Arts in the Grass
With seeding funds from NT Arts, and in collaboration with Larrakia Nation Arts, our Arts in the Grass program has proven to be a great success, with many lessons learned along the way.
Through Arts in the Grass, we delivered art workshops to Aboriginal people who are homeless and/or houseless in a culturally safe manner. The provision of a culturally safe space to engage in artistic creation is an effective strategy in combating the social exclusion which typifies the lives of this disenfranchised population. As such, the Arts in the Grass workshops are delivered in the Long Grass. Through this flexible approach to delivery, our objectives have been for:
- participants to express themsleves through painting and drawing, stimulating their creative practices; and
- to support and promote social inclusion.
In supporting individuals in the creative process, we have aimed to encourage the maintenance of cultural and personal histories. We recognise that a strong sense of identity is an important element of wellbeing. Using art as platform, we are also able to contribute to ameliorating the adverse outcomes derived from trauma and stigma; processes which punctuate the everday life worlds for individuals in this population.
Art, as a diversional therapy, has the potential to enhance the wellbeing of individuals. Art can refocus the attention of individuals away from harmful or unhealthy activities, such as alcohol abuse or conflict. Our Arts in the Grass workshops have created a diversional social platform whereby individuals have been able to express themselves and share experiences through artistic creation. In doing so, we have facilitated access to a creative outlet in which individuals have been able to express the many issues confronting them. Concurrently, workshop participants have been practicing and improving their artistic skills.
Our workshops have been delivered twice a week for eight weeks. At the workshop, we provided wholesome food; considered an essential component in supporting active and meaningful participation. The gesture of sharing food is also symbolic of our collective understanding of the daily challenges and demands faced by this population around basic survival.
During the workshops, participants were also effectively supported to abstain from alcohol and drug use, humbug and other disruptive influences. Concurrently, our H.E.A.L. program staff coordinated the intra and inter-agency delivery of 'wrap around' services that enabled individuals to attend to health, hygiene, social, economic and other priorities.
Through multiple mechanisms, Arts in the Grass has made a solid contribution to improvements in the wellbeing and health of workshop participants. Aligned with the H.E.A.L. strategy, it also also been a platform for challenging mainstream assumptions and attitudes that reinforce the marginalisation and disadvantage experienced by displaced homeless and houseless Aboriginal people in Darwin.
The arts works developed through this program were exhibited for a couple of weeks at the Darwin Entertainment Centre, from the 27th November, 2010. The 'Arts in the Grass: Breaking the Stigma' exhibition sold more than half of the paintings on the opening night, with proceeds going to the artists and towards the program, supporting the purchase of art materials for the next workshop!
Please take a look at the photo gallery where images of the the 'Arts in the Grass: Breaking the Stigma' exhibition are on display.
If you are interested to learn more about Arts in the Grass and/or would like to show your support for this initiative, please call the HEAL Coordinator on 08 8985 6822 or register online to become a Grass Buddy.
