Hello To All Community Builders Out There!
My name is Vanessa Van der Werff and I am a Masters in Social Work Student here at UQ in Brisbane. As part of my course from "Community Engagement, Participation and Governance" I am required as my piece of assessment to: propose, plan and implement a Community Project of my choosing. I have chosen to travel back to my home town of Cairns to Implement this project. Following are my thoughts, proposals and plans of my project.
My project will be implemented in Mooroobool, a suburb in Cairns. The community structure and bonds are not as strong as they could be. There is strong potential to create stronger bonds and build on the strengths of cultural diversity. By using the different experiences, skills and resources of the community and its members, together they can transform the community to a more supportive, constructive, sustainable environment.
Change Agenda
My agenda is to aid, support and facilitate certain community members to use dance, expression and festival activities to build connections throughout their communities. It is starting with 3 weeks preparation from now till the 9th of June, then ending with a Multicultural Gathering oganised by the group members. This Multicultural Gathering/Festival will be on Saturday 10th April. Each cultural dance team can teach different members of other dance teams and community members and spectators their style of dance. The team has expressed their interest in also facilitating a collaborative creative workshop which includes contemporary body movements and participants own choreography. A celebrity guest (Last season's finalist of TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" - Gianne Abbott, will come on board for the day to facilitate with these creative workshops, learn different cultural dance styles from members of the community, and hang out with the kids. All of these activities will be show cased at the end of the day, with performances and handing out of certificates of participation (optional - perhaps just for the young participants).
Vanessa! Wow! Yes, dance is such a powerful medium for self-expression and can certainly be used as a universal 'language' of sorts - and it takes a special person to bring this to life, to enable others to share in this language, so well done on the incredible outcomes you've achieved so far on your project!! Janelle xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Janelle.
ReplyDeleteIt's so great to hear from you. If you have any plans to do a launch or festival or party and need Brazillian dancers let me know. Gianne was actually Miss Carnival Samba Queen In Brazil 2008!
I am excited to see what project events you have. Please let me know when they are on.