The Collie Art Gallery and Collie Senior High School have teamed up to teach students about the wide world of performing arts.
Collie Gallery Group inc. has been running performance workshops during recess and lunch, and after school, in the CSHS Performing Arts Centre this month, leading into a full school holiday program in July.
Collie Gallery Group inc. Creative Director Joshua Thomason said the workshops were designed to attain feedback from students across Collie.
“We were given funding to run a series of arts-based workshops and part of that is coming to the school to listen to and hear what they have to say about how they would like these workshops to be, what topics they'd like and what activities we can create just to make it as relevant and meaningful as possible to them,” he said.
The Emergence project was set up as a youth-focused wellbeing series of arts engagement workshops, teaching students about artistic avenues including live music, dance, filmmaking, animation and art therapy.
The ten-week initiative has seen professional artists – including West African drummers and dancers –mentoring the students.
The group has planned for a public showing for the students to display their work.
Mentoring artist Jayson Harms AKA Jays Held Under said the workshops provided a unique opportunity to engage with Collie students.
“We’re trying to cover as many bases as we can with the children and connect with the issues that they have around them at the moment,” he said.
“I’m there to mentor them, give advice, teach music, write music etc., anything to engage with them in a positive way.”
The project initially received 400 survey responses from CSHS students.
Mr Thomason said the program was designed to fill gaps in the curriculum and link different cultures and communities in town together.
“Collie is quite isolated in a lot of ways so it’s really about helping the students to connect with each other in new ways and with other aspects of the community,” he said.
“There is so much talent in Collie that has come through the high school and this is another opportunity to allow people to step up and shine.”
$35,000 in funding was awarded to the project from the nib foundation’s annual Community Grant Program.
The Collie Gallery group was one of two Western Australian projects to receive funding from nib out of 300 applications earlier this year.
The project has partnered with Collie PCYC and the Ngalang Boodja Council Aboriginal Corporation.
