Working with Bell Shakespeare and artists from refugee background on The Perfect Refugee - Shakespeare in a Time of Crisis.
Read moreStory Theft - the Get Off My Back manifesto
Thought piece on digital media in CACD, commissioned by the Australia Council for the Arts in 2011
If you are working in the creative community arts and cultural development sector [CACD], there is a fair chance that you are engaging in story theft.
In a world where our social model survives on wealth generated from resources, stories represent a vast territory open to plunder. And digital content, created by communities for ‘free’ has become a thriving trade for artists, support organizations, broadcasters and governments.
This theft may arise from the best of intentions, but too often the owners of the stories feel misrepresented, hoodwinked and de-powered by the experience.
So how do we build equitable, sustainable community empowerment – with shrinking funds, vague guidelines, new demands for digital media across all CACD practice, and hordes of experts from other arts sectors flocking to CACD coffers?
Working in the CACD sphere is – and has to be – risky business, as we negotiate the power-relationships that arise from the economic disparity our work is addressing. Community Arts practitioners derive an income because communities are disengaged/ marginalized. So, in a cross-colonial context, we need to constantly review our role in perpetuating exploitation of these groups.
Our company, Tallstoreez Productionz, has received great accolade for our digital media empowerment program, Change Media [formerly known as the Hero Project]. We have run hundreds of workshops with thousands of participants since 2004 and set up digital media hubs with many communities – but we still feel at a loss as to what exactly makes good projects work.
Instead of raving about our award-winning projects and glorious failures [check them out at: www.changemedia.net.au], we would like to explore what we, the practitioners, can do next, what we can improve, what risks we take and who really benefits from our processes and the products created.
For better or for worse, digital media helps create a lasting, mobile story about each community and is literally a lens that reveals the cracks in CACD practice. Now most practitioners use digital media as an integral part of their projects. Yet it is still perceived as scary, too complex, too time intensive and needing extravagant budgets for incomprehensible tools. And so it is often used as an after thought, as poor quality documentation, inappropriate video/ websites or fobbed off to external providers who parachute in to ‘capture’ the community.
We believe this often well intended, but non-the-less ignorant practice further widens the [digital] gap, fails to change the imbalance in power, reinforces misrepresentation, lowers the quality of work [and therefore overall reputation of the sector] and doesn’t lead to equitable partnerships.
So here’s our thought piece. Get Off My Back - a strategy for equitable digital media across the creative community arts and cultural development sector, in a damaged world - to improve quality, accountability and independence.
"I sit on a man's back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible....except by getting off his back." [Leo Tolstoy]
We developed Get Off My Back during the national CACD leadership lab run by the Victorian College of the Arts Cultural Partnerships in 2010 at Mount Eliza, in discussion with our colleagues from CuriousWorks and Darwin Community Arts, followed by an amazing 2-day workshop with iLabs’ Mervin Jarman at our studio.
The ideas below are discussion starters; we are trialing them throughout our projects. The sub-chapters are interdependent and the order of appearance doesn’t matter [imagine a chart of connected circles of influence]. The guidelines are to support CACD practitioners - to question why you are involved in CACD. Your answers must be actionable, built-in to daily practice as a tangible and visible process reflected in the outcomes. It is about raising expectations, to push for excellence and to let go at the same time. This process is always evolving and inherently challenging...
Representation
Did we mention your practice is dangerous… marginalized people don’t see themselves as marginalized, their life is their centre of influence and experience. They - like all of us - deserve the best. Be the best, and then improve some more.
CACD work must aim to constantly devolve power and support communities to maintain control of their stories. Decisions need to be made with your participants, not for them. Yes, you are more skilled in a few areas, but so are they. What do you really know about their lives and challenges?
Even during one-off projects, think about long-term sustainability: offer different levels of social business models and employment educational pathways, according to expressed needs.
Support your participants to locate and voice their unique needs and utilise what they already have. This is where your area of expertise sits. Use it.
Voice / Story
What is your creative input? How do you appear in the work? Why? Why not? How is your liberation bound up with that of your participants, community and project partners? Build co-creative explorations as mutually engaging relationships.
Most CACD projects are cross-cultural collaborations: Be aware of context and the power struggles that fuel injustices: place of origin, ethnicity, gender, social background, age, ability.
Ensure the skills you bring are clearly acknowledged. We have found that when our mentor input is not credited in the final outcome it results in the community being heralded as ‘the unusually talented few, the special ones, others, not me’. This contradicts the reality that other communities can tell their own stories if they have access and appropriate support.
Distribution
Your final products will be digital at least in part [photos taken, website inclusion, blogs, twitter, video, DVD, slideshow presentation, funding reports, radio feature etc…]. So from the start of your project: Think digital and viral, learn the basics, share pipelines and access mainstream, fringe and open source networks.
From Day 1 identify your target audience / end user and the final product - it supports participants to clarify why they are involved, what they want and what they will do.
Excellence
Raise the bar across your art forms. Don’t subscribe to the view that Community Art is the poor cousin of Art. It ain’t.
Digital media is not just video and web, but more immersive experiences, authentic and deeper community engagement, performative evaluation, better sound, enhanced vision… Digital media is about changing how you work, not just new technology.
Train the Trainer
Train yourself out of a job - you should be obsolete after the project is over. Build local skills to a level so the community can do it themselves. This is what you promised in your funding submission… And yes, this needs more time, but even on short programs, you can start the process and plant a seed for future initiatives.
Offer mentoring in art/craft and producing [management, structure, legals etc]. These are potentially the boring bits, the invisible stuff – but this is where the ability to ‘do it again’ hides. Bring it forward; explain how it works. Let your participants take over and have them teach each other as soon as possible.
And while you are training and creating, record the process, make tailored peer-produced resources to leave behind. These tools are invaluable when you are gone. And no, they don’t necessary travel well, so keep it regional and peer-produced. There is no market for cookie-cutter empowerment tools, sorry.
Performative evaluation
Build evaluation into your project from Day 1, record your process, record feedback from your partners, participants during all stages, it will change the work.
Think of your project as a cyclic model: From Development, to Hands-on project practice to Post-production, to Distribution …to the Next pitch/ funding submission to Development. Then think backwards from delivery – what do we need to pull this off? Why are we doing this?
And film and review how you pitch /present your next project. Push yourself to raise the bar of your sector and the expectations of your partners. We all deserve it.
Accountability
Thiso ne is tricky: expose yourself, self-embarrass. When you build in evaluation of the project from Day 1, you might see different results in your community’s engagement, as you will need to share your thoughts, processes and finding in a way that is truly useful for your partners and participants.
Make your process visible in the final product. Rise to the challenge. What is stopping you [us, me]? Often we feel afraid to lay open the structures of our success and failures - why? Perhaps we’re afraid we’ll lose funding or be found out as spin doctors for embellishing our stories and outcomes, so what? Nobody can really steal our means of engagement; if you are that good people will copy you anyway – and it is incredibly hard work to actually empower communities. So why worry about competition? There should be more of us, and better. Let’s develop better evaluation tools that are actually relevant to our work now AND to our funders later. And remember, yes, it is a risky business – you are potentially benefiting from other people’s misery.
Ownership
Offer and push for transparency from Day 1 on copyright and legal processes. Outline your chosen legal set up in the rights & responsibilities of your Community Partnership agreement. Don’t start work without it, as it always leads to misunderstandings or worse.
And while you are at it: All of this is negotiable. Always. Why not??? A broadcaster may think differently, but hey, so can you. Make sure the ownership reflects the nature of the project and its partner’s investment, be that money, in kind, ideas, traditions, power of influence. And keep this process open.
A crucial part of an equitable agreement is that all partners and participants benefit. So think creative commons, moral rights, new ways to manage and share IP and copyright. This space is evolving, but most people are scared of legalese and so the old structures of control and ownership survive unchallenged. Keep it simple and build real trust. We see too many ‘15 minutes of fame’ promises being made that don’t change a thing. Broken promises just reinforce feelings of dis-empowerment, however low the budget. Deliver what you agreed on, based on an open process and transparent negotiations. Over-delivery is even better.
Access
Provide access to gear and skills, ideally in a non-threatening/ non-restrictive environment. They must be dreaming? So use what you have, open source if it works, high-end if you can. Broker pathways to access new funds, bring agencies together, create knowledge archives, new alliances, think out of the box where to get the extra $5000 so the community can continue working with their own gear.
We are all using the catch phrase ‘capacity building’ [hmmm sounds just like ‘sustainability’…] – What does it mean to you? How long does it take to reach ‘capacity’ to do…what? This can only be determined by/with each partner community. But there’s urgency if we are to see social change in our lifetime. We only have now, here, with the means available to us. Source them.
Budget
This is always a conversation killer amongst colleagues in a competitive - exploitative environment. People are often outraged at the idea that budgets, expenditures and incomes should be transparent. Why not? Are you being overpaid?
Chances are that you receive public funds to do your work – these budgets are open to public scrutiny anyway. And yes, this is where it hurts. How do we transfer control and include our communities in budgetary decisions? Mostly we think we don’t need to - ‘They’ don’t want to know. But guess what, ‘there is a budget in my art…’ iiieeeeeehhhhh. So let’s talk about money. More often, and with the people you are delivering to. Budgets are blueprints for creative work, spreadsheets are our friends and need to be invited to the party.
‘Or Not?!’
All these points are dependent on each other and this one is crucial for all future disruptions and innovations.
It sits at the heart of our work, just at the edge of our consciousness, as the missing link in our storytelling. What if your community doesn’t want to tell their stories? What if you stopped making sense? What if you turn this idea upside down? Or these guidelines inside out?
Unknowable things constantly rock our world. The ‘Or Not’ factor is our pressure valve, the delete button, the time for self-reflection without navel gazing. What if we imagine this from a different angle? What if creative communities are at the heart of social well-being? What if we are the gatekeepers, the wardens of possibilities? What if you suddenly had the power to change something? What if suddenly you become obsolete?
Build it into your practice: What have I missed? Am I engaging in critical practice or repeating the same old? Are my failures and successes measurable and how, for whom? What is needed now, what is not there yet? Show me the way to the next paradigm shift.
We are keen to build this with anyone interested. Contact us here.
Jennifer Lyons-Reid & Carl Kuddell, 2011
How to Laugh in English - Aus Refugee Assoc
The Perfect Refugee - 2011 July - SA
Change Media worked with 13 new arrivals and young refugees from Buthan and several African countries as well as Australian Refugee Association staff over 2 days, to continue training in film narratives, interview techniques and digital media skills as part of our 3-year multi-arts project, The Perfect Refugee.
During the 2 days, the participants engaged in comedy concepts and developed ideas for several projects.
Each team pitched their ideas as 5-point story plan. They also started creating their own digital storyboards and continued intermediate camera and interview training. Ideas presented included: How to Laugh in English?, Racist Car and Love Story Music Video.
The participants worked on their main project ‘How To Laugh In English’. They used Image Creation techniques they’d learned at the Forum Theatre workshop in May 2011. They continued to work on their own digital storyboards for their individual films. The team also improved their camera work on HDV Sony Z1 cameras and started post production training on Final Cut 7.
Partners
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Refugee Association Inc
Bell Shakespeare Company
Buthanese Community Association SA Inc
Victorian College for the Arts Centre for Cultural Partnerships
Ngarrindjeri - Working on Country
Ngarrindjeri Media 2011 June - Murray Bridge - Raukkan - Coorong SA
Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and videos links contains images and voices of people who have died.
The Change Media Team conducted 4x 1-day workshops with Ngarrindjeri Caring For Country and Heritage Rangers at the Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting Depot.
During the production in Murray Bridge, Raukkan and Meningie members of the Ngarrindjeri Ruwe and the Raukkan Caring for Country organizations learned skills in film narrative, interview and editing techniques.
Find the training videos the Ngarrindjeri team produced here.
The project covered storytelling and camera techniques, shooting on traditional heritage locations, interview and event coverage techniques and editing. The resulting 10min film, Ngarrindjeri Ruwe – Working On Country, is available online and will be used by NRC staff for training, recruiting and PR. This project built on the success of the workshops in the last two years.
The NRC and its Heritage Rangers employed on a long-term contract have agreed to setting up a micro business and utilizing digital media as part of their everyday work. Already their rangers and Caring For Country workers are using GPS-enabled ‘Cyber-Trackers’ to map and track sites, re-vegetation efforts and link it with traditional knowledge. Recording knowledge by interviewing their elders will form part of the essential training over the next year.
Partners
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Ngarrindjeri Heritage Committee
Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association
Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority
Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting
Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation
Australian Refugee Association media training
2011 June - Adelaide SA
Change Media worked with 16 new arrivals and young refugees from Buthan and several African countries as well as Australian Refugee Association staff over 2 days, to continue training in film narratives, interview techniques and digital media skills as part of our 3-year multi-arts project The Perfect Refugee.
During the 2 days, the participants engaged in comedy concepts and developed ideas for several projects.
Each team pitched their ideas as 5-point story plan. They also started creating their own digital storyboards and continued intermediate camera and interview training. Ideas presented included: How to Laugh in English?, Racist Car and Love Story Music Video.
Partners
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Refugee Association Inc
Buthanese Community Association SA Inc
The Perfect Refugee - Theatre Games
2011 May - Carclew SA
Change Media worked with acclaimed director, actor, filmmaker and social animateur, Shahin Shafaei, and 18 young migrants, to create new work as part of a long term project. The forum theater workshop ran over 4 days, using mixed theater and acting techniques with digital media skills, to prepare for a 3-year multi-arts project , The Perfect Refugee.
Find below the resulting 20 Forum Theatre Game examples:
This Change Media project aims to build the creative foundations for an exciting and innovative collaboration with young migrants and Bell Shakespeare in South Australia. The training covered forum theater, image creation and screen narratives, storytelling, interview and reenactment techniques and documentary shooting. The team also recorded some of the behind-the-scenes documentations.
We were excited to work with Shahin Shafaei [Through the Wires; From Bagdad to the Burbs] to kick start our newest creative challenge for the community arts and cultural development sector – to create high profile work that bring mainstream art and marginalized communities together to explore the ruptures of our society and our mythologies around refugees, racism and integration through a classical lens: Shakespeare In Times Of Crisis – The Perfect Refugee…
Partners
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Refugee Association Inc
Victorian College for the Arts Centre for Cultural Partnerships
Change Media Showreel
2011 March - SA
Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links contain images and voices of people who have died.
The 15min video features excerpts from our work with young refugees from the Buthanese and African communities in Adelaide, creating powerful documentaries for cultural transmission with Indigenous communities across South East SA and a variety of fun projects we have conducted nationally.
We tailored the documentation to speak directly to our current proposal to the Community Arts Development at Arts SA and to Australia Council’s Creative Community Partnerships Initiative. And as of May 2011, we have been successful with the CCPI application and received funding for our 3-year program!
Partners
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Refugee Association Inc
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Christie Walk - a piece of ecocity
2010 November - Adelaide SA
Change Media worked with members of the Christie Walk eco-housing project and Urban Ecology Australia to document and produce an exceptional resource about Christie Walk as an example of sustainable urban development.
Over 4 days Change Media delivered training in digital media and created two inspiring documentaries about one of the only inner-city eco-housing projects in the world.
During the production in Adelaide’s CBD members of the Christie Walk community, alongside experts from Urban Ecology Australia involved in creating Christie Walk, shared their insights into sustainability, biodiversity and community living, and learned skills in film narrative, conducted interviews and took part in the editing. The result is an inspiring educational resource about one of Australia’s leading eco-housing initiatives.
The project was an overwhelming success. The team collected over 15 hours of fantastic footage, photos and interviews, and together with the community decided to make two different films instead of one: a 10 minute promotional short documentary and a 35-min educational documentary following two resident hosts on their guided visitor-tour through the project as they guide a tour group through the project.
Besides taking part in the production, the workshop participants learned skills in media literacy, production management, screen language and visual representation of ecological issues. The educational sustainability resource DVD featuring both films will be available in January 2011 at Urban Ecology Australia.
Partners
Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
CSR Hebel
Urban Ecology Australia
Moogy’s Yuki - Moogy's Bark Canoe
Moogy’s Yuki - Moogy’s Bark Canoe, documents the making of the first Ngarrindjeri Boandik bark canoe since colonisation.
Read moreMarlpa Holiday - Gumala WA
Gumala Aboriginal Corporation workshop - 2010 June - Gumala Aboriginal Corporation WA
Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links may contain images and voices of people who have died.
The Change Media Team worked with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation in Tom Price to train local Indigenous youth and community leaders in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and digital media management and create a peer-produced DVD about issues of juvenile justice for Indigenous youth in the Pilbara region.
The production covered an introduction to screen narratives, storytelling for social issues, editing & file management and basic interview, shooting and editing techniques. The participants came up with strong story concepts and are keen to continue to make films. The workshop was the first of 2 projects as part of our 2-year community partnership with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation in 2010-2011.
The challenge this session was to create engaging stories that raise awareness about issues of juvenile justice, drug and alcohol abuse, faced by young Indigenous living in Tom Price and the Pilbara area. The workshop focused on short innovative story techniques, fun camera and sound work, and editing and music production. Each team member worked together producing two films, recorded several interviews and training tools. They planned, researched, scripted and conducted several shoots and took part of the edit. At the rough cut viewing in the Tom Price Arts and Culture Centre, the Gumala representatives were impressed with the outcomes and discussed the potential for future media work for the participants through the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation.
The workshop was the introduction to a 2-year project planned for 2010-2011, to skill up the local community, Indigenous support staff in the use of digital media and create a series of peer-produced DVD resources. During the workshop the participants also identified the need to record their Elders in their community of Bellary Springs, about 40ks out of Tom Price.
The team managed to learn essential interview and editing skills and edited their own and their elders interviews during the workshop. They are now keen to continue their training with the aim to train other other communities in remote WA and build media archives to record traditional knowledge.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Gumala Aboriginal Corporation
Office for Crime Prevention WA
Tom Price Community Arts & Culture Centre
World in My Eyes - Unley Council
Unley youth video workshop - 2010 June - Unley SA
The Change Media Team ran 2x 1-day video production workshops with young people in the Unley district at the Fullarton Park Centre on June 20th and 27th 2010.
The participants developed digital media and film making skills and produce 6 short film and dozens of interviews.
The “Unley – World In My Eyes” films are a quirky expression on how young people perceive their council area. The workshops supported them to learn digital media skills, from storyboarding, to camera work, sound recording and editing and enabled them to record their experiences about living in Unley.
The Change Media team supported the participants to make an edit-in-camera film at the first workshop. The participants had the task during the following week to record additional footage using their own hand held video cameras / video enabled phones. The second 1-day workshop enabled them to learn basic editing and digital media workflow using the footage shot during the week and at the first workshop.
Change Media empowered the participants to create relevant snapshots of their life in Unley and its inhabitants. These stories encompass all ages and different cultural backgrounds. Change Media encourages participants to use popular culture references, mixed with the local environment, youthful ingenuity and lots of humour, as this often is a fantastic recipe for a successful empowerment campaign, to engage audiences in the subject matter.
The workshop brief was developed in consultation with the Unley City Council staff, to ensure it was suitable for the community and fit in with the community cultural development plan and to would improve relevance for the end users. The film concepts, video production and presentation were creatively driven and produced by the participants, under the guidance of the Change Media facilitators. The creative approach used satire, documentary and drama techniques and invited reflections from the participants, which also included teamwork, re-enactments and dramatizations.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Kiranari School
St Raphael’s Primary School
The City of Unley
Unley High School
Unley Primary School
Murrundi Ringbalin edit training
Ngarrindjeri Media - 2010 May - Coorong SA
Change Media ran the fifth production workshop with the Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and train-the-trainer methodology. The workshop focused on the editing of the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin ceremonies, shooting of pick-up and and production of training tutorials.
The training covered editing of multi-camera footage, shooting pick-ups on location, conducting interviews and creating peer-training video manuals. New team members entered the team and participated in a peer-training introduction to camera and editing basics. The shooting of pick-ups for the Murrundi documentary took place at the Murray River barrages and in Meningie.
The team’s challenge for this session was to continue the edit of the ambitious river ceremony and water crisis documentary. They also had to train new members and create bite-sized, hands-on peer-learning tutorials, to share their skills and demonstrate their acquired skills. As a direct result of our collaboration, one of the participants has now commenced a part time position as media officer for the RUWE Ngarrindjeri Resource Corporation to document their Caring For Country processes. Her role as media officer will also support her to continue to train with Change Media over the coming years.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Indigenous Coordination Centre SA
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association
Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting
Tallstoreez Productionz
Recording Culture in Millicent
Ngarrindjeri Media - 2010 May - Millicent SA
Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and videos links contains images and voices of people who have died.
The Change Media Team conducted a production workshop with members of the Tal-Kin-Jeri performance group, Indigenous students and community members from across South East SA to train them in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and media management. The aim was to educate students alongside the production of a DVD about River Red Gum Care, which documents the technique of making a traditional Ngarrindjeri bark canoe by Ngarrindjeri Elder Major Sumner.
The project covered an introduction to working with a client on location, intermediate interview and event coverage techniques and editing. The peer-produced content [the peer-produced film Recording Culture and photo slide show] will form part of the educational Caring For Country River Redgum resource called Moogy’s Yuki, to be delivered August 2010.
The challenge this session was to shoot and edit a documentary for the South East Natural Resource Management Board, including traditional cultural knowledge of the caring for rivergum trees, making a traditional Ngarrindjeri canoe and shield out of bark, let by Ngarrindjeri Elder Major Sumner. After a great introduction day with over 20 participants, we focused on documentation techniques and educational narrative. Each team member conducted interviews and was part of the canoe-making shoot.
The biggest challenge was to be alert all day and have the cameras ready when the canoe finally came off the tree. The whole team was excited, the youth members were shooting incredible photos and the event became more like a community happening – just as Major Sumner said it would have been in the old days, when western time restrains didn’t matter. After a long days work the canoe came down intact, the Change Media team shot over 20 hours of footage, including interviews with 3 generations of Ngarrindjeri participants, environmental and archeological experts and also recorded footage of the local environment and Penola Conservation Park, to highlight how the South East coastal area would have looked like in pre-colonial times.
The editing workshop had to be reduced to a one day introduction, due to the extended shooting days, but we managed to go through basic video editing and music production – and the team had a look at their footage, to see if it all worked out. All in all this production rates as one of our best projects, though we dearly missed our Ngarrindjeri Media Team members from Meningie and Camp Coorong, who couldn’t attend as their team leader is still in hospital.
Partners
Aboriginal Sobriety Group
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts Creative Community Partnership Initiative
Indigenous Coordination Centre SA
Indigenous Cultural Support
Millicent High School
South East Aboriginal Focus Group
South East Natural Resource Management Board
Tal-Kin-Jeri Performance group
Murrundi Ringbalin
Ngarrindjeri Media - doco training 2010 April - Meningie SA
Change Media ran the fourth production workshop with the newly formed Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and train-the-trainer methodology. The workshop documented some of the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin ceremonies, from Wentworth, NSW, down the Murray River to Meningie and the Coorong in South Australia.
The training covered shooting on location, conducting interviews and documenting night performances following the Murrundi dancers during the 3 ceremonies in Wentworth, where the Darling and the Murray meet in South West NSW, to Murray Bridge, SA and Meningie at the Mouth of the River Murray. The team also created additional content for the prototype Change Media Indigenous digital media training resource, to be delivered July 2010.
The team’s challenge for this session was to conduct night shoots, documenting the Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin river spirit ceremonies, and produce a follow up documentary on last years success Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan. Their final film includes traditional cultural knowledge of the environment and caring for the river and lake system; the additional editing workshop will focus on documentation techniques, final narrative, editing and delivery.
The Ngarrindjeri Media Team continue to work on their peer-produced films between the workshops.
It was an amazing and challenging journey for the whole team, over 1000km in 4 days, non-stop production from 8am to 10pm, three night shoots to document the performances under very difficult conditions. The ceremonies were only lit by small camp fires [in Wentworth and Murray Bridge] and the Ngarrindjeri camera team had to compete for the best shots with 2 other, external film teams, hired by the Murray Darling Basin Authority to produce a community engagement documentary and photo archive. The other teams were nice enough and ok to deal with, but it was an interesting challenge for the Ngarrindjeri’s to stand their ground and not get pushed aside.
Our team also tried their best not to impact on the dancers and keep a respectful distance – but this meant constantly to balance the respect for the traditional practice and the need to make a good film, where a wider audience could enjoy the ceremonies on DVD.
In Meningie the team found a great solution, they arranged for 4 big fires to be prepared, and this finally provided the necessary lighting.
The best outcome for us was that Change Media empowerment needs to focus more on producer’s training, to address power relationships, legals, negotiation and communications skills. More about this in our next newsletter in early June 2010.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Indigenous Coordination Centre SA
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association
Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting
Tallstoreez Productionz
Culture Shock - Aus Refugee Association
Australian Refugee Association - media training - 2010 March - Australian Refugee Association SA
Change Media worked with 15 new arrivals and young refugees as well as ARA / Pt. Adelaide Council staff over 4 days, to train them in film narratives, interview techniques and digital media skills. They created ‘Culture Shock’, a peer-produced, satirical documentary about their lives and the challenges of coming to Australia: Culture Shock
The training covered an introduction to screen narratives, file management and interview & reenactment techniques, documentary shooting and Final Cut editing skills. After an involved debate about the many issues faced by young refugees, the team (comprising of 15 young people from Kongo, Sudan, Bhutan, Belarus, Tanzania and Burundi) decided to use a mix of fun and serious examples of situations they were faced with as new arrivals. The team also created the original soundtrack in Garageband and recorded most of the behind-the-scenes documentations and individual interviews.
The team managed to create engaging stories that raise awareness about issues faced by young refugees living in the Port Adelaide Enfield district and wider Adelaide area. The participants hadn’t worked as a team were able to produce one film together; everybody conducted several shoots, interviews and took part in the edit and music production. By the end of Day 4 the team finished a rough cut of a funny and engaging documentary about appropriate / inappropriate behaviors and other challenges. The whole team agreed on the changes they wanted for the fine cut, for the Change Media team to clean up the edit, add title cards and insert the participants self-made music. We have already been approached by ARA to conduct another project soon, as the participants are keen to build on their new skills.
The workshop was a fantastic introduction to a longer term project planned for 2010-11, to create a social archive and reference video manual for new arrivals to Australia, to enhance cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. Besides the fantastic 14min film, this DVD also includes rough cut interviews by the participants, which showcase their experiences as new arrivals and demonstrate not only their skills, but also their resilience surviving often horrific journeys. Again, a huge applause to the team – it was a very rewarding collaboration for our trainer team.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Refugee Association Inc
City of Port Adelaide Enfield
ArtGate – iStreet Lab
2010 March - Clare SA
The Change Media Team worked for 2 days with Mervin Jarman from the iStreetLab and the Container Project, to compare our art and community capacity building practice in Australia and Jamaica. The workshop was the first stop of Mervin’s Australia tour over the coming weeks. The workshop was broadcast live via iStreet Radio, with listeners in New Jersey participating live thoughout all sessions.
During the workshop we developed a long term project for 2010-2012, to create an international community arts exchange workshop program and interactive hard/software interface, a social archive and reference video manuals for marginalized communities worldwide, to enhance cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. Project officers Wallace McKitrick and Davina Egege, from the Indigenous Coordination Centre SA [DEWHA], took part in the discussion on the second day, to provide feedback and add to the feasibility of the project, in terms of relevance for Indigenous communities in SA. Francesca Da Rimini offered her vast experience in international collaborative new media work as observer/adviser. Rohan Webb, iStreet Lab educator, youth mentor and educational researcher, logged in as a participant remotely from New Jersey, USA – he was there for all of both broadcasts…regardless of time zone difference!
It was very refreshing to compare notes about both our projects with Mervin, and start immediately to collaborate on a new venture, that will combine Change Media methodology with iStreet Lab work in Jamaica and join up with Canadian artists Camiile Turner and Mike Steventon for the Canadian part of the triangle.
The following text is from Mervin’s blog at istreetlab.ning.com:
Tallstoreez/Change Media was host to discussions on the feasibility of developing a relevant and sustainable architecture for cross-cultural exchange. Carl and Jen of Change Media have been especially engaging in our examination of the broad scope of possibilities, potential challenges, risks, and social benefits. The discussions have been charged with high expectations, enthusiasm, and a profound sense of purpose. The context of the dialogue is based on the need to forge forward in demonstrating the relevance of our working art practices and the implications for community development. The central idea of how to make meaningful changes for both our communities is an enduring theme.
Cross-cultural exchanges, we agreed, are a potent expression of the need to find commonality between and throughout our communities with an aim to reducing marginalization. Using our art in a socially conscious way to make a difference through incremental change is already occurring. However, we seek to amplify this by creating opportunities for learning and synergy. This in many ways has emerged as our overarching theme.
This idea spawned conversations on a concept of expression through a “Xcolonial triangle” in which Canadian, Jamaican, and Australian marginalized/first nation communities work on developing a global village art interface (code name ‘Art Gate‘). Further discussion will ensue!!!
Mike Steventon’s idea/work was also introduced in the discussions as I am collaborating with him on his work on OCIS – Open Interactive Collaborative Space, which he introduces to me and I immediately saw as a practical and relevant community resource.
It was exciting to nut out a community development project that invites the mentors to take risks as artists, and share their creative energy as well as mentoring to build the project.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the ArtsDarwin Community Arts
ICE Sydney
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
The Edge Brisbane
dLux Sydney
Ngarrindjeri Bush Tucker
Ngarrindjeri Media - hybrid storytelling - 2010 February - Coorong SA
Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website and video links contain images and voices of people who have died.
The Change Media Team conducted the third production workshop with the newly formed Ngarrindjeri Media Team to continue their training in film narratives, interview techniques, editing and media management.
The training covered an introduction to educational narratives, editing and file management and intermediate interview and shooting techniques. The team created content for the prototype Change Media Indigenous digital media training resource, to be delivered July 2010.
The challenge this session was to shoot a promotional video for the Camp Coorong Cultural Centre, and edit a video documentation of the Camp Coorong Bushwalk, including traditional cultural knowledge of the environment, wildlife and plants and their healing properties, in Ngarrindjeri language and English; focusing on documentation techniques, educational narrative, data visualization. Each team member conducted several shoots, interviews and part of the edit and also kep working on their individual film projects.
The Ngarrindjeri Media Team continue to work on their peer-produced films between the workshops.
Partners
Apple
Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities
Australia Council for the Arts
Indigenous Coordination Centre SA
Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association
Ngarrindjeri Ruwe Contracting