Fablice Manirakiza – Kirk Robson Award

Fablice Manirakiza is a young leader from Burundi who has made an incredible impact on the local Burundian community in Victoria, the broader Australian arts sector, and his home country. Fablice has already traversed a remarkable journey, beginning with his escape from the military as a child soldier in war-torn Burundi, surviving refugee camps in Tanzania (Lukole), to his arrival in Australia in 2007.

Since arriving in Australia, Fablice has established himself as an artist of influence in Melbourne’s cultural landscape, working as a community cultural development worker to create connections between CALD youth and communities across Victoria. He has drawn heavily from his hip hop/rap practice to create interactive workshops for young people from marginalised communities focusing on song composition, beat making, music video production and performance skills.

In 2014, Fablice commenced working at Multicultural Arts Victoria as a Youth Arts and Cultural Development Officer and subsequently founded MAV’s Youth Steering Committee to assist and motivate multicultural leaders to address youth issues, liaising with State politicians to advocate for migrant and refugee communities.

With school students and community leaders alike, Fablice uses art to deliver messages of resilience and hope, particularly at a time when young CALD people are experiencing unprecedented levels of discrimination as race politics ascends in the media and in our public discourse. His aim is to demonstrate the capabilities of young people to contribute to community strengthening through creative pursuits.