2025 celebrates CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association)‘s 45th anniversary and their role as an advocate for cultural exchange, inclusion, and empowerment of Aboriginal people. This year too is Deadline 2025, with the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) saying tape that is not digitised now will in most cases be lost forever.

Last year, when Radioinfo caught up with CAAMA CEO Sonya De Masi, she spoke to the need to archive their thousands of hours of in-language audio, film, video, and audio, recorded in now-obsolete analogue formats, so that these irreplaceable cultural records are preserved for future generations. There is a dollar-match grant from Creative Australia toward the fundraising efforts until the end of May.

AIATSIS is assisting with some of the most at risk and important assets with CAAMA’s priorities to:

• Digitise, catalogue, and manage this critical collection before the materials are lost forever.
• Preserve and make accessible decades of television, radio, and sound heritage.
• Strengthen community broadcasting networks.
• Develop innovative storytelling platforms that reflect the voices of First Nations people.

Sonya said:

“Last year we embraced digital transformation to meet the changing information needs of remote communities, and especially young people. Our digital channels have achieved more than 8 million views since then, a significant feat for a small central Australian organisation.”

A new website and digital showcase was create to highlight the work they are doing: www.caama.com.au.

Now, they are using this site to help fundraise for The CAAMA Collection—a national treasure that documents Central Australian languages and cultures from an Aboriginal perspective. It is the largest and most important archive of First Nations stories, music, cultural knowledge, community events, and family histories from across Central Australia. The CAAMA team believe this collection has the potential for transformative impact in empowering the next generation while also providing the tools and platforms for them to tell their stories.

May 30 is the final day of the dollar-match Creative Australia grant with donations to The CAAMA Collection doubled to a threshold of $50,000.  Secure, tax-deductible online donations can be made via the donation page, via the website or contacting CAAMA directly via email: [email protected] or phone (08) 8951 9700.

The CAAMA audio-visual archive is regularly accessed by filmmakers, television and documentary producers, arts organisations, academics, the general public as well as the families whose stories are held by them.