Big Song is a song writing and music development project initiated by Flying Arts especially to encourage the advancement of original, contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island songs and music.

The early testing of this idea and workshop methods undertaken in regional Queensland and Northern Territory in 2009 has shown that song writing is a powerful tool for self-expression, communication and personal and community development. This particular approach demystifies the process of writing songs and is a fun and expressive way of telling local stories from the heart.

In the first phase of the project a music specialists Stephen Teakle and Brian Kneipp will spend a week working in three participating Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island communities to develop and record new songs with emerging and established musicians. The documented outcomes of each residency will be uploaded to a special web site so that the work can be shared between participating communities and interested people. Participants will be encouraged to continue the process and share and exchange ideas on-line. In each case a local musician will be mentored to be the key contact for communication and future project development activities.

Once this pilot phase is completed, selected songs will be recorded and compiled as a demonstration CD. Copyright of the material will vest with the songwriters and all rights will be protected.

With the success of the first stage it is envisaged that the program will be rolled out to other interested Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island communities with the eventual aim of producing an album of the original work and a possible live concert.

The pilot project is planned to take place in March/April 2010. If you think that this project might be right for your community please contact Flying Arts on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or +61 7 3109 7350