THE LAST SHOT by TROY RUSSELL - POSTPONED

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the postponement of the upcoming season of The Last Shot by Troy Russell at Sydney Festival. Considering the significant impacts of COVID-19 on our teams, the risks of travel on our regional artists, and our responsibility to create safe gatherings for our communities, Moogahlin Performing Arts and Blacktown Arts have agreed that it is not the right time to bring people together for this work. 

The health and safety of our artists, staff, and community come first, always. If you have purchased a ticket to this show, either Blacktown Arts or Sydney Festival will be in touch shortly to organise a refund. 

We will announce a new set of dates once it is safe and reasonable to do so. We do hope you will join us then. 

We apologise for any inconvenience, and thank you for your support and patience. 

We would also like to address the current call to boycott Sydney Festival. The violent colonisation of Palestine is ongoing, and Israel has been fabricated on stolen land. In 2021 in particular the globe witnessed the violent and cruel decimation of a sovereign people at the hands of the Israeli state. In late December, Moogahlin directly urged Sydney Festival to dissolve their partnership with the Israeli Embassy in presenting Sydney Dance Company's production of Decadence.  

However in consultation with our Artists we chose to maintain our sovereign rights and responsibilities as First Peoples of this continent to practice our culture of storytelling, and not withdraw The Last Shot from the Festival program. To connect the postponement of the show now to the boycott would be disingenuous, and disrespectful to both the hard work of those involved in the BDS movement and the wishes of our Artists to tell a personal story of resistance against a colonial power.

We support those Artists who have chosen to remove their work from the Festival. We support those Artists who have chosen to remain but continue to make their dissent known. Where it is possible and safe to do so we encourage audiences to attend the work of the withdrawn artists. A full list of these works and a link to sign the petition of support can be found here. 

Most importantly, we are in solidarity with the people of Palestine.