Voice Arts Trust regularly partners with City Housing and with The Museum of Wellington City and Sea but a new project for 2014 will bring, for the first time, all 3 organisations together in a unique collaboration. This is a storytelling project with older people in assisted living. See our project page for more details as this exciting partnership moves forward.
Author: Nicola
Speaking of Voice Arts Trust …
Interest in our work and our purpose continues to grow in all sorts of wonderful places. Recently Voice Arts Trust was invited to deliver a 1 hour lecture to members of Wellington’s University of the 3rd Age. Like much of our work, there was nothing usual about this lecture and the audience found themselves becoming participants as we demonstrated some of the games from our toolbox of deep fun. The feedback was fantastic and it is our hope that next year we will look to partner with U3A for an actually project.
Voice Arts Trust was also invited to the Embassy of Thailand to meet with a delegation from southern Thailand. The members were all engaged in preventing / reducing communal conflicts in the area. The group was keen to hear about and understand the cross cultural and creative-focused work of Voice Arts Trust. We discussed the transformative power of drama based education and creative expression in the community, but also of the challenges. From our morning together, it looks as if facilitators from Voice Arts Trust may be heading to Thailand in 2015 to train local facilitators.
Creative Engagement with City Housing CRC’s
This project running September 2013 – April 2014 is a creative celebration of the 25 City Housing Community Room Coordinators; it will honour the stories that lie behind those people and acknowledge the voluntary work they do; it will further strengthen their identity as a group and enhance their connection to their tenant communities. This project is not confined to one artistic medium but will use film, audio, photography and the written word in a complication of creative expression!
Winner 2013 New Zealand National Diversity Awards
Voice Arts Trust was a recipient of the annual New Zealand Diversity Awards presented at the conclusion of the New Zealand Diversity Forum held on 26 August in Wellington.Voice Arts Trust was recognised for our outstanding contribution to diversity in New Zealand. Here Director Nicola Pauling receives the award on behalf of the Trust. (photo Colin Diamid).
Refugee Seniors Project 2013
In partnership with Refugee Trauma Recovery, Voice Arts Trust will deliver a cultural and social wellbeing project for elders* from the Wellington refugee community. While there are several regular development projects offered to young people with refugee backgrounds, little is offered for older people and isolation and marginalisation is very real for many. This project will offer a meeting place for older people to come together and to engage in a creative story-telling process. Their knowledge, their experiences, their voices will be documented, presented to the wider community and ultimately preserved. This programme will help create connections across ethnic communities and create connections between generations in their own cultures.
Cross-Cultural Women’s Project 2013/2014
Voice Arts Trust has been invited by “Wellington Women Work for Peace” to deliver a creative engagement project that will guide, support and empower a group of women from diverse cultural and social backgrounds to create a unique performance piece that speaks to the themes of International Women’s Day: peace and non violence, and that celebrates women. This performance will be premeired at a fund-raising dinner at on March 8th 2014, International Women’s Day. There is also the option of showcasing it to schools and other venues/occasions to support education and advocacy of these themes. This project is in development and workshops will begin in October.
Tenant Workshops July 2013
Continuing our work with City Housing we are delivering a creative engagement workshop with the theme of financial fitness. While the day will see lots of helpful information presented to tenants, our role is to help the group see the wealth of knowledge and understanding that already exists amongst them as a community. Games and exercises will draw out all this knowledge – transfer it and and celebrate it!
Tenant Summit March 2013
We had a fantastic day at the City Housing Tenant Summit, delivering back to back workshops on sustainable living and how to be a great neighbour. It was wonderful to work with familiar faces and meet a whole lot of new ones! I think this piece of feedback says it all: ” The tactile nature of the experience will ensure we remember. Thank you.”
The Good Life Workshop Series 2012
A series of workshops exploring how to live a more sustainable life. With a focus on gardens, health and wellbeing, getting creative and building community. The participants were city council tenants and we had such a fantastic time together. We learnt as group, through play, games and sharing. This project was delivered in partnership with Wellington City Housing.
Rita Angus Retirement Village – Film Project 2012
In partnership with Ryman Healthcare, Voice Arts Trust worked with 10 residents from Rita Angus retirement village over a six month period to create a short film ‘Facing Change.’ The participants chose the performance medium and after much discussion, agreed on a theme and from there went on to devise and perform in the film. It was a wonderful creative journey shared by all involved and culminated in the premiere of the film in front of 200 invited guests. The film was wonderfully received! To watch online click here.