First Nations Engagement

This chapter applies to all music festival and event organisers operating in NSW.

Every festival in NSW takes place on Aboriginal land. First Nations engagement is not an optional addition to a festival program, a symbolic opening moment, or something to consider only when First Nations artists are booked. It is part of the cultural, ethical, legal and operational context of running an event in this country.

This chapter directly applies if your event involves any of the following:

• programming, artwork, music, language, ceremony or design drawing on First Nations cultures;
• a Welcome to Country, Acknowledgement of Country, Smoking Ceremony or other cultural protocol;
• First Nations performers, artists, Elders, knowledge holders or community representatives;
• Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, including stories, language, imagery or recorded material;
• a site with known or potential Aboriginal cultural heritage significance;
• marketing, media or social content representing First Nations people, culture or Country;
• partnerships, funding or public statements connected to First Nations communities or outcomes.

It also applies with no dedicated First Nations program: you are still responsible for understanding the cultural context of your event's location and how it may affect Aboriginal people, Country, heritage, workers, artists and local communities.

If unsure whether engagement is required, assume it is and seek advice before proceeding.

This chapter covers the obligations, responsibilities and best-practice approaches for meaningful First Nations engagement across the full festival lifecycle. It should be read as part of the overall planning framework, not as a standalone cultural add-on.

This chapter covers:

• early engagement with the appropriate First Nations people, organisations and community representatives connected to the event location;
• relationships with Traditional Custodians, Land Councils, Native Title holders, Aboriginal Owners, Elders and First Nations-led organisations;
• cultural protocols, including Welcome to Country, Acknowledgement of Country and Smoking Ceremony;
• use of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, including stories, language, imagery, performance and design;
• representation in marketing, media and public communications;
• cultural safety for First Nations artists, workers, contractors and audiences;
• site assessment and Aboriginal cultural heritage;
• budgeting, consent, attribution, record keeping and post-event review.

For chapters that work alongside this one, see Section 2.4 Integration with Other Chapters.

Festival organisers must identify, assess and manage First Nations engagement risks as part of the overall event risk register — cultural engagement, safety, heritage, site design, communications, programming, WHS, security and audience management are all connected.

Risk identification should begin early and be reviewed at each major lifecycle stage. The best way to manage this risk is to begin early, resource the work properly and build relationships before decisions become hard to change.

First Nations engagement must be budgeted from the outset instead of treated as a discretionary add-on, a late-stage contingency, or something to be absorbed by First Nations artists, Elders, staff, community members or cultural advisors. Cost planning should scale with the event's size and risk profile, but the work should always be properly planned, paid and supported.

Cost categories to budget for

Festival organisers should consider the following cost categories when preparing event budgets:

• Cultural consultant or advisor fees: advice on engagement, local relationships, permissions, ICIP, site considerations, cultural safety and public representation.
  
• First Nations liaison or cultural safety role: a paid role for events with significant First Nations programming, engagement, content or on-site cultural risk.
  
• Welcome to Country fees: payment for the recognised local Elder, Traditional Custodian or authorised representative
  
• Smoking Ceremony and cultural protocol support costs: practitioner fees, travel, parking, accommodation, materials, site access, production liaison, fire safety and on-site support.
  
• ICIP agreement and legal costs: legal advice, contract drafting, licensing, attribution, approvals and future-use permissions.
  
• Community engagement costs: meetings, travel, paid consultation time, venue hire, catering, access support, transport, documentation and follow-up.
  
• Cultural competency and cultural safety training: event-specific briefing for staff, contractors, security, volunteers, artist liaison, media teams and decision-makers.
  
• First Nations programming fees: performer and artist fees, cultural leave, mentorship arrangements and agreed access or support costs.
  
• AHIMS search and heritage fees: searches, cultural heritage advice, specialist assessment, site redesign or approvals where required.
  
• Access and hospitality for Elders, knowledge holders and community representatives: transport, parking, accommodation, meals, accessibility support, reserved seating, quiet spaces, green room access and safe arrival/departure planning.
  
• Documentation, reporting and post-event debrief costs: time and resources to record what was agreed, what occurred, what issues arose, what was learned and how the relationship carries forward.
  

Where not to cut costs

First Nations engagement is often weakened when organisers preserve the visible parts of the program while cutting the process that makes those moments culturally safe and meaningful.

• Welcome to Country and cultural ceremony fees. These services carry cultural authority, time, responsibility and expertise.
  
• Cultural consultant or advisor engagement. Removing cultural advisory support may increase risk across heritage, ICIP, community relationships, public representation and on-site cultural safety.
  
• Consent, agreements and legal review. Informal approval is not enough where cultural material, commissioned work, recordings, language, imagery or future use are involved.
  
• First Nations artist and contributor fees. First Nations artists and workers should not be paid less because their involvement is framed as “community”, “opportunity”, “exposure” or “cultural contribution”.
  
• Cultural safety and staff briefing. If staff, security, contractors and volunteers are not briefed, cultural risk moves from planning into live operations.
  
• Logistical support for Elders and cultural knowledge holders. Travel, parking, timing, green room access, accessibility, clear briefing and on-site support are not extras; they are part of respectful engagement.
  

Engagement and consent planning should begin before key festival decisions are finalised. The purpose of engagement is to understand the Country, community context, cultural authority, risks and responsibilities connected to the event. Engagement should be a staged process, not a single email or phone call.

Cultural protocols should be planned, confirmed, paid for and delivered with the same care as any other core event requirement.

Welcome to Country, Acknowledgement of Country and Smoking Ceremony are specific cultural practices connected to Country, community and authority — not generic opening gestures, and not interchangeable with each other. Their purpose, format and appropriateness may differ depending on the event location, community guidance, cultural setting, site, audience and type of festival.

Seek guidance early rather than assuming which protocols apply, who should deliver them, or how they should be presented.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) covers the cultural knowledge, expression, heritage, stories, language, designs, symbols, performances, songs, images, practices and knowledge systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Cultural material may carry obligations to Country, family, community, Elders, ancestors and future generations, with restrictions on who can share it, where it can be shown, and whether it can be adapted or commercialised.

Festival organisers must consider Aboriginal cultural heritage before site plans, infrastructure layouts and land-use decisions are finalised.

Aboriginal objects and Aboriginal places are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW), regardless of whether the organiser knows the object or place is present.

Conduct an AHIMS search before site works

Organisers should conduct an Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System (AHIMS) search through Environment and Heritage NSW before any site works or infrastructure planning.

An AHIMS search should be completed before decisions are finalised about:

• staging, fencing, scaffold or temporary structures
• tent pegs, ground anchors, trenching or excavation
• vehicle access routes, heavy machinery or temporary roadways
• camping, toilets, waste, water or back-of-house infrastructure
• patron access routes or restricted zones
• sponsor activations, markets, installations or public art
• any activity that may disturb the ground or wayfinding

Checking AHIMS is a key step in the NSW due diligence process, but it's only one part of determining whether an Aboriginal object may be harmed and whether further investigation or an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit is required.

Understand AHIMS Limits

AHIMS search identifies only information recorded in the system. An absence of records does not confirm an absence of heritage significance. Some culturally significant places remain unregistered or known only within community knowledge.

Supplement AHIMS findings with advice from the relevant LALC, Traditional Custodians, Native Title holders or heritage specialists, particularly for undeveloped land, regional or coastal sites, bushland or showgrounds.

When an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit may be required

An AHIP may be required where proposed works could harm Aboriginal objects or places; it must be applied for and granted before the work takes place, and should never be treated as a routine step or shortcut around community concern. Risk may be triggered by:

• ground disturbance where objects are known or likely present
• infrastructure that may harm objects or places
• trenching, digging, grading or excavation
• vehicle movement or compaction over sensitive areas
• patron access through areas of potential significance
• works near waterways, scar trees, middens or artefact scatters

Unexpected finds and stop-work procedures

Festivals should have a clear procedure for what happens if a potential Aboriginal object, cultural material, burial site or human remains are identified during bump-in, operations or bump-out:

• stop work immediately within the exclusion zone
• secure the area from further disturbance
• notify the site manager and the relevant LALC or heritage specialist
• seek advice from Environment and Heritage NSW where required
• do not move, collect, photograph or interfere with the item
• document the incident and update the risk register before work resumes

For human remains or suspected human remains, treat the matter as highly sensitive and follow emergency, police, heritage and cultural protocols as advised by the relevant authorities.

Festival organisers should plan how First Nations engagement is represented publicly, how cultural content is documented and shared, and how to respond respectfully when a community does not wish to participate.

This is often where good intentions fail in practice: a festival may book First Nations artists, pay for a Welcome to Country and complete site checks, but still cause harm through poor public language, unauthorised content use, or overstating community support.

Communications and public representation

Festival organisers should plan how First Nations people, cultures, Country, artists, communities and cultural materials will be represented in public communications including media collateral, event signage, maps and wayfinding, MC scripts and stage announcements, plus internal documents such as post-event reports and grant and acquittal language.

Representation should be accurate, specific and agreed with the relevant people — avoid generic language, inflated claims, or statements that make the engagement sound deeper than it is.

For example, do not describe a program as “community-led” unless community representatives had genuine decision-making power. Do not describe a project as “co-designed” unless First Nations people were involved in shaping the concept, process and outcomes. Do not imply endorsement by a Nation, LALC, Elder, artist or organisation unless that endorsement has been clearly given.

Organisers should also be careful not to represent First Nations culture as only historical, symbolic or ceremonial. First Nations people and communities are contemporary, diverse and politically present.

There is no single “Aboriginal culture”; each First Nations group has its own traditions, languages and cultural practices, and First Nations identity is not defined by appearance or stereotype.

The following are legislative or regulatory requirements. Non-compliance may carry legal, financial, safety, reputational and cultural risk for festival organisers.

🔴 Heritage Protection Declarations: Comply with Commonwealth protection declarations issued under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth). A declaration may prevent, limit or place conditions on activity threatening a significant Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander area or object, and must be treated as binding, not a matter for negotiation during production.

🔴 AHIMS Search Before Site Works: Complete an AHIMS search before executing ground-disturbing works. If a search or assessment identifies potential Aboriginal cultural heritage issues, organisers must seek specialist advice before proceeding. Where harm to Aboriginal objects or places cannot be avoided, additional approvals may be required.

See: 4.4 Site Assessment and Heritage and Heritage NSW — AHIMS.For broader site and heritage planning, see Venue & Site Design and the relevant Environment and Heritage NSW guidance.

🔴 WHS Duty & Cultural Safety Obligations: Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), event organisers must manage psychosocial hazards, including cultural safety risks, racism and harassment, for First Nations workers, artists and patrons. This should be built into the same planning systems used to manage other event safety risks, not treated as an informal "people and culture" issue.

The following represent standards that government agencies, funders, insurers and the broader events sector expect responsible organisers to meet.

They demonstrate that an organiser has taken reasonable steps to understand the cultural, legal and operational context of their event, and help reduce cultural harm, community conflict, reputational damage and legal exposure.

🟡 Engage LALCs, Traditional Custodians and Native Title holders early, rather than waiting until decisions are locked.

🟡 Prioritise the right people and recognised cultural authority, not the most convenient or first-to-respond contact (see Collaborate NSW — Cultural Concepts).

See: Collaborate NSW — Cultural Concepts

🟡 Document all agreements in writing; verbal conversations build trust but don't manage cultural, legal or financial risk.

🟡 Remunerate cultural advice as professional expertise, including community liaison, consultancy and cultural safety work.

🟡 Apply Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to all cultural material and knowledge.

For the full FPIC framework and application guidance, See Section 4.1— Engagement and Consent Planning: Apply Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

🟡 Build review points into the process before public release or live delivery, not just at initial approval.

The following distinguish leading festival operators, going beyond minimum compliance to build stronger relationships, reduce cultural harm, and support First Nations creative economies.

Industry leadership and best practice is measured by the quality of relationships and fairness of resourcing, not the number of First Nations references in a program.

🟢 Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP): Formalise your organisation's commitment to First Nations engagement through a RAP framework. Move from one-off decisions to a structured approach across governance, procurement, employment and programming — it supports better practice, but is not a replacement for local engagement

See: Reconciliation Australia — RAP Framework

🟢 Creative Australia First Nations ICIP Protocols: Key reference point for working with ICIP in arts and events contexts. The key principle: cultural material is not just content. It may carry cultural, spiritual, historical, community and family responsibilities that continue beyond the event itself.

See: Creative Australia — First Nations ICIP Protocols

🟢 Arts Law Centre ICIP information and agreement templates: Use Arts Law Centre resources, including Artists in the Black, to support appropriate agreements when engaging First Nations artists, creatives, cultural knowledge holders and communities.

See: Arts Law Centre — ICIP information sheet

🟢 ISO 20121:2024 — Event Sustainability Management: For First Nations engagement, the most relevant principle is that sustainability is not only environmental. A sustainable event also considers its relationship to place, host communities, cultural heritage, local economies, workers, audiences and long-term social impact.

A festival that claims sustainability while ignoring Aboriginal land, heritage, cultural authority or local First Nations communities is working with an incomplete definition of sustainability.

See: ISO 20121:2024

Clear role definition is essential for meaningful First Nations engagement. Please note, actual roles may vary with event scale, local community structures and engagement model.

RACI Key: R = Responsible (does the work) · A = Accountable (owns the outcome) · C = Consulted (input required) · I = Informed (notified of outcome)

First Nations engagement extends beyond artist programming into procurement and contractor selection — engaging First Nations-owned suppliers, hiring First Nations crew and creatives, creating paid entry-level roles, and building mentorship opportunities.

One of the best things allies can do is hire First Nations people regularly, not only for projects about First Nations themes.

Contractor Selection criteria

Organisers should ask whether suppliers and contractors have the cultural capability, respect, systems and working practices required for the event context.

Selection criteria should be applied where a supplier or contractor will:

• demonstrated experience working respectfully with First Nations artists, communities or cultural material — or a willingness to be briefed and follow protocols where they do not
• First Nations ownership, leadership or employment, particularly in creative production, design, catering, security and artist services
• cultural safety systems for preventing and responding to racism, harassment and unsafe behaviour
• willingness to attend cultural safety briefings and ensure subcontractors and casual staff understand obligations
• ability to follow written instructions, keep records and escalate concerns through the agreed pathway
• willingness to follow event-specific restrictions on photography, filming, livestreaming and cultural material
• understanding that First Nations cultural material cannot be reproduced, adapted or commercialised outside the agreed scope

Suggested procurement questions:

• Have you worked with First Nations artists, communities, Elders, cultural knowledge holders or organisations before?
• Do you have First Nations staff, contractors, advisors or partners involved in this work?
• Are you a First Nations-owned or First Nations-led business?
• How do you brief your staff on cultural safety and respectful conduct?
• How do you manage racism, harassment or cultural safety incidents?
• How do you manage permissions, consent, image use, recordings and cultural material?
• Are you willing to follow event-specific restrictions on photography, filming, livestreaming, social media and cultural content?
• Can you attend a cultural safety briefing before the event?
• How will you ensure subcontractors or casual staff also understand these requirements?

These are minimum benchmarks and should be extended for events that are large, regional, multi-day, site-sensitive, culturally significant, or involve substantial First Nations programming, ceremony, heritage considerations, livestreaming or media activity.

A late start forces community representatives to react to locked decisions rather than shape them, placing pressure on First Nations artists, Elders and organisations to resolve problems created by poor planning. This is not appropriate and should not be normalised.

Cultural safety:

Key roles are omitted or issues are pushed onto First Nations staff informally; security and volunteers operate without briefings or escalation pathways, leaving artists, Elders, and community members unsupported. Cultural safety cannot be improvised during a crisis.

Consent and ICIP Compliance:

Seeking consent after marketing or ticket sales are finalised removes the genuine right to say no, creating legal exposure; agreements fail to properly address ICIP boundaries and attribution. Late planning leads to unapproved use of imagery, language or design, as well as missing permissions for sponsor activations, livestreaming, recording, and multi-year asset reuse.

Heritage and site planning:

Infrastructure is finalised before AHIMS checks occur: risking damage to Aboriginal objects; late risks force emergency redesigns, exclusion zones and permit delays, leading to potential major extra costs.

Cultural protocols may not be possible

Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and other cultural protocols require time, respect and coordination.

Last-minute requests may not be possible to fulfil. Elders, Traditional Custodians and cultural practitioners have existing commitments, community responsibilities and their own processes for considering requests.

A cultural protocol should never be squeezed into the program because someone realised the event “needs something First Nations” close to opening day.

Relationships are weakened

Late engagement tells the First Nations community the festival's timeline matters more than the relationship, weakening trust and making future engagement harder. It can also put First Nations organisations in a difficult position — declining looks obstructive, while agreeing means carrying risk for a process they did not shape. Relationship-led engagement needs time for conversation, listening and follow-up.

Costs increase

Late engagement typically increases cost through urgent fees, rushed agreements, changed site layouts, redesigned materials, reprinting, contractor and staffing variations and reputational repair.

Budgeting for engagement early is more efficient, safer and more respectful than trying to fix cultural issues once the festival is already in motion.

After each event, review First Nations engagement against planning commitments, with feedback from First Nations artists, Elders, knowledge holders, consultants and liaison staff, not just internal reporting.

The purpose is not to prove the event "did well" — it's to understand what was promised, what was delivered, what caused harm, and what should change. Where community representatives provide feedback, treat this as professional time and remunerate where appropriate.

The process must occur within a reasonable period after the event, and may include internal review across teams, a separate debrief with the cultural consultant or liaison, a paid debrief with First Nations artists or community representatives, and review of incident reports, consent records and ICIP agreements.

First Nations engagement should not be reduced to simple metrics — counting artists booked or protocols delivered shows activity, not quality or integrity. Assess success through qualitative reflection and feedback from First Nations participants, across:

• Two-way engagement: did First Nations people have genuine influence over decisions, not just approval of a finished plan?
  
• Commitments honoured: were agreed fees, royalties, access and support delivered in full and on time? Commitments should be assessed against what was promised, not only what was convenient to deliver.
  
• Cultural safety: were First Nations artists, workers and audiences supported before, during and after the event? Were cultural concerns, racism, harassment or protocol breaches responded to appropriately?
  
• Consent and ICIP respected: was cultural material used only within agreed scope, with attribution and approval for any recording or reuse?
  
• Public representation: were Nation names, acknowledgements and public statements accurate and agreed, without overstating partnership or endorsement?
  
• Relationship and legacy: Did the event strengthen relationships with First Nations people, artists, suppliers, organisations or community representatives? Did it create value beyond the visible program, such as paid opportunities, future pathways, community access, procurement, mentorship or a clearer basis for future engagement?
  

Where the answer to any of these areas is unclear, organisers should treat that as an area for improvement rather than a neutral result.

Good record keeping is evidence that appropriate steps were taken, supports continuity between event years, and means future staff are not restarting relationships from scratch. Store records as part of the event file, respecting confidentiality and cultural restrictions.

Retain:

• Cultural permissions and consent documentation: For the duration of the agreement plus a reasonable period after, especially where material may be reused, archived, licensed or referenced in future campaigns.
  
• Records of community engagement: A meeting, email or conversation is not an endorsement unless explicitly given.
  
• Cultural incidents, complaints and concerns: These feed into post-event review and continuous improvement process - not just treated as reputational issues or communications problems.
  
• AHIMS and AHIP documentation and site heritage records: Available to site managers, production managers, operations leads and relevant contractors. Handle carefully as some heritage information is sensitive.
  
• Payment, procurement and delivery records, showing financial and delivery commitments to First Nations people, organisations and suppliers were honoured.
  
• Final approved public communications involving First Nations content, plus any approval records from First Nations reviewers.

Not all records should be accessible to all staff or partners; follow the confidentiality conditions agreed with the relevant person or community.

Cultural capability is an evolving organisational skill. First Nations engagement should not reset to zero each year — carry learnings, relationships and agreements from one event cycle into the next, built into annual planning rather than an informal post-event chat.

See: Section 8.1 Post-Event Evaluation.

This means:

Turning feedback into actions with an owner, deadline and place in the next event plan

Maintaining relationship continuity between events rather than only approaching community when a new request arises

Building internal capability so knowledge does not sit with one staff member but becomes part of the organisation's operating model, not something outsourced entirely to external advisors.

Engagement should leave something beyond audience experience and reputation, such as ongoing paid relationships, multi-year programming, community access, procurement, mentoring, trainee pathways or commissions. First Nations programming should not be scaled before the underlying engagement process is strong.

All staff, contractors, security, volunteers and relevant suppliers should receive a cultural safety briefing before the event commences.

Generic cultural awareness training is useful, but it is not enough on its own. Event teams need practical, site-specific information that helps them act appropriately during planning, bump-in, live operations and bump-out.

Cultural safety briefing should be included in the event’s broader training and induction process. It should not be treated as optional or relevant only to programming staff.

Any persons working on site may encounter situations where cultural safety, consent or protocol obligations apply.

Minimum briefing content should cover:

• the Country the event is held on and relevant local cultural context
• First Nations artists, Elders or organisations involved, and the purpose of any protocol
• who is authorised to deliver each protocol, and when/where it occurs
• access, timing and support needs for Elders and artists
• the on-site cultural contact, and who to contact for concerns, incidents or racist behaviour
• restrictions on photography, filming, livestreaming and recording
• mourning protocols, site heritage considerations and stop-work procedures

Role-specific briefing

Different teams require different levels of briefing:

Security and crowd management teams should understand cultural safety obligations, cultural protocols occurring on site, who to contact if a concern arises, and how to respond to racism, harassment or culturally unsafe behaviour without escalating harm.

Stage managers and production teams should understand Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony, Acknowledgement of Country, timing, technical needs, access requirements, microphone and staging requirements, and whether any cultural moment can be photographed, filmed or livestreamed.

Artist liaison and hospitality teams should understand how to support First Nations artists, Elders, cultural knowledge holders and community representatives with travel, access, green room support, timing, payment follow-up, media requests and culturally safe backstage environments.

Marketing, media and content teams should understand consent conditions, ICIP restrictions, approved language, correct attribution, Nation names, cultural warnings, mourning protocols, and whether content requires review before publication.

Site, infrastructure and contractor teams should understand any heritage restrictions, exclusion zones, stop-work procedures, AHIMS-related site controls, and who to contact if a potential Aboriginal object or site concern arises.

Volunteers and front-of-house teams should understand basic cultural protocols, respectful conduct, event-specific acknowledgements, who to contact for cultural concerns, and how to support patrons without speaking beyond their knowledge or role.

Cultural competency training

For larger or recurring festivals with significant First Nations content, consider deeper cultural competency training for leadership and department heads, covering colonisation, cultural authority, ICIP, consent and identity. Training does not replace local engagement — a trained team still needs to speak with the right people.

Responsibility for training

The Event Organiser is responsible for ensuring briefing and training occurs. A consultant or liaison may advise or deliver parts of it, but accountability stays with the organiser. As mentioned, this responsibility should never sit informally with a First Nations staff member or artist unless it is a paid, authorised part of their role.

Cultural incidents and protocol requirements need clear, pre-planned communication pathways.

Festival environments move quickly, and without a clear pathway, cultural issues can be missed, mishandled, or resolved by people without the authority to make the right decision.

Protocols should be established before the event and included in staff briefings, run sheets and incident management processes, and all communications documented.

These should include:

• Identify a single point of contact for cultural matters on site with a clear role description, direct access to the Event Organiser, and support from operations and security teams.
  See further: 9.2.1 Escalation Pathway and Cultural Point of Contact and 6.1 Role Clarity Matrix
  
• Establish a clear escalation pathway before the event: Use outlined structure accordingly to identify key escalation steps.
  See: 9.2.1 Escalation Pathway and Cultural Point of Contact
  
• Communicate cultural protocols across teams. Cultural protocols must be communicated to every team that needs to support them, i.e., Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony logistics should be coordinated with production, stage management, fire safety, security, artist liaison, site operations and front-of-house teams.
  
• Public statements about cultural incidents, i.e., media statements, social media, sponsor communications, you must consult the relevant First Nations person or organisation involved prior. Avoid disclosing sensitive information without consent, and avoid shifting responsibility onto First Nations people or minimising harm before establishing what occurred. Handle corrections and apologies promptly and respectfully.

These examples show what meaningful First Nations engagement can look like in practice — as opposed to templates to copy directly, since each festival, site and community context is different. They illustrate principles in action: early engagement, proper resourcing, First Nations creative leadership, and outcomes that extend beyond a single symbolic moment. Before publication, confirm permission to name any festival, artist, Elder or partner referenced.

Most problems in First Nations engagement are avoidable. They usually happen when organisers start too late, make assumptions about cultural authority, treat cultural labour as symbolic, or use First Nations culture as content without the right relationships, consent and support.

The following mistakes are common across festival and event contexts.

• Treating a Welcome to Country as the whole engagement, rather than one part of a full-lifecycle process
  
• Starting to engage the First Nations community too late: community is asked to approve decisions as opposed to shaping them, compromising consent, planning, genuine relationship building and increasing costs.
  
• Engaging the wrong representative: assuming the most available or convenient contact holds authority for every cultural matter i.e., asking a single First Nations artist or staff member to speak for a whole community instead of seeking advice or forcing a decision out of convenience
  
• Not paying for cultural services: if the organiser is using the advice to reduce risk, improve the event, access cultural knowledge or shape public representation, it should be budgeted as professional work. Professional time and expertise for free is inappropriate.
  
• Assuming verbal consent is sufficient for ICIP use, recordings or commercial use, instead of documenting agreements in writing
  
• Misusing ICIP or treating cultural material as ordinary content, including reusing material from a previous event without renewed consent. Cultural material may carry responsibilities to Country, family, community, Elders, ancestors and future generations, and may have rules about who can share it, how it can be used, whether it can be recorded, and whether it can be adapted or commercialised.
  
• Using names, images or recordings of deceased persons without permission, and treating a disclaimer as a substitute for it - this can constitute a serious cultural breach.
  
• Overstating the relationship publicly with terms like "community-led" or "co-designed" that do not accurately describe the process. A meeting is not co-design. A paid artist booking is not a community partnership. A Welcome to Country is not a whole engagement strategy. A consultation email is not an endorsement. Overstating the relationship can damage trust and create reputational risk for both the organiser and the First Nations people involved.
  
• Treating First Nations people as interchangeable, including booking an artist from elsewhere and assuming that covers local engagement. First Nations peoples are not one single cultural group. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples belong to distinct Nations and communities with different languages, histories, cultural practices, governance structures and relationships to Country.
  
• Leaving cultural safety to First Nations staff or artists informally, rather than as a resourced organisational responsibility. A common mistake is assuming that the presence of a First Nations person on staff means the organisation has cultural safety covered. It does not. Cultural safety is an organisational responsibility.
  
• Failing to brief security, media and contractors, so cultural obligations do not reach the people working on the ground. Common mistakes include security not knowing who to contact during a cultural concern, photographers filming ceremonies without permission, social media teams posting restricted cultural content, contractors entering culturally sensitive areas, stage managers rushing a Welcome to Country, or sponsor teams using cultural imagery beyond the agreed scope.
  
• Ignoring site and heritage responsibilities by assuming prior event use means no cultural heritage risk exists. Festival organisers should not assume that a site has no Aboriginal cultural heritage significance because it has been used for events before, appears developed, or has no visible heritage markers.
  
• No post-event follow up and debrief. First Nations engagement does not end when the event closes. A common mistake is to contact First Nations people only when something is needed, then disappear after delivery. This weakens trust and makes future engagement harder.