Blak State is a new, culturally led program created by First Nations artists and for First Nations artists. Grounded in self-determination and guided by cultural authority, Blak State carves out a creative space where Blak storytellers can dream boldly, make fearlessly, and shape work on their own terms.

Currently co-led by Kaurna and Narungga artist Jacob Boehme supported by Artistic Director Petra Kalive, Blak State centres First Nations voices, processes, and worldviews. It nurtures new performance, empowers community-driven practice, and invests in ways of working that honour more than 60,000 years of storytelling, ceremony, and cultural expression.

This is not consultation. Not advisory input.
This is First Nations leadership — artistic, cultural, and structural.

Blak State will develop new theatrical languages born of deep listening, connection to Country, and culturally held creative intuition. It will champion methods that move beyond Western conventions, embracing forms where ceremony, craft, dance, song, language, community, and healing are integral to performance.

What Blak State Will Do

• Create dedicated spaces for Blak artists to devise new work
• Support ceremonial dramaturgy, theatre camps on Country, and culturally held creative processes
• Commission new projects and invest in rigorous, long-term development pathways
• Build sustainable, community-led structures that uplift First Nations artists at every stage
• Foster exchange — locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally
• Listen deeply to First Nations artists and communities to shape the program’s direction

How We Begin

In 2026, with support from CreateSA, the Blak State team will begin a statewide consultation process — travelling regionally, meeting communities, and gathering with artists in Adelaide. This work will define the program, its priorities, and its future shape.

Blak State will grow from the visions and leadership of First Nations artists. Our role, as the state’s theatre company, is to create the space, secure the resources, and support the leadership needed to let this work flourish.

Bold. Ambitious. Absolutely Necessary.

Blak State imagines a thriving, culturally grounded, self-determined First Nations theatre ecology in South Australia. The work that emerges from this initiative will be groundbreaking — artistically, structurally, and culturally.

This is Blak State.
A home for stories led by those who hold them.

For more information, please contact: blakstate@statetheatrecompany.com.au