November 2011 – Bell Shakespeare partners with Change Media

Bell Shakespeare Company has agreed to develop The Perfect Refugee in collaboration with us through their Minds Eye initiative.

As a result, we will conduct the first week-long intensive laboratory with Bell and various artists from refugee / asylum seeker background during 5th – 10th December 2011 at the Corridor Artspace in Cowra, New South Wales. This workshop is the last for development stage 1, next year we will commence stage 2 of the 3-year project to create a major x-media work.

Find more information and updates here:  http://www.changemedia.net.au/the-perfect-refugee-cowra-laboratory-dec-2011/

November 2011: Christie Walk – A PIece OF Eco-City wins 2011 International MyHero Film Festival

Christie Walk – A Piece Of Eco-City, our  collaboration with the inner-city eco-housing community of Christie Walk in Adelaide, has won the first prize in the community film category at the 2011 International MyHero Film Festival in the community films category! Well done everyone – it was a pleasure to working with you all on the sustainability resource kit!

Change Media worked with members of the Christie Walk eco-housing project and Urban Ecology Australia to document and produce an exceptional resource about Christie Walk as an example of sustainable urban development.
Over 4 days Change Media delivered training in digital media and created two inspiring documentaries about one of the only inner-city eco-housing projects in the world.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this project happen!

And a big thanks to our partners on this project: Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities; Urban Ecology Australia; Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board; CSR Hebel; Tallstoreez Productionz

November 2011: Australia Council for the Arts publishes Tallstoreez’ opinion piece in digital media in CACD

Follow the link to our provocative article here or use http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/artforms/community_partnerships/opinion_piece

We would love to hear your thoughts and will publish feedback on our site. Find the full version, amendments and comments also on our director’s blog.

From the Australia Council for the Arts website:

A DIGITAL DIVIDE? DIGITAL TOOLS IN CACD PRACTICE

Using digital media is increasingly popular in Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) practice.  But is the increasing use of digital media in itself an innovation? Where does the balance of technology skills and storytelling sit best for community? Is it different at all to long standing methods of collaboration in the CACD sector?

Whilst the proliferation of digital tools has in many ways democratised the means of making, has it changed the way the CACD artists engage and work with communities? Have emphases shifted? Is there a presumption of skills-building in using technology as a means to sharing stories, and how does this impact upon existing power relationships between community participants and facilitators? Have the central notions of ‘participation’, ‘engagement’ and ‘shared space’ been transformed through the use of these tools?

The Australia Council asked five artists/arts organisations to reflect on the use of digital media in their own practices.

Here are their responses

May 2011: Australia Council grants Tallstoreez’ Change Media project triennial Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative funding

Change Media has been successful in Stage 2 of our CCPI funding proposal to the Australia Council for the Arts, to produce new and exciting works as part of our proposed Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative for three years, 2011-2014.

The Australia Council supports us to deliver new programs for marginalized and young people and their communities across Australia over the coming years, alongside our other partners such as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – Office for the Arts’ Indigenous Cultural Support Grant, Bell Shakespeare Company, the Australian Refugee Association; the Ngarrindjeri Land & Progress Association, OurCommunity and all our other partners.

Thanks to all our supporters for all your fantastic work over the last years – we are looking forward to establishing Change Media as a leading initiative for disruptive innovation in the CACD sector nationally and to continue the incredible success we had over the last 7 years in South Australia.

February 2011: Australia Council invites Tallstoreez’ Change Media project to apply to the Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative

Change Media has been successful in Stage 1 of our CCPI funding proposal to the Australia Council for the Arts, to produce new and exciting works as part of our proposed Creative Communities Partnerships Initiative for three years, 2011-2014.

If successful in Stage 2, the Australia Council may support us to deliver new programs for marginalized and young people and their communities across Australia over the coming years, alongside our other partners such as Arts SA, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – Office for the Arts’ Indigenous Cultural Support Grant and our community and industry partners.

Thanks to all our supporters for a fantastic year 2010 – we are looking forward to establishing Change Media as a leading initiative for disruptive innovation in the CACD sector nationally and to continue the incredible success we had over the last 6 years in South Australia.

February 01, 2011: Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan – Ngarrindjeri’s Being Heard selected for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2011 in London!

Fantastic news for the Ngarrindjeri youth media team – their film, Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan, made during a Change Media workshop in 2009, has been selected to screen as part the international 3rd Edition of Youth Producing Change at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2010. The festival has invited 2 youth representative for the project to fly to London and attend the screening – congratulations to all involved at the Coorong!

“On behalf of the Selection Committee of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF), we are pleased to inform you that your film Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan – Ngarrindjeri’s Being Heard has been selected for YOUTH PRODUCING CHANGE (YPC) at the 21st Human Rights Watch Int’l Film Festival. The film was selected from a pool of over 250 submissions made by youth from across the globe. The power of this film is a great achievement, and we offer our deep congratulations to the youth filmmakers and to your organization. We are thrilled to be able to include it in our festival this year.” [John Biaggi, Director, and Jennifer Nedbalsk, Program Manager, HRWIFF ]

The 21^st HRWIFF will take place June 11-24, 2010 at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in NYC. The YPC program will be screened up to two times during these dates. The exact dates of the screening will be provided at a later date, along with filmmakers’ attendance to the festival. In addition to the screening at the

This is a great success for this empowering, peer-produced documentary and adds further support to the Ngarrindjeri’s struggle to save the Coorong and the Lower Lakes. Congratulations to Edie, Mel, Rita, Vic and Veronica and their whole team at Camp Coorong and Raukkan Aboriginal Community!

The program was supported through the Australian Government, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Indigenous Cultural Support,  the Australia Council for the Arts Creative Community Partnership Initiative, the Arts SA Partnerships for Healthy Communities and Apple Australia.