"Communicating Art" Project Outline

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"Communicating Art" Project Objectives

1. Research best practice models for young culturally and linguistically diverse participants.
   
2. Build relationships with young people from emerging communities.
   
3. Explore Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY)’s role in the arts.
   
4. Disseminate findings to the wider arts community.

Points of Reference

The CMY pARTicipation forum, held November 2010 at ArtPlay in Federation Square, was a "dynamic exploration of producing art projects with and for young people of culturally diverse backgrounds". This all-day forum allowed participants, which included young people, community and cultural organizations, professional artists, funding organizations, academics, and local government officials, to discuss their arts experiences and visualize future directions for multicultural arts productions. Some of the main issues outlined by the target audience in the forum are listed below and will hopefully be addressed in this Communicating Arts project.

Stereotyping and essentialism

Pathway issues

Exploitation

Project Outline

These are the questions and issues we will be exploring during the project.

Terminology

Naming and labelling the program

Naming and labelling the participants

Is there a particular way either should be addressed?

How do participants want to be addressed?

What attitudes do labelling bring into the process and into the work produced

Process

Viewing previous and existing projects under community cultural development (CCD)

Critique process

Critique engagement methods

Process versus outcome

Quality of work versus quality of engagement with participants

Critique of topic choice addressed in project

How would they have done it differently?

Roles

What are the roles of each of:

Artist

Participant

Family

Community

Public

School

Funding organizations

City Council

Media/publicity

Arts programming

Venues

The future

Potential Networks to Engage

During the project, we will be meeting with various members of these organizations to get a better sense of the issues listed above

R.I.S.E (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees), a non-profit aiming to "enable refugees to build new lives by providing advice, engaging in community development, enhancing opportunity, and campaigning for refugee rights".

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), a "rich treasury of visual arts, with over 500 works from the permanent collection online featuring art by Australian and international artists"

Footscray Community Arts Centre. Footscray Arts works with communities and artists to produce community focused arts activities.

Artists and participants involved in CCD programs and projects

Guest Speakers

NGV Curator of "The Sound We Make Together" - coming in to talk about the exhibition as a community based project showcased in high profile gallery. Discussion topics:

Pros and cons of process

Attitudes (from gallery, participants, artists, communities, etc), positive or negative

Challenges he faced

Advice to participants on galleries, mindset, how to approach them

Project Outcome Possibilities

Artistic

Short video encouraging families and communities to support the arts

Publication (online or printed) by project participants

Photography exhibition

Posters

Other

Proposal of job position to communicate arts information to communities and schools

Information session or assemblies at schools

Proposals for projects, forums, or conferences