Belgrave South Community House Claims Prestigious Local Award

Staff of BSCH and Cafe Club members receiving the Robyn Murray Memorial Organisation Award

Post by Steve Riordan.

A Café Club program and its commitment to social inclusion practices has landed the Belgrave South Community House (BSCH) an esteemed community honour.

The reputed Robyn Murray Memorial Organisation Award is presented annually by the Community Houses Association of the Outer Eastern Suburbs (CHAOS) to a member organisation that embraces and practices social inclusiveness.

BSCH Manager, Lyn Young, said the Café Club is a program that was developed in 2007 to address social isolation in the community.

“It is a weekly excursion program whereby participants travel in a BSCH minibus to a café for morning tea,” said Ms Young.

“Over time the Café Club has evolved, numbers have increased and activities diversified to include some longer trips,” she said.

The Café Club has indeed changed people’s lives.

Ms Young said some participants were previously in danger of becoming completely housebound.

“Participants all support each other and encourage others along, and as a consequence feel more valued in their community,” she said. “New members are certainly always welcome.”

The Robyn Murray Memorial Organisation Award is presented in honour of the memory of Robyn Murray, a former Manager of Japara Neighbourhood House and Glen Park Community Centre, and a passionate advocate of social inclusion.

The friendly staff at BSCH can be contacted on 9754 2274 or found at Gilmour Court, Belgrave South.

 

Tasty hillsceneLIVE

Post by Gareth Hart.

For those of you who might have been camping under a rock in the past month, enjoying some solitude and hibernation as we approach Winter, you may not know that for the first time ever, the new issue of the hillscene was launched with its own Arts festival! hillsceneLIVE took place on June 6^th, in all of the unused, unknown, secret and hidden spaces of Burrinja.

Audiences were treated to a smorgasbord of artistic and cultural offerings, from delicious dance to theatre, tasty sound to visual art, and zesty participatory experiences to live art.

You may notice (how could you not?) my use of food adjectives here. This is quite intentional. In programming and producing this festival, I became obsessed with the idea of live performing arts as food. I asked each artist ‘If your work was a food, what would it be?’, and I also created a menu for the night, as opposed to a traditional festival program.   There were two main reasons for this, being:

1. Food can sustain us, recharge our energy, motivate us into action: exactly what good performance can do; and
2. Food is good for your soul: Just like live performance.

So, for this weeks blog, I offer you the answer to my question from each artist, and see below for the hillsceneLIVE menu.

In the aftermath of this event, I feel wholly satisfied with what my eyes, ears and brain were treated to last Friday night, and I offer my humble thanks to each and every chef who created meals of cultural and culinary significance.

For those of you hungry for the next course, we launch the hillscene Spring issue on September 5th. No doubt there will be an abundance of tasty treats on off there too. As Amy Middleton and Emma Jennings teased us with last Friday night, ‘Come Play!’

Amy Middleton and Emma Jennings: A fine red wine…fresh, expressive and resilient, with delicate hints of the inky and painterly, set around a creative core!

Justine Walsh: Chunks of pumpkin seasoned with olive oil and nutmeg and rosemary and salt and pepper, slow-roasted to the point of caramelizing. Maybe even a full epic roast dinner if you’re feeling adventurous.

Sarah Tamara Kaur: Jam doughnut stuck on a digestive biscuit – sticky and seductive but with a real wholesome and humble base

Neil Triffett: A non-imported one

3MDR and Emma Johnson: An inside-out grilled cheese sandwich

Simon Godfrey: Trio of Dips

Jessica Harris: Mashed Potato

Gulsen Ozer: Soul food

Duaa Svim (feat Libby Maitland): Inedible

Vivienne Rogis: An apple eaten during pregnancy (A context driven experience of the mundane or expected that reveals the un-expected.)

Ben Kelly, Steve Davies + Roderick McLoed: Banana smoothie, with goji berries, honey, and egg and a few baby spinach leaves

Chun Liang Liu: It’s more like sprinkle water, hard to tell the taste but it is present.

Bronwen Kamasz: Raw carrot – bright & crunchy, and good for your eyes

Roderick Price: Sannakji [an aggressive delicacy]

Toni Main: Fernet Branca

Gretel Taylor:

Jak: Oysters

Maggie Brown: Leftover vegetable soup, reheated

MISFIT Theatre: Children of the Clock is tacos. It’s messy, and it’s going to burn you in the end.

 

Who are the Arties?

Post written by Lynette Forrest

The Burrinja Arties are a group of people, their friends and some volunteers that are taken to Burrinja on a Friday morning in school terms, to take part in an art programme facilitated by Lynette Forrest, a Creative Arts therapist.

The members of the Arties range in age from those in their 20’s to those in their 70’s. All have experienced or continue to live in challenging circumstances. The group considers Burrrinja to be a place that they belong and they look forward to their art programme and the welcoming community of Burrinja.

Each year the Arties create artwork for an annual exhibition. In 2012 they presented a portrait exhibition called the ‘ArtieBalds’. The theme ‘Home’ was explored in in 2013 and the exhibition took place in the Studio Gallery and cafe at Burrinja. This year they will fill Jarmbi 2 with an exhibition titled ‘Our World Is Here…. and it is Art’. Everyone is invited to come and enjoy the exhibition and gain an insight into the creative world of the Arties. The exhibition will run from the 31 October – 30 November.

Craig is a member of the Arties, whilst he only joined the group recently; he has quickly become part of the Arties family and has taken on the role as spokesperson for the group. It was the following quote by Craig that inspired the title for this year’s show. “Our world can cover the personal to the political, the microcosm to the macrocosm. The cross roads the arties have had in their life, with all their ups and downs, To what is precious to us in our world environment and what we stand to loose forever, If we don’t act now!”

The Arties are looking for mentors to join the group on Friday mornings from 10am till noon. The commitment level is flexible, with a minimum of three visits over the 23 weeks program till the exhibition. This opportunity will mean that you are partnered with an Artie and will be able to share your gift of creativity with an individual. You are also invited to exhibit your own work in ‘Our World Is Here…. and it is Art’ exhibition.

Past mentors have found the experience mutually beneficial and the Arties are already asking who they will be partnered with this year. The group is very eager to increase their artist repertoire. If you would like to share your artist medium, skills and inspiration with this delightful group, please contact Lynette Forrest.

“I have spent eight years with the Arties as a Creative Arts Therapist. They are my passion! Our group has had its ups and downs but we are growing in strength, commitment and community. My team of dedicated volunteers and mentors have made a difference in the lives of each Artie and that is why the group continues.” Lynette Forrest.

Lynette Forrest
creativemajik@westnet.com.au
ph: 97545982