowledge. Hopefully this document might make potentially awkward conversations that little bit easier.

  • A special announcement

    A special announcement

    We made a commitment when we sold our first journal in 2018 to distribute all revenue to First Nations community projects. Since then, sales have been ticking over and we’ve been steadily stashing away the funds.

    We are chuffed to announce that we’ve been able to make a $1000 donation to the language preservation program at Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ), an organisation based in Newman and servicing Martu communities in the Western Desert.

    Thank you to everyone who has bought one of our journals – Pivot, Agency, Leverage, Commune, Equity – and made this donation possible. Thank you also to Pauline at the Fremantle Foundation for your work in facilitating the grant. Happy days!

  • A Poem for Invasion Day by Rosie Baumann

    A Poem for Invasion Day by Rosie Baumann

    We feel fortunate that Rosie Baumann was willing to share a poem she wrote in response to January 26th. We’re posting it today in the hope that it may impact your experience of tomorrow.

  • CHANGE THE DATE

    CHANGE THE DATE
    Change the Date!

    The Fulcrum Agency will be open on Thursday 26th January and closed on Friday 27th January.

    2023 will mark the seventh year that we have chosen to work on January 26th. This small gesture reflects our  commitment to building a more reconciled Australia, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are foundational to our national identity.

  • A ‘conversation hour’ with Andrew Broffman and Dillon Kombumerri

    A ‘conversation hour’ with Andrew Broffman and Dillon Kombumerri

    TF.A’s Sydney-based Principal, Andrew Broffman , joined Dillon Kombumerri , Principal Architect at the Government Architect NSW, for a conversation about the Connecting with Country framework, which is currently being tested.

    The interview ends with this beautiful line: ‘Connecting with Country is a provocation, a guide, and a gift,’ and is worth reading by anyone working in the built environment… Go here .

  • TF.A supports new First Nations work at the Blue Room Theatre

    TF.A supports new First Nations work at the Blue Room Theatre
    Read dirt, tea and attempted murder….

    Together with our friends at Block Branding , we are thrilled to announce our sponsorship of SAND, a new play by Zac James and Dureshawar Khan, to be presented at the Blue Room Theatre in November.

    1927 in the scorching deserts of Western Australia, Abdullah, an Afghan cameleer obsessed with tales of Camelot, meets Jarntu, a proud Yamatji man on a journey to save his daughter from a white man’s disease. Together they follow a trail of betrayal and murder that leads them to the tree of eternal knowledge, tasked to spread peace across the desert!

    The play is described as a ‘journey of culture, love, murder and the Blak history of Australia, brought to the stage with puppets and a kick*** soundtrack.’ We can’t wait to see it and are proud to again be able to support First Nations storytelling in WA.

    Book your tickets via the Blue Room website .

  • Seeking Expressions of Interest

    Seeking Expressions of Interest

    Our friends at JYAC (formally the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation) have asked us to share the following EOI. We have been working the Martu communities to ensure that the camps are comfortable and equipped for these events.