For the third year in a row, Dan Sultan, Children’s Ground, and Fender® Music Australia are partnering in the Art Guitar Auction to raise funds and awareness during NAIDOC Week, an event to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This year's Art Guitar Auction features the work of First Nations multidisciplinary artist David Cragg. Get the background on this stunning work from Dan and David HERE and access the auction HERE.

NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.  Over the last two years, the Fender guitar art pieces created by First Nations artists Otis Carey and Niah McLeod (2021) and Kiya Watt and Kirli Saunders (2022) have raised $31,000, which supports the Ampe-kenhe Ahelhe, Arrernte musician-led program operating in Central Australia.

The program’s mission is to engage children, young people and adults in music, to create learning resources through new First Language songs and to protect and increase the visibility and accessibility of First Nations languages. In 2022, with the support of Australian musicians Emily Lubitz and Harry Angus, community members wrote, recorded and released their first singles, Tyerrtye Atyinhe (My Body)/ Akaperte Pwerlepe (Heads Shoulders) and Werte!, a guitar-lead educational, children's song teaching greetings and hand signals, sung in the Eastern/Central Arrernte language. These are the first songs of an album Ampe-mape Alyelheme (Kids Sing), to be released later this year.