Art as you like it
Older Indigenous Australians will work together with younger generations to determine the details of their own upcoming art project on the NSW south coast.
Indigenous elders from a NSW south coast town will work together with younger locals to determine the details of their own intergenerational arts project, as UnitingCare Ageing hands the older community back the power of choice.
The new Indigenous arts project will aim to unite the two generations, while enabling important stories, poems and cultural skills to be passed down from old to young.
The pilot project to begin next year, will be coordinated by a newly appointed UnitingCare Ageing project officer. Details of the project however will be determined by the Moruya locals, through a series of community consultations.
Director of communication and marketing, Sandra Black, said that local artists, school children and older Indigenous Australians in receipt of community care will decide upon the type of workshops held and how they will be run.
“Consultation is critical,” said Ms Black. “It won’t work otherwise. It’s not a project that’s going to be prescriptive.
“We want it to be something for the community will develop for themselves. We’ve got the bare bones but we are not determining what the project will look like. We want the community to make those choices and the project officer will coordinate the consultation.”
Ms Black said that the idea for the project came from within the local Indigenous community itself, as many older people stressed the importance of passing down traditions to those young enough to carry the cultural flame.
“The [older people] were expressing the concern about the gap in generations and the importance of telling their stories which is very big in the Aboriginal culture.
“So we just thought it would be wonderful to, in some sort of way, bring the older people together with the younger people in the community. [The project] will support older Indigenous people to provide cultural transference of their skills to the younger community through the arts.”
The UnitingCare Ageing Aboriginal Arts Project will be the first of its kind for the organisation and if successful, it could be used as a model in other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout NSW and the ACT.
The project will be specifically linked to the organisation’s Kuranya service for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. The new project officer should be hired by the end of this year.
“The project fits in perfectly with our service model- enabling independence, choice and wellbeing. For us it’s about listening to the people’s needs and being able to tailor what it is that they want for their life.
“We are really excited about working closely with the community to make this project a success.”
