Open Art ACTCreative combinations Introduction You can go to Belconnen Community Centre to play basketball, learn about parenting, participate in migrant English classes, or get involved in activities for young people. You can also enrol in the Leisure Program and learn badminton, go to yoga classes, join a book club or go to one of several arts courses for around $30 a term. If you are interested in the arts courses, you could choose creative sculpture, drama, painting, music jam sessions, working with clay or creative writing. If you have a mental illness, the Leisure Program offers a supportive environment for participating in a community activity. The arts classes, run under the banner of Open Art ACT, are an opportunity to get to know people who are interested in new skills and the experience of creating something for an audience. Feeling accepted and receiving The program Open Art ACT came into being as Belconnen Open Art in 1998 after the closure of Watson Hostel, a 24-hour supported accommodation facility which had employed an arts officer. Staff at BCS saw the value of bringing the arts officer position under their wing as an addition to their community programs. Open Art employs a full-time coordinator with professional arts training,
plus several professional artists as sessional tutors. Its activities
have expanded since it was established. Classes covering 11 different
artforms are now held at both Tuggeranong Arts Centre and Belconnen Community
Centre. They run over ten-week terms with four terms a year. More recently, outreach activities in several supported accommodation and hospital settings have been established. These became part of the program when Open Art took on classes previously supported by Mental Health ACT through the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service (PRS). Open Art sees the connection between these classes in mental health contexts and the community classes at Belconnen and Tuggeranong as opening an important path between institutional and community support. A metaphor Open Art uses for developing this relationship is ‘diving in and bringing people on board’. Once ‘on board’, Open Art encourages participants to see themselves as individuals and artists, rather than people with particular mental health issues. To be silly serious, sensual One result of this inclusive approach has been Open Art’s recognition and success at the ACT Health Promotion Awards 2005, where it was awarded both the Excellence in Mental Health Promotion Award and the Overall Award of Excellence in Health Promotion. Public outcomes Seeking mainstream opportunities through exhibiting and publishing is an increasingly important thread in Open Art’s activities. Participants were delighted by the interest shown by Canberra’s Chapman Gallery as a result of their 2003 exhibition Flowers of Hope and Vision. The program coordinator’s role now includes establishing a sale price for participants’ work, as well as ensuring the provision of quality art materials. Flowers of Hope and Vision highlighted the direction the program is now taking towards greater mainstream visibility. It was held at the Canberra Museum and Gallery during Mental Health Week 2003 and developed as an exhibition rather than a simple showcase. It highlighted the artistic and social intentions of Open Art by featuring individual works as distinct parts of a collaborative whole. The exhibition included a number of the artforms represented in the classes and was particularly noticeable for its imaginative presentation of creative writing and drama. One of the creative writing participants had the idea of framing the poems and stories so that they had the status of exhibits. He negotiated with a local framing business and took responsibility for the completion of the necessary work. This was an effective creative step and one of significant personal development.
Eleanor Waight, Flowers Of Hope And Vision 2 Pathways One of the great strengths — and challenges — of Open Art ACT is that it is about both mental health and the arts. It does not only involve one or the other. Its activities are an opportunity for people with mental illness to engage in wider social interaction and for them to develop artform skills. Creating work in a group environment, seeing your own progress and achievements and contributing work to exhibitions are important steps out of the closed world of mental illness. They also form a basis for volunteer work, study and employment in arts-related areas. Two participants have become tutors in the program, several have gone on to art courses at the Canberra Institute of Technology and a sculpture class participant has a mentorship with an established artist. Sculpture has added tremendously to my life — opened up a
world I’d never dreamt of being part of. The sculpture course brought
out something I never knew I possessed. I can’t draw a line but
give me a chisel and I can create a form I want. Lars Nissen enrolled in Open Art classes after seeing an exhibition.
He started with bonsai and writing, then moved on to sculpture where he
was instantly at home. Conclusion A third issue of balance concerns the purpose of participating in Open Art. For some participants, it may be an important step in new directions. Open Art’s creation of firmer links into existing community organisations such as the Canberra Institute of Technology, artist-run studios and writing groups is a great development for them. For others, participating in a supportive group, making friends and engaging in a pleasurable and rewarding creative activity is a huge step in itself. Although the current funding climate favours ‘moving on’, ongoing group participation is also meaningful and productive.
Denis Oram, from ‘Elephant’ - - - - - - - - - - - |