Wakakirri is a not-for-profit organisation (since 2004) that uses storytelling, the oldest form of learning, as its focus for providing innovative educational programs to schools in a manner that resonates with contemporary youth culture. Founded in 1992, Wakakirri develops student engagement and wellbeing through the sharing of stories and participation in the performing arts. The Aboriginal word Wakakirri means ‘to dance a story’ according to Wangaaypuwan people of Cobar, NSW.

Wakakirri is Australia’s largest performing arts event for schools. In our last regular season, 2019, we welcomed 15,000 students from 290 schools performing in 52 shows at 14 venues nationally. That year, more NSW students participated in the Wakakirri Challenge than in the NSW Department of Education’s School Spectacular.

Each year, Wakakirri presents the Wakakirri Challenge which is open to all Primary, Secondary and Dance schools and students in Australia. The performance that schools are invited to share is called a Story-Dance and must theatrically present a narrative using a combination of dancing, creative movement and acting within a three to seven-minute timeframe. At a Secondary-level, students are required to create at least 60% of their performance. This format is inclusive and reduces the need for technical skill or expensive sets, props and costumes. We communicate to schools that the emphasis is always on storytelling and every school with a great story has an equal shot of taking home an award, no matter how large or small their production is.