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Community engagement showcasing events

• Brisbane Community Engagement Showcase 2007
• Brisbane City Council Showcase
  • Creative Democracy - Homelessness
  • Engaging communities using cultural processes - Chermside Community Hub
• Central Queensland Showcase
  • Devising and implementing the District Youth Achievement Plan for the ETRF Senior Phase of Learning
  • Integrated Area-Wide Management as an Approach to Landscape Management
  • Rolleston Coal Project
  • Yeppoon Western Bypass Road
• Emergency Services Showcase
  • Community Safety Project
  • Engaging Indigenous Communities
  • Local Ambulance Committees
  • Queensland Ambulance Service First Responders
• Goodna Outreach Showcase
• Hervey Bay Showcase
  • Australian Industry Engineering Manufacturing Network Ltd
  • Wide Bay Burnett Human Services Network
  • New prison in a new town
• Ipswich Showcase
  • Swanbank Community Reference Group
  • Community Hubs Project in Esk Shire
  • Ipswich Area Regional Disability Council (IARDC)
• Mackay Showcase
  • Mackay Highlands Coordinating Committee
  • Queensland Marine Academy
  • Mackay Childhood Injury Prevention Project
  • Mackay Alcohol and Other Drugs Community Partnership
• NRM Showcase
  • Review of Ministerial Advisory Arrangements
  • CHRRUPP Experiment and Future Options for Community Engagement
  • Community Involvement in Mary River Planning
• Queensland Police Service Showcase
  • Mareeba Truancy and Graffiti (TAG) project
  • Community Support
  • Mareeba Shire Council - Local Government view
  • Mareeba State High School - Community Education Counsellor view
  • Mareeba State High School - Education view
• Townsville Showcase
  • La Luna Youth Art
  • Minimizing Road Trauma
  • Speak Out 2003
  • Palm Island Community Youth Centre Consultation Process
  • District Youth Achievement Plan
  • Young Achievement Enterprise Education Program

Townsville Showcase

La Luna Youth Art

• Background
• What is different about this case study that shows how government, industry and communities can better engage with each other?
• What are the key outcomes of the case study for government, industry and community?
• What are the key learnings/insights about community engagement?
• What will sustain community engagement into the future in this case study?

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Background

La Luna Youth Arts has undertaken two youth-theatre-in-education shows which encourage young people to use their ideas and opinions as the basis from which to develop their own stories, scenes, movement pieces and other forms of expression.

• Sort It Out - presented as an hour's viewing of a television channel dedicated to recycling and the environment:

  Imagine a craft show utilising recycled products, a documentary that shows the recycling habits of the average person, a gardening show that teaches you how to make compost, a game show where contestants are encouraged to rustle through a pile of garbage, a soapie where all different types of bins lament about the possibility of losing a peer, or a world where Captain Foil and his trusty sidekick Ali(minium) must constantly do battle with the likes of Global Warming and the Papercut Gang. Add to this regular news updates and what was created is Sort It Out - a production that represented three terms worth of investigation, research, creative development, rehearsal and performance. A funky, original, television soundtrack was produced and television studio design and props were created by local artists with support from participants in a Work for the Dole program.

  The production had a September/October school holiday season and then toured to schools in Townsville and Thuringowa during the first 2 weeks of Term 4, 2003. Overall, 25 young people between the ages of 10 and 14 years participated in the creation of the production with all of them undertaking the initial investigation and brainstorming of the theme. Twenty-two young people followed the production through to fruition and performed in 11 performances of Sort It Out. The troupe of young performers undertook 5 performances over 3 days engaging, educating and entertaining approximately 464 of their peers during a schools tour over the first two weeks of Term 4, 2003. Five education institutions in total contracted Sort It Out.

• Go On, Get Along! explored bullying and victimisation - who does it, why and what to do if you meet, or are, a bully.

  The play explored one day in the lives of two victims of bullying and incorporated facts about bullying and the performers' own experiences, as well as role-play, puppets, chanting, movement and many more theatrical elements to create an informative and entertaining snapshot. Supported by original funky music and set and props created by local artists, young people created the structure and content of the production drawing on their observations and research of, and experiences of bullying.

  The powerful, yet entertaining 40-minute snapshot was toured to primary schools in Townsville as well as performed at La Luna's Youth Arts home. Overall, 25 young people, aged between the ages of 7 and 14, participated in the project. During the initial investigation and brainstorming of the theme 23 young people were involved with 19 young people following the project through to fruition and performing in Go On, Get Along!. Over two days in the last week of Term 2 - 2001, the troupe of young performers presented 6 performances of the production, engaging, educating, and entertaining approximately 652 of their peers. Four schools in total engaged our production to perform at their schools.

Both presentations were supported by a comprehensive set of teacher's notes designed to ensure maximum insight into the themes and story lines of each production. Notes included statistics, definitions, fact sheets, classroom activity sheets, references, practical guidelines, drama exercises, and games.

What is different about this case study that shows how government, industry and communities can better engage with each other?

These projects ...

• are facilitated by arts professionals who have a passion for working with young people.
• are collaborative, throughout the entire creative process, with young people.
• empower young people - give them an avenue to make their voices heard about topics that are important to them.
• value the views, opinions, knowledge and creative ideas of young people./li>
• build skills for the young people who participate.
• challenge young people in a fun, friendly and safe environment.
• are inclusive of all young people regardless of skills, experience or disability.
• produce an entertaining and engaging product that educates and informs young people about subjects that other young people deem current and important.
• represent young people as valuable community members who are able to contribute to and shape community views.
• provide networking opportunities for a range of professionals.
• begin by discerning what information young people have about the subject they have chosen. Government agencies and industries that may be able to assist with research are then identified and contacted.
• Create opportunities for partnerships between a wide range of State and Local Government agencies and with non-government organisations. Partnerships relate to information sharing, production support, cross-promotion and shared learning.

What are the key outcomes of the case study for government, industry and community?

• Publicity of new government initiatives and industry programs. Through the research phase of the production, short and long term government and industry objectives are explored many of which inform and are featured in the final product. Young people present the ideas and format of initiatives to an audience of young people in a language and style that makes the information palatable to a young audience.
• Informing government and industry as to which programs the young people involved in the production have taken specific interest in, thus allowing marketers to determine which have been the most successful for the age groups specified.
• Hearing the voice of young people in the community. The shows are based on topical issues that young participants deem important. In this way the productions represent the voice and attitudes of young people and could be read by government, industry and the wider community to better inform them of youth views and trends.
• Building research skills of young people by introducing them to methods such as using government internet pages, regularly reading the local newspaper for topical community events/news and encouraging participants to engage peers, family and other members of the community in discussions about the subject matter.
• Acquiring content knowledge regarding the topics featured through validating and enlarging their perceptions and understandings and participating in educational and informative productions.
• Educational outcomes for young people who developed a number of skills relevant to the newly launched Arts Syllabus P1-10 (Education Queensland) along with a range of performance, production and technical skills.
• Social networks, skills and confidence were enhanced for young people who gained confidence and pride in their work through performing to their peers, learnt to work in a collaborative environment as cogs in a large, evolving wheel and forged friendships with other young people in a fun, social but working environment.
• Professional development for arts professionals who learnt new ways of adapting to change, built a higher profile within the education sector and with young people, gained access to paid employment, built new networks and renewed their passion and commitment to recycling and environmentalism.

What are the key learnings/insights about community engagement?

• To demystify a subject in a youth friendly way: It is important to realise that young people have valuable contributions to make but that information should be presented to them in a way that they can comprehend and feel able to critique.
• The power of peers teaching peers: Young people are more responsive to shows performed by their peers. The comments we have received in the past have indicated that the shows are not only successful in imparting information to the audience of young people but that these young people are benefiting from seeing people their own age on stage, performing. It would be fair to say that these young performers are very positive role models for their peers and this is great not just for the audiences but for boosting the self-confidence of the young performers themselves.

What will sustain community engagement into the future in this case study?

• Continued interest in La Luna's youth-theatre-in-education programs/shows from local schools, vacation care groups and other youth groups.
• The Teachers Notes, written for each show and distributed to teachers and care providers of each institution visited, remain there as a valuable teaching source for the subject featured.
• Each of the young people involved in the productions become better-informed citizens and are in a better position to inform other young people on the subject matter investigated. In the case of the bullying show, Go On, Get Along!, it is hoped that the young people will also be advocates of a no tolerance approach to bullying in every social situation.