Transcript Title
Spirits in Bare Feet
Best practice community consultation and
collaboration
Dr Rebecca Scollen
USQ Artsworx
(www.usq.edu.au/artsworx)
Not-for-profit production house at
University of Southern Queensland in
Toowoomba
Collaborate with students and their
lecturers in the School of Creative Arts
at USQ to produce a range of arts and
cultural events and activities throughout
the year.
Toowoomba, SW Qld and Fraser Coast
USQ Children’s Festival
www.usq.edu.au/artsworx/childrensfestival
Yearly children’s festival
Produced for 4 – 12 year olds
Live theatre production at the USQ Arts
Theatre
Visual art exhibition in the USQ Gallery
Creative arts workshops delivered
directly into primary schools
2009 Children’s Festival
Spirits in Bare Feet by David Burton –
original play and world premiere
performance
Place Markers Indigenous art exhibition
(variety of artists)
Creative art workshops, centred on the
themes of Spirits in Bare Feet, led by
Indigenous artist Kim Walmsley.
Development of Spirits in Bare Feet
150 years of Queensland
School teachers seeking more
Indigenous cultural content
Centre for Australian Indigenous
Knowledges (CAIK)
www.usq.edu.au/caik
Gummingurru
www.gummingurru.com.au/HomePage
Uncle Brian Tobane and Donna Moodie
5000 year old Aboriginal stone
arrangement site
Located just west of Toowoomba (near
Gowrie Junction)
Male initiation ceremonies/Multiple
tribes
Travel to Bunya Mountains for Bunya
Nut Festival
1800s land purchased by European settlers
1910 all Aboriginal people forcibly removed from the
region
1950s Jean Gilbert shows her father the ‘fairy rings’
and so starts the process to identify the site and its
significance and hand the land back
2008 Gummingurru officially handed over to the care
of the Gummingurru Aboriginal Corporation.
Company
David Burton – guest playwright
Mary-Ann Vale – guest director
Michael Brown – guest composer and
musician
Chris Willems – set designer
Carolyn Taylor-Smith – costume designer
Cast and crew – USQ theatre students
Consultation and Collaboration
Regular phone calls and meetings with
the custodians throughout the process:
Drafts of the play
In the rehearsal room
Input into design and promotion
Outcomes for Gummingurru
Significant media coverage for Gummingurru –
ABC Landline, ABC Stateline, Channel 9 News
Brisbane, newspaper coverage and websites
Raised awareness of Gummingurru and local
history
The very first time the story of Gummingurru has
been told via live performance
Generated pride and satisfaction that story has
been told to so many
Encouraged greater number of visits to the site
Outcomes for USQ
USQ students learn directly about community
consultation and collaboration, and Indigenous
cultural protocols
USQ demonstrates it capacity to engage with
communities and utilise its resources to benefit
communities in regional Qld
Delivery of a theatre production that is very well
received by the public
Helped raise money and awareness about
Gummingurru
Thanks to supporters
Breez Finance – sponsor of
USQ Children’s Festival (2007-2009)
Q150 community fund
RADF
CAIK
USQ Faculty of Arts
Channel 9 News and ABC Landline
Our audiences
Dr Rebecca Scollen
ph. 07 4631 2774
[email protected]
www.usq.edu.au/artsworx