From Best in Class to Bold New Chapter
Parrtjima – A Festival in Light, has been awarded Gold at the 2025 Australian Good Design Awards and honoured with Best in Class, the highest accolade in the Built Environment: Installation Design category.
This recognition confirms what we’ve been building towards: original, story-led immersive IP designed for global audiences.
Parrtjima is the world’s first Aboriginal light festival. Set against the ancient MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia, it transforms the work of First Nations artists into large-scale installations where light, sound, and story breathe on sacred ground.
Working as Creative Directors alongside curator Rhoda Roberts AO and We Are Gather, Grumpy designed six major installations through deep consultation with the Parrtjima Festival Reference Group and Arrernte communities. We’re immensely proud that Parrtjima created a platform at scale for over 120 First Nations artists and performers. Their stories seen, felt, and celebrated.
“A stunning installation that amplifies Indigenous voices in a unique and contemporary manner… This project truly sets a new benchmark.”
— Australian Good Design Awards Jury
The Impact
- Over 20,000 attendees, the second-highest turnout in the festival’s ten-year history
- 120+ First Nations artists and performers featured
- A masterplan that encouraged curiosity, participation and awe
- 6x Large original installations translating ancient narratives into contemporary spatial experiences
Building the Next Wave
Grumpy Studios is now focused on creating original, large-scale immersive experiences that tour, scale, and move people, works designed for cultural and commercial reach across international venues, cultural precincts, and touring circuits.
We’re developing major original works, each backed by financial models, strategic partnerships, and deep cultural collaboration. Some are designed to travel. Each is built to last.
Our slate includes both Indigenous-led cultural projects in deep partnership with First Nations communities, and cross-cultural family entertainment immersives designed for global audiences.
Think: expansive installations, immersive narratives, and experiential concepts that shift culture and create new revenue models for story-driven work.
For investors, commissioners, and venue operators positioned to back world-class immersive IP, we’re ready to share more.
Email us at partnerships@grumpystudios.com to request our IP slate.
“This award doesn’t just recognise what we’ve made — it validates what we’re building next. The future of immersive storytelling is global, emotionally resonant, and rooted in place. We’re leading that future from here, taking Australian stories and storytellers to the world through original IP at scale.”
— James Boyce, CEO & Founder, Grumpy Studios
We remain open to strategic co-development with partners who share our ambition and have the resources to build at this level, but only where it advances our vision of creating the kind of globally scalable IP that travels both culturally and commercially.
Gratitude
A huge thank you to Rhoda Roberts AO, the Parrtjima Festival Reference Group, Northern Territory Major Events Company, Tourism and Events NT, We Are Gather, the custodians of Desert Park, and the 120+ First Nations artists and performers who brought these stories to life. To Lyall Giles, Molly Hunt, Mark Coles Smith, Bobby West Tjupurrula, Janet Turner, and the artists from Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands), Bindi Art, Keringke, and Tangentyere Arts, your stories illuminated Country and moved thousands.
We’re immensely proud to have created a platform at scale where your voices could breathe, be seen, and celebrated.
The 2025 Australian Good Design Awards Ceremony took place on Friday 17 October at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney. See the full list of winners at good-design.org
Learn more about our projects in development
