While NAIDOC Week may be ending, it doesn't mean the celebration of Indigenous achievement is over.
Indigenous Australian rapper Adam Briggs, who performs as Briggs, said he is hoping the culture of First Nations people in Australia can be celebrated all year round.
"There's also 51 other weeks of the year you can engage/partner with Blackfullas," he said in a statement on Twitter.
With talented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander actors, singers, dancers, and entertainers on stage, on screen, and on the radio all year round, these are just some who have enthusiastically seized on this year's NAIDOC theme to "Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up!".
Rarriwuy Hick
Rärriwuy Hick is no stranger to our TV screens but made her leading role debut during NAIDOC week in the four-part drama series True Colours.
After physically, mentally and emotionally preparing for the role which would see her speak Arrernte, the Aboriginal language native to Alice Springs, for the first time in the series, she said shooting the show on country and connecting with the local community was a very special experience.
"[It's] something that will stay with me forever," she said.
"We talk about the importance of art, we talk about the importance of story, language, the landscape - there's new talent you've never seen on screen before.
"It's definitely something that Australia has not seen before... You've got a female black detective who goes back to her community and is living between these two worlds as a detective and as a cultural woman," she shared on NITV's NAIDOC Week breakfast show Big Mob Brekky.
AYA J
AYA J is an indie electro-pop duo that came onto the music scene during COVID-19. The band is made up of Gumbaynggirr man Angus Field and American drummer Sam Miller.
Field writes the songs and is always inspired when he is out in nature and back home on Gumbaynggirr country in Coffs Harbour, where he feels most grounded.
"It's all these ideas popping in my head I guess because I'm safe and I feel at home and I'm around my family and my friends."
Triple J's been playing AYA J’s recent singles 'I Want You' and 'To You' - with both songs earning spots on curated Spotify and Apple Music playlists.
The duo performed on NITV's Big Mob Brekky among other breakfast shows during NAIDOC Week. AYA J is one to watch and listen out for in 2022.
Brooke Blurton
She made headlines as the first bisexual and First Nations Bachelorette, but since then she has been keeping busy most recently writing her memoir 'Big Love', recording a podcast with fellow Aboriginal Australian Matty Mills 'Not So PG', and becoming the cover woman of the latest edition of Women's Health magazine.
"It is a huge milestone in being the first First Nations woman in 10 years... I'm really proud of the cover. I feel like it was more about being mentally, physically and emotionally strong - rather than just being like fit," she said.
As a proud young Noongar-Yamatji woman, Brooke's connection to her culture and country is deep.
After surviving an extremely challenging childhood, and overcoming intergenerational trauma, abuse and homelessness, she didn't just survive but continues to thrive.
Kobie Dee
Twenty-four-year-old Gomeroi artist from Maroubra in South Sydney. Kobie Dee is one of the new voices in Australian hip hop.
In touch with his culture both personally and professionally, Kobie is deeply engaged in his community through performance and community work and recently took his music back home to country, inspiring younger generations.
"I guess [going] back to where my ancestors have been for thousands of years... and I definitely felt that presence of being back on country lore, so going back there and doing what I love and sharing that with mob was just massive."
During NAIDOC Week, Dee shared on Big Mob Brekky that the reason he is able to share a vulnerable part of his life and be open and honest in his songs is because music is what helped him get through the rough patches in his life.
"For me, it's really about writing my experience to help someone that has gone through the same kind of experience."
Loren Ryan
It has been her biggest year yet and Gomeroi woman Loren Ryan is not slowing down anytime soon.
She wrote a special song inspired by biscuits that were made from staple ingredients, which were called 'hard times', after being handed her share. Called Stand Up, it just so happened to fit the NAIDOC theme this year.
Having shared the stage with Jessica Mauboy and Kelly Rowland, Ms Ryan was an R&B artist before turning to country music and staying true to her Tamworth roots.
Ms Ryan spent NAIDOC Week in Tamworth prioritising time with her daughter - and also singing in schools on country.
"You know, no matter what nation you're from we're a people of togetherness."
