Arts Centre Melbourne’s Ian Potter State Theatre is set to reopen to the public on 3 October 2026 with the world premiere of Gugu Dindi Gunyah (Many Rivers. One Home), a First Nations-led concert curated by Mutti Mutti, Nari Nari and Yorta Yorta Songman Kutcha Edwards. The multidisciplinary production will be the first public performance presented in the theatre following its refurbishment as part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation project. It will also begin Arts Centre Melbourne’s broader reopening program, with additional performances and activities set to be announced next month.
Sung entirely in Aboriginal languages held by Song Keepers from across Victoria, Gugu Dindi Gunyah will explore culture, resilience, belonging and the relationship between communities and waterways. Rivers, songlines, ancestral stories and shared memories will shape the concert’s journey through culture, community and identity.
Edwards serves as Senior Songman and Creative Producer for the self-determined project. He will be joined by a group of Song Keepers and artists that includes Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO (Yorta Yorta / Yuin), Wayne Thorpe (Gunnai), Alice Skye (Wergaia / Wemba Wemba), Stacie Nicholson-Piper (Wurundjeri Dja Dja Wurrung and Ngurai-Illum Wurrung), Neil Morris (Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Multi-lineal Indigenous Sovereign Custodian) and Boorook, Brett Clarke (Kerray Woorroong). The production is directed by Kylie Belling (Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri and South Sea Islander), with its stage designed to represent Country as a changing and active presence beneath the performers.
Papua New Guinean-Australian musician Aaron Choulai will serve as Music Director. Each song featured in the performance will be presented in the language of the Song Keeper responsible for carrying it, while light and texture will transform the surrounding ceremonial space. Artist Tegan Murdock (Barkindji, Maurara/Yorta Yorta, Dhudaroah) will guide the work through cultural practice, ceremony and weaving, reflecting the way rivers guide the production’s wider journey.
The concert also draws upon Edwards’ personal experiences. Born beside the Murrumbidgee River and removed from Country as a child, the singer-songwriter has created a work that follows songlines and ancient trade routes across South-East Nations. Through the project, Edwards has brought together Song Keepers and cultural custodians from across Victoria. Its development included an extensive series of creative sessions conducted on Country with the participating artists and custodians.
Edwards said the process began with questions about why he had been selected to develop the work and what story the occasion required him to tell.
When you’re asked to conceptualise something for Arts Centre Melbourne, you first need to ask yourself why me? Then you need to figure out what story do you want and need to tell. So many things swirl in your mind.
You take a deep breath and realise that this concept needs to be seen as ceremony, Waripa (Mutti Mutti). You enter into a cultural framework (Dreaming). Gugu Dindi Gunyah starts to take form. The rivers have their own Dreaming stories. The country has its own story. We have our own story!
The performance’s journey will conclude beside the Birrarung, or Yarra River, at Arts Centre Melbourne in Naarm. The venue stands on the ancestral lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, in an area that has served as a place of gathering, ceremony and storytelling for thousands of years.
Minister for Creative Industries Vicki Ward said the production’s creative team and participating Victorian First Peoples artists would help mark both the theatre’s reopening and the wider transformation of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.
With a powerhouse creative team and lineup of Victorian First Peoples artists, led by the incomparable Kutcha Edwards, Gugu Dindi Gunyah is set to be an unmissable and unforgettable performance. A powerful celebration to mark the reopening of the refurbished Ian Potter State Theatre, and this major milestone in the transformation of our Melbourne Arts Precinct.
Arts Centre Melbourne Chief Executive Officer Karen Quinlan AM said the concert would highlight the languages and songlines of Victoria’s First Peoples while acknowledging the history of the land on which the theatre is located.
Gugu Dindi Gunyah is a powerful and significant piece of storytelling which we can’t wait to see brought to life in our new and improved Ian Potter State Theatre. We knew it needed to be the first concert to reopen our beloved theatre, celebrating and honouring the stories of our First Peoples on Victoria’s most treasured stage.
