Artists and Presenters
MC Tamm Kingi-Falakoa
Tamm was born and raised in Mangere, Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland, NZ).
Amharic Saturday School
The recently school formed began teaching students at Sunshine Library after its discontinuation from the Victorian School of Languages program. Students are taught by Tenenet Taye through the Amharic alphabet, writing, song and activities. For the festival students will perform two songs and a presentation.
Grace Vanilau
Grace is a Naarm-based Interdisciplinary artist and Arts and Cultural Development practitioner of Aotearoa Samoa descent. She has worked for 30 years in the Creative and Cultural Industry in Australia and Aotearoa (NZ) producing culturally nuanced programs for Tagata Moana – Oceania peoples and communities. She has a passion for developing intercultural knowledge-share spaces for diverse creative communities. As an artist, she morphs between disciplines as a singer/songwriter, storyteller, poet and weaver. She is a sometimes actor and dancer… and more importantly a proud mama of three and nana of one.
Jason Tamiru
I am Yembena cultural songline.
Eagle, Crow, Emu, Turtle, Snake, Fish, Water, Tree, Earth, Sky, Serpent.
Born many years ago I have reincarnated many into the presence of my being today.
My Creator is Baimi and I follow the custodian Lores of Serpent Dreaming.
My constitution, one earth, many cultures, many spirits, many songlines.
My work focusses on spiritual and cultural alignment to the earth, sky and being.
I engage to a world made 5 billion years ago, to life made millions of years ago.
I am invisible to hate and visible to warmth.
I sing in lingo, play yidaki, clap message sticks, use smoke and fire corrobboree to connect to the old country and old people.
I work for peace.
Language Justice Network
Language Justice Network is a not-for-profit organisation led by LGBTQIA+ forcibly displaced people, created to deliver culturally safe, trauma-informed, queer-affirming language services and to shift how language access is understood and practiced across Australian service systems.
Marina Alefosio
Marina is an Australian-based Samoan spoken word poet, storyteller, and arts practitioner working at the intersection of arts, culture, and wellbeing. Descended from the villages of Mulifanua, Leauva’a, Faleasiu, and Falefa in Samoa, her practice spans spoken word poetry, hip-hop, theatre, songwriting, and mentoring, centering Pasifika and Indigenous voices and themes of identity, justice, and collective healing. She has performed on local and international stages and has been recognised through residencies and fellowships with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Tautai Arts Trust, Rhodes Poetry Retreat, and Creative New Zealand. An Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity, Marina holds a Master’s in Social Change Leadership and continues to mentor emerging artists, while proudly being a mother and an aunty.
Australian Vietnamese Arts & Culture
We are a vibrant community dedicated to celebrating and sharing the rich tapestry of Vietnamese arts and culture. Our group is a gathering of passionate individuals united by a love for the arts and a commitment to building a supportive, inclusive community.
More than just a collection of talents, we are a dynamic collective that thrives on collaboration, encouragement, and the celebration of cultural diversity. Through various artistic expressions, festivals, and cultural events, we aim to create a sense of belonging and provide a platform for everyone to contribute their unique voice to our shared creative journey.
Snuff Puppets
A Footscray icon, the Snuff Puppets have been dazzling audiences and unsuspecting locals since 1992 with large scale immersive puppets and installations. In 2020, the Snuffies collaborated with the Vietnamese Community of Australia (VIC) to present the Vietnamese creation myth “Âu Cơ và Lạc Long Quân.” This epic love story will be re-presented especially for the festival.
Association for Vietnamese Culture Studies
Our group is a community-based, not-for-profit organisation. We provide Vietnamese language programs to school-aged and preschool-aged children on weekends at three campuses: Braybrook, Brunswick and Keysborough, which allow children to learn or maintain their mother tongue or heritage language.
Dee Palanisamy
Dee (Durgah Devi) is a multilingual storyteller from Singapore and based in Melbourne, Australia. She weaves her Singaporean-Tamil background in telling Asian folktales and stories to audiences around the world. She shares her love for Asian folktales and stories with audiences of all ages. Dee loves all things stories and founded Deelightfultales, where she uses stories for performances, training, education and personal development. Her work includes personal and bilingual stories, tales for personal transformation, and more recently exploring rhythm in creative ways.
Jollity Bollywood
Jollity means celebration and they celebrate through dance! They are specialised in various Indian dance forms, including Bollywood, Bolly Hop, Folk and Bharatnatyam. Their team of experienced and trained facilitators run sessions in Docklands and Werribee for kids and adults. They promote Indian arts and culture through their dance, and they live by one motto – “You bring yourselves to them and they bring dance to you.”
Mito Elias
Mito is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice serves as a vital bridge between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Born in Cape Verde and based in Melbourne, his work is shaped by a diasporic consciousness and linguistic inquiry – specifically the absence of his mother tongue, Cape Verdean Creole, within the urban polyphony of his adopted home.
Through painting, poetry, and sound, Mito explores how language survives displacement. His work actively constructs a “sonic coexistence” where marginalized idioms find new resonance. By intertwining the rhythms of the islands with local landscapes, Mito transforms the isolation of the diaspora into a fertile space for intercultural encounter and shared memory.
Kia Puāwai Language School
Led by Atiria Chase, the Kia Puāwai Language School will perform Māori Waiata, run a Māori games workshop, and hold a community stall.
Klyde Salcedo & Maysie Lecciones
Klyde Salcedo is a Filipina public servant, who works in natural wine and is now a children’s book writer! She lives and works on Boon Wurrung Country. Growing up in a matriarchal family, she learned that food carries stories, memories, and quiet acts of love. Maysie Lecciones is a Filipino multidisciplinary creative based in Naarm, working across food and design. Having moved to Australia from the Philippines, she draws on childhood memories and her connection to her homeland to weave storytelling and memory into her work. She brings nostalgia to life through her illustrations for Breakfast with Nanay.
Klyde and Maysie’s book “Breakfast with Nanay” will be launched at the festival with a special book reading.
Polish Association of Kingsville and Ladies Auxiliary
The Polish Association of Kingsville and Ladies Auxiliary (PAKLA) was established in the 1950 during the largest wave of refugees (known as Displaced Persons at the time) ever arrived in Australia. These were Polish refugees who longed for an opportunity to spend time together, maintain their culture, traditions and language. They established Polish Saturday Language Schools which initially ran in people’s homes. After many years of fundraising, they built Millennium House in Footscray. Following declining membership, Millennium House was donated to the Australian Multicultural Community Services, which operates it as a community centre. PAKLA continues to exist and provide community services whenever it can.
Cường La
Anh Cường is a Melbourne-based community member who enjoys making music and performing in a simple, non-professional way. He does not see himself as an artist, but as someone who listens, keeps rhythm, and finds connection through sound and shared moments.
Over the past two years, he was part of Hát cho Nhau Nghe, a monthly community gathering for Vietnamese migrants in Melbourne, where people came together to sing, move, perform theatre, and share poetry. More recently, Anh Cường founded Á Đù, a community comedy group based in St Albans. Through humour, storytelling, and everyday memories, the group hopes to bring laughter, reflection, and emotional warmth to elderly members of the Vietnamese community.
Sin Frontera Band
Sin Frontera Band is a vibrant mariachi group celebrating traditional Mexican and Latin music. Performing in both English and Spanish, the band brings lively rhythms and cross-cultural sounds to audiences of all backgrounds.
Tibetan Community Group
Tibetan Language School Victoria returns to the Language and Community Festival with a performance that reflects its ongoing commitment to preserving Tibetan language, culture, and identity. Through education and cultural expression, the school continues to nurture the next generation and strengthen community connections.
The Tibetan Mothers Group will perform a celebration of community, culture, and shared heritage. Their participation highlights the important role mothers play in passing down traditions and keeping cultural practices alive across generations.
Angliss Neighbourhood House Choir
At Angliss Neighbourhood House our English language classrooms are full of rich, multilingual and translingual exchanges and collaboration. We value language diversity and aim to support meaningful, intergenerational language learning and sharing opportunities in and across the Angliss community. For the festival we are preparing a song in several of the languages we speak, learning and sharing with each other, and finding joy in rich and creative forms of communication.
Đất Nước Library
The Đất Nước Library is a community-curated collection from Vietnam and its diaspora. The library aims to encourage collective literacy, develop shared archives and create a more culturally-connected community through the provision of access to specialist programming and a book collection which centers people and voices across the plurality of the Vietnamese experience.
Rika Yamashita
Rika grew up maintaining Japanese while attending schools in the US and UK. Drawing on this experience, she is an advocate for language diversity and equality, multilingual learning and education. Now as a sociolinguist, her research explores ways in which diverse community languages can thrive and be respected across Japan and Australia.