Lamine Sonko wins Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence

Senegalese-Australian artist and founder of 13.12 recognised for creating new pathways for cultural knowledge and connection.

Senegalese-Australian artist, cultural leader and founder of 13.12, Lamine Sonko, has been recognised with the Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture, celebrating his contribution to Victoria’s cultural life and his leadership in using art to connect people, cultures, and different ways of knowing and being.

A descendant of the guewel tradition of Senegal, a cultural role responsible for transmitting knowledge and cultural memory through the arts, Sonko has spent his career finding ways for this knowledge to speak to contemporary audiences. His work transforms ancient African cultural knowledge systems into powerful experiences that challenge how we see and relate to the world. Working across music, theatre, film, dance and cultural research, he creates works that function as “sites of knowledge”, where audiences can encounter different understandings of culture, community, place and human connection.

It was this vision that led Sonko to establish Melbourne-based interdisciplinary arts and research organisation 13.12. At the heart of 13.12 is a belief that cultural knowledge can be a powerful force for connection and social cohesion, creating opportunities for people to encounter one another, share knowledge and imagine new ways of relating.

Sonko’s cultural leadership extends to programs and initiatives that create new ways of connecting artistic practice, community knowledge and research. This work creates space for communities to shape how their cultural knowledge is shared, while opening new pathways for intercultural dialogue, cultural self-determination and connection.

“My work has always been about creating pathways between knowledge, culture and artistic practice. Art can create a space where we meet each other differently. It can help us understand where we come from, understand each other and imagine how we want to live together.”

The Victorian Multicultural Award recognises Sonko’s contribution to this work, using art, cultural knowledge and community connection as pathways towards a more connected and cohesive society.