Arts in the Grass

Arts in the Long Grass has been running for two years, with wonderful exhibitions show casing and selling the art works from the artists that have been engaged throughout the year.

 

This year’s exhibition “Culture Connecting Communities” was held in Darwin City Council, with many of the Long Grass community and people from the broader community attending the opening. A heartfelt speech was delivered by Mike Cooper an artists who has been involved in Arts in the Long Grass since conception.

 

Through Arts in the Long 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 Long Grass workshops are delivered in the Long Grass. Through this flexible approach to delivery, our objectives have been for:

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; issues 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 Long 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.

 

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 are 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 Long 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 has 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.

 

In response to the popularity of the purchasing of artworks that supports those living rough, Arts in the Long Grass has developed an ethical brand which will accompany all works by the Long Grass artists.

 

Please take a look at the gallery where paintings from 'Arts in the Long Grass' are on display for sale .