Black Arm Band plays its final song

Established in late 2005, the much-lauded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contemporary music company will cease operations this month.

The Black Arm Band performing dirtsong in São Paulo, Brazil in May 2016. Image via www.facebook.com/theblackarmband.

Established in late 2005, the Black Arm Band – a Helpmann Award-winning company whose rotating line-up has included the likes of Archie Roach, Lou Bennett, Kutcha Edwards, Emma Donovan and Dan Sultan – is to cease trading this month.

The news was announced in an email from the organisation’s Board, which was sent to staff in early December.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts