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Commission celebrates NAIDOC Week 2011
Children participating in the activity.
The Commission celebrated NAIDOC Week this year with an information stall and children’s art and design activity at the NAIDOC Week Family Fun Day event at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane on Friday 8 July.
The annual event was organised by the Musgrave Park Cultural Centre as part of NAIDOC Week, which celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
More than 15,000 people attend the event each year, including families and children of all ages, to enjoy the diverse range of information stalls, rides and traditional Indigenous entertainment and foods.
This year, the Commission organised a special art and design activity for children and young people to express their creativity. Three workshops, facilitated by a company called lowercase, were set up simultaneously using three different approaches – visual art, digital design and stop motion animation which uses digital cameras to animate responses to themes.
Children and young people were asked to develop their own interpretation of the Commission’s logo and consider what they would most like to change if they had a choice. These Commission themes were inspired by the NAIDOC 2011 theme of ‘Change – the next step is ours’.
More than 100 children and young people participated in the activity and a sample compilation of their work from the day will be presented on this website shortly.
Some samples were also shown on the big screen at the event when the Commissioner for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, Elizabeth Fraser, gave a short speech on the main stage thanking children for their participation and announcing sponsorship of up to $5000 for the Jagera Arts Centre to run additional workshops for young people facilitated by lowercase.
L–R: Musgrave Park Cultural Centre Committee chairperson Greg Brown, Commissioner Elizabeth Fraser and lowercase facilitator Cassy Harvey at the event.
"It is my role as Commissioner to keep an eye on how children and young people are developing in our state," Ms Fraser said.
"The Commission also supports activities and services which are helping children to grow and do well, which is why I have been a great supporter of this NAIDOC event and the work of the Musgrave Park Cultural Centre.
"I am very keen to support further opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in particular to learn new skills which engage them in learning about their culture.
"I look forward to seeing how the Jagera Arts Centre and lowercase can work together to connect children with some new and great cultural experiences."
The event represents a key marketing and engagement activity for the Commission and also supports the work currently being done to progress the Commission’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Access Strategy, which is a whole of agency approach to improving, maintaining and evaluating the cultural competency of Commission policies, programs, operations, administrative practices and advocacy services with respect to vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people
The Commission’s information stall was colocated with other independent complaints agencies and attracted many people throughout the day. Commission staff distributed more than 1600 merchandise items and hundreds of brochures and information sheets to people interested in learning more about the Commission.
The event provided a great opportunity for the broader community attending the event to engage and interact with Commission staff and find out more about our role, mandate and activities.
Last Updated: June 20, 2011
