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Past Projects

Over the past 35 years CAN has been building relationships that create opportunities for people to determine for themselves what stories best express the diversity of experience, aspiration and imagination alive in Western Australians.

Past Projects

All projects
Chorus

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Chorus

CAN and Annette Carmichael Projects are collaborating to develop Chorus.

Chorus is a community dance project which is led by choreographer Annette Carmichael with a team of artists working across dance, sound and design.

The project celebrates the strength of women and speaks for equality and safety for our sisters, daughters, friends and mothers.

The choreography will be created to suit your culture, body and ability. The project will finish with the creation of a dance performance by more than 100 women from local communities.

Rekindling Stories on Country

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Rekindling Stories on Country

Rekindling Stories on Country shared powerful voices and stories from Noongar country through contemporary art. Developed in consultation with Elders and community members, the program brought together people from different generations so that important community and personal narratives of history, culture and place could emerge.

A diverse range of professional artists and facilitators mentored participants through creative processes that delivered an incredible array of artistic outcomes – including poetry, clay sculpture, printed textiles and yarn weavings. The creative processes also encouraged intergenerational knowledge-sharing and strengthened community leadership. In many cases, it created new creative and professional pathways for participants, too.

By engaging with local, national and international audiences, Rekindling Stories on Country facilitated the sharing of Noongar language and culture with the broader community.

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UDHR

ARCHIVED PROJECT

UDHR

The 70th anniversary of the UDHR was an opportunity to commemorate, celebrate and critique this fundamental framework of freedom and equality for all humanity. CAN partnered with the Museum of Freedom and Tolerance and worked with Youth Leaders at Edmund Rice Centre WA to run workshops that examined the UDHR, what the rights are, how they affect us and what their relevance is to young people. With artists, the young people explored how to represent the 30 articles of human rights through photography and art, transforming the 70 year old document into a contemporary creative booklet and poster series. These were brought to life through the augmented reality app eVista then screened on the Yagan Square Tower across Human Rights Week.

Bush Babies

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Bush Babies

Bush Babies was a multi-faceted community arts project that preserved and celebrated the stories of Noongar babies born in the bush and the midwives who delivered them.

In 2010 a group of local Quairading community members came together for a reunion at the Badjaling Noongar Reserve in the Central Wheatbelt, sharing photographs, stories and memories of the Reserve. This reunion sowed the seeds of the Bush Babies project, which ran until 2016 with a total of 8 phases held across regional WA. While each community was unique in its approach to the storytelling, arts and research process, the sharing, recording and celebrating of Noongar stories were at the heart of each project phase.

Bush Babies culminated in a range of arts outcomes including publications, exhibitions and precious memorabilia, all celebrating Noongar culture and history. Thanks to participants who generously shared their stories, the Bush Babies project preserved Noongar history for future generations and facilitated community healing.

The Bush Babies project was produced by CAN and funded by the Federal Government.

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Burdiya Mob

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Burdiya Mob

In 2016, a group of Aboriginal young people in Narrogin participated in a series of CAN workshops where they wrote and recorded the song 'Djarliny', which means 'listen' in Noongar. The group, who call themselves Burdiya Mob, also starred in the song's music video clip and behind the scenes documentary produced by CAN.

Filmed in and around Narrogin and featuring culturally significant sites, the music video is a celebration of contemporary and traditional Noongar culture.

Throughout this project, CAN gave the young participants access to an incredible line-up of professional artists: singer-songwriter Gina Williams, actor Ian Wilkes, hip hop artist Scott Griffiths, filmmaker Poppy van Oorde-Grainger and music photographer Matsu.

Elders and parents in Narrogin were also an integral part of the project, teaching the young people cultural practices such as tool making, kangaroo skin tanning, fire making, eco-dyeing, language and dance.

The Burdiya Mob project promoted language revival, cultural pride and creative skill development for this talented young group in Narrogin.

'Djarliny' had its national debut on Triple J and received rave reviews from the station’s hosts.

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Healing Songs

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Healing Songs

In 2011, a small group of community members in Quairading and Kellerberrin got together for some musical workshops. Elders in both towns had long considered running a music project as a means to share stories, develop their singing skills and facilitate healing. These workshops brought this aspiration to life, evolving into the Healing Songs project.

Three years later in 2014, the album Shine: Healing Songs from the Heart and the Land was released, a soulful collection of ballads that tell stories of love, loss, life, culture and the magic of Ballardong Country.

Award-winning Noongar singer-songwriter Gina Williams, with musicians Guy Ghouse and David Hyams, guided the group from the beginning with singing and songwriting workshops. The workshops focused on developing new songs, co-creating music and honing the group’s performance skills.

This album of professionally recorded music and lyrics was launched at the Midland Junction Arts Centre.

Noongar Pop Culture

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Noongar Pop Culture

The Noongar Pop Culture project involved 2 phases that ran from 2013-2015. Project workshops empowered young Noongar students at Narrogin Senior High School to explore creativity and celebrate culture through engaging with a range of art forms, including contemporary music, dance, fashion design and photography.

The first phase of the project focused on language revival, aiming to inspire students to learn their critically endangered language – Noongar. A team of Aboriginal artists, performers and role models met with students for workshops involving hip hop, creating original tracks with the Noongar language and translating contemporary pop songs. The students filmed and starred in four music videos which were compiled into a CD/DVD pack, and the project gained widespread media coverage on SBS, NITV and ABC.

The second phase of Noongar Pop Culture aimed to motivate students to attend school by empowering them with creative skills. A series of fashion design, dressmaking, upcycling, eco-dyeing, weaving, photography and dance workshops were held for the 17 students who participated, and their new skills were showcased through a photography shoot, fashion parades and exhibitions featuring their handcrafted designs. Curtin University’s current affairs program, Noongar Dandjoo, produced a documentary about the project that aired on NITV in 2015.

Both phases of the Noongar Pop Culture project not only improved students' school attendance rates but also increased their confidence, nurtured their creativity and strengthened their pride in culture.

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Voices of the Wheatbelt

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Voices of the Wheatbelt

The Voices of the Wheatbelt project ran from 2008-2014 and involved 8 communities from across the Eastern Wheatbelt, aiming to give them a voice through projects in photography, film and audio-documentary.

Using photography to explore and express their identity and sense of belonging, the project allowed participants to form and rediscover relationships with environment, family, community and each other. Voices of the Wheatbelt resulted in individual and community growth and empowerment, increased awareness of social and cultural spaces and stronger relations among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

Photographs taken by the students and adults across the towns were combined in an exhibition that appeared at significant events in the Wheatbelt, including the Unity Walk during NAIDOC week in Quairading, the Badjaling Noongar Cultural Festival and the Wheatbelt Cultural Festival in Northam.

Voices of the Wheatbelt was funded by the Department of Families and Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

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Broome Urban Art

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Broome Urban Art

In 2014 CAN teamed with artists Lady Bananas and Tomahawk to deliver graffiti and stencil art workshops that explored the history and medium of urban art to young locals (aged 5-17 years) at the Tanami Youth Park.

Younger participants created their own paste-up/stencil art piece to take home, while the older kids worked with the artists to design and paint bright statement pieces on walls around the park. These workshops gave the new young residents of the estate a sense of ownership and connection to the youth park, which includes facilities such as skateable ramps, climbing walls and a staging area for performances.

This project was supported by Landcorp and Place Partners and was part of a series of events in Waranyjarri Estate’s three-year Community Building Plan.

Head Tales

ARCHIVED PROJECT

Head Tales

Head Tales was a storytelling project designed to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness and ignite the inner storyteller in participants.

Starting in 2014, a series of storytelling workshops were held for clients of mental health services across regional WA in Margaret River, Bunbury, Busselton, Geraldton and Narrogin. Along the way, CAN expanded the program to involve digital animation, visual arts and audio recording.

Professional actor and comedian, Andrea Gibbs, ran each of the workshops which were designed to allow participants to explore issues of mental health in a safe, friendly and inclusive environment where they could build their confidence and self-esteem by sharing their stories.

Head Tales was supported by the WA Mental Health Commission and CAN worked with various organisations to deliver the program in each town, including Pathways, Lamp Inc and True Colours Bunbury in the South West and Arafmi WA and Regional Home Care Services in Geraldton.

CAN Perth Head Office

Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm

PO Box 7514 Cloisters Square WA 6850

King Street Arts Centre
Ground Floor 357-365 Murray St
Perth WA 6000

08 9226 2422

admin@can.org.au

ABN: 72106364407

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