Community access and participation

The social and cultural mix of a community is one of the components of its creativity.  Understanding how to work with the diverse groups in your community will make you a more effective cultural worker.  Through your work more people will access creative activity and find a way to express themselves and celebrate their lives and that of their community.

This section provides some information and resources to assist you if you wish to engage with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Australian South Sea Islander community groups or with other cultural groups from non-English speaking backgrounds.

There are also resources for working with groups with special needs. Special needs groups are identified broadly as groups whose members may be people with an intellectual, emotional or physical disability.

Engaging with others

To engage with any community group, you will need to do your research. Your prime consideration will be showing respectful behaviour, however, you need to be aware of what is deemed respectful by the group you wish to connect with, as your view may differ from theirs.  Basic approaches which meet in our shared humanity are:

  • honesty and transparency
  • non-offensive language or behaviour
  • open body language – (eye contact and physical distance are cultural issues to research)
  • providing a space where all parties can feel comfortable
  • listening
  • asking appropriate questions in a non-threatening manner
  • allowing adequate time for responses
  • honouring people’s contribution by maintaining a connection and letting them know how the work is progressing.
  • empowering participants to co-manage the process.

If you work respectfully with any group and follow the above protocols you will provide a strong social justice framework to the work you do. This is imperative when working with groups who may be disadvantaged. 

Social justice is about making sure that every Australian – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – has choices about how they live and the means to make those choices. It also means recognising the distinctive rights that Indigenous Australians hold as the original peoples of this land.
(Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission - 2007)

Resources

There is an enormous wealth of material available covering Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander history and cultural protocols.  The following references provide are just a small sample:

The Australia Council has produced a series of five free publications, covering protocols for working with Indigenous artists or dealing with Indigenous cultural material. Each covers a specific artform, Performing cultures, visual culture, song culture, new media and writing. www.australiacouncil.gov.au/publications/indigenous

In Communicating across Cultures, the Queensland Government’s A&TSI Partnerships publications provides a range of resources to assist with consulting and negotiating with Aboriginal  (see: a4_1.pdf) and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (see: mmsecton2.pdf).  It provides a brief overview of Aboriginal history pre and post white contact and the website, generally, provides access to statistical and publications information. www.atsip.qld.gov.au/resources/cultures.cfm

Aboriginal History:  Overview of publication covering information and articles on the history of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders during post contact period. www.aboriginalhistory.org/Journals.html   

Aboriginal Australia: History and Culture of Australia’s Indigenous People www.factmonster.com/spot/aboriginal1.html   

Belonging: Australians, Place and Aboriginal.

Overview of book about Aboriginal Australians discussing their sense of belonging to the land.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qt_H9FRYBUMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=As+a+matter+of+fact+Indigenous+Australians&ots=FRPQD5Mp5M&sig=uA8w13segt3ZMeihPBbMHw-ZSis#PPP1,M1

History of the Aborigines library.thinkquest.org/28994/abhistory.html

Yooroang Garang. University of Sydney site, listing Indigenous Sites, and covering Online Resources, Journals and Health information.

www3.fhs.usyd.edu.au/yg/links/index.html

The Aboriginal and TSI Library and Information Resources Network Protocols provides a comprehensive list of links to locate relevant protocols when working with Aboriginal and TSI people.  www.aiatsis.gov.au/library

Wikipedia provides a brief overview of the Torres Straits, geography and history. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_Strait

Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: TSI Identify, Culture and History:  Book review. www.abc.net.au/message/blackarts/review/s1152746.htm

The National Library of Australia, resources available on Aboriginal and TSI peoples.  www.nla.gov.au/guides/30.html

Partnerships between Indigenous people, government and civil society.  Information and proceedings from an international conference held in Brisbane in 2005 on engaging the marginalised.

References

www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/conference/engaging_communities/index.html

Human Resources. www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/index.html

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program www.atsip.qld.gov.au
http://indigenousaustralia.frogandtoad.com.au/language1.html

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_languages

Propelarts http://www.propelarts.org.au/resources/indigenous.php