Melbourne's first ever Indigenous led arts festival lands this week and it is unlike anything else on the spring calendar

There's a festival on right now in Melbourne that hasn't existed before, and it's already one of the more genuinely special things happening in the city this spring.

Kindred People is a brand new Indigenous led arts and culture festival, running from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 September across Monash University's Melbourne campuses on Kulin Country. It's on now, with two days left to catch it before it wraps on Saturday.

Curated by Gunditjmara man Tom Molyneux, Monash's Head of First Nations Programming and Engagement, the festival brings together Indigenous artists, Elders and Knowledge Holders from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand for a program of ceremony, performance, talks and knowledge sharing. It's supported by an Indigenous Steering Committee and presented on the unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung.

The festival's theme, Awaken Murrup, translates to awaken the spirit within. Its tagline, kummargi yulendj gadhaba, means knowledge rising up together, and that idea runs through everything from the programming to the branding.

That visual identity was created by Gumbaynggirr artist and activist Aretha Brown, whose design work has also reached audiences through her collaboration with Irish hip hop trio Kneecap. Her artwork for Kindred People weaves together symbols like the eel and eel trap, mangrove roots, a speared kangaroo and a magpie, alongside modern icons like a turntable and trumpet, connecting old knowledge to protest, music and change.

Guiding the festival's cultural direction is Professor N'arwee't Carolyn Briggs AM, Senior Boon Wurrung Elder and Founder of the Boon Wurrung Foundation, who worked closely with Brown to make sure the festival's identity reflects the living spirit of Country.

It joins a small but significant list of major Indigenous led festivals on the Australian calendar, alongside YIRRAMBOI in Melbourne, Garma in the Northern Territory and Parrtjima in Alice Springs, and it's the first of its kind for Monash.

If you can get to Clayton or one of Monash's other Melbourne campuses before Saturday, Kindred People is a chance to sit with stories, ceremony and creative practice that genuinely hasn't been staged in this form before.

Register your interest at kindredpeople.monash.edu and go while it's still on.