Festival impresario Ben Graetz remembers dressing up as a rollerskating mosquito for Darwin's annual parade when he was a kid.
Back then, it was part of the Bougainvillea Festival, and Graetz's tradie dad would lend his truck to be transformed into a parade float each year.
The event has since evolved into the Darwin Festival, and Graetz has been appointed its next director, making him the only First Nations artistic director of a major city arts festival and the event's first homegrown leader.
"It's really exciting and a bit daunting, but I'm just so happy that I can be a locally born person leading that festival," he said.
Graetz will take the helm for the 2027 event and program its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2029.
