We have been successful with our recent Australia Council for the Arts funding submission. We are working now with our national partners [Arts Access Victoria, Weave Movement Disability Theatre, Visionary Images, Darwin Community Arts, Nexus Arts, University of Western Sydney and Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority] to develop the roll out with a diverse range of communities and new partners.
We are developing a prototype art-game to explore how we create better together. We will identify old patterns of power and privilege and explore how we can disrupt and reframe those values to collaboratively develop new narratives to work more equitably together. Our aim is to develop a wicked world engine for personal and collaborative systemic change through playful art-making, called 'Creating Together - what can possibly go wrong?', to be launched as a standalone initiative with a range of partners in 2018.
Creating Together - what can possibly go wrong?
Change Media will collaborate with a range of national partners on a cultural and creative competency / critical literacy initiative: ‘Creating Together - what can possible go wrong?’
Our initiative examines how privilege, power and underlying values determine our lenses/ frames - which impacts on our play, negotiation skills, solidarity, creative process and outcomes and advocacy across arts and social sectors.
Over the last two decades we have created frameworks to speak to power and privilege and with this project we want to explore and share the efficacy of this approach with frontline organisations.
Our current aim in collaborating with progressive culture organisations and their communities is to tailor the project, as a tool to positively challenge your project partners, community participants, funders and supporters, to reflect and reframe privileged narratives.
Our key aim is to provide imaginative tools for artists and advocates to increase critical literacy, playful self-determination and to enable creative re-imagining of our values.
We want to provoke and take risks together. We will creatively challenge project partners, funders and supporters, to address privilege, power and solidarity, so that we can build respectful, equitable and robust partnerships, that are able to withstand the push towards fear, bigotry and hatred and contribute to a progressive reframing of our shared narratives with our community participants.
We see an urgent need for an intersectional approach to social justice across arts and culture and we believe we need to create and improve on the tools now to change the conversations that will take place, even if we are not prepared...
Our current questions for the Creating Together tool kit:
Over the coming years, what are the key ingredients needed for solidarity across arts and social sectors?
How can we intersect with Arts Front campaigns and ensure mindfulness about privilege and power and ensure improve inclusive and accessible practice is implemented?
We want people who are dealing directly with the consequences of various forms of oppression to be involved in determining our strategies, and that the resulting tools are relevant for their campaigns and partnerships strategies.
After exploring this concept with our partners, we have identified solidarity and intersectionality as a great starting point to contribute to this urgently needed conversation across sectors and silos.
What is our process?
Solidarity
We will negotiate an effective working group to shape the lens of our creative toolkit - to explore power, privilege and the solidarity required to create together.
We will collaborate with progressive culture organisations [First Peoples, Disability, Youth, Migrants, Refugees, Diversity, Gender, Health, Advocacy] so that the creative tools embody and respond with an authentic, diverse voice.
Inter-connectivity
We will link to other values discussions, creative responses and campaigns running across the arts and social sectors, to enhance intersectionality, we will initiate this through our partners at Feral Arts and their Arts Front 2030 campaigns.
We will support the integration of these solidarity training toolkits/ recipes into our partners outreach and cultural competencies programs, as an artist-led awareness-raising program for partners and support agencies
Privilege Narratives
We will discuss and workshop our shared values and explore how privileged assumptions and systematic violence are baked into our practice and shared discourse.
Power Games
We will explore playful responses to open up the space to train and challenge ourselves, our participants, partners and the service agencies.
We will explore and create games that expose privilege narratives [my rights, good intentions, no choice, omission] – the thinking behind the thinking that drives oppressive actions that are often hidden from the privileged narrators.
Notice, Disrupt, Reframe, Negotiate, Create
We will create question thinking disruptions and reframes to create a new language of respect and justice that addresses all stages of arts production and partnership models
Other benefits
We want to co-create, have fun and play with creative thinkers and doers, to share and reflect on our practice and develop new actions and campaigns.
Please contact us if you and your organisation want to get involved.
