Monday 2 February at Abbottsford Convent Arts Centre, a launch was held for the new book The Relationship is the Project.
Respected Victorian Aboriginal Elder Uncle Larry, one of the first to speak, praised Jade Lillie, the book’s curator and the various writers.
He said that the essays in The Relationship is the Project are essential for those who want to work with communities and emphasised “listening, communication, and intergenerational knowledge.”
“We are not about empowering people that assume someone has the power and is giving it to the powerless,” Uncle Larry said.
He pointed to Jade Lillie’s commitment to communities and First Nation People during her tenure as Director of the Footscray Community Arts Centre.
“I noticed Jade when she was working in Queensland and said ‘she would be great here’ then one day I found her as the head of FCAC,” Uncle Larry said.
The CEO of Abbottsford Convent Arts Centre, Collette Brennan heaped praise on Ms Lillie saying, “Jade has brought together some this nation’s key practitioners in culturally diverse and general community engagement.”
Curator, Jade Lillie thanked Kate Larsen as Project Manager and then the contributors naming all of them. Ms Lillie underlined the issues the book covers, such as developing ‘community safety’, ‘ethnic media communications’ and more.
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Kate Larsen, the book’s project manager, highlighted that the process of dealing with the writers was a humbling one as the contributors were all experts in their field who ‘cared deeply about the words they used.”
Dr Ruth de Souza, a contributor writing on ‘community and cultural safety’ spoke about how the Abbottsford Convent was in the 19th Century a Catholic convent for single women and saw much suffering within its walls. She then highlighted how now it has been transformed into a “lively and important arts centre”. Dr Souza also said the book would act a “guide and resource to all those who with to participate and work with communities.”
Greek Australians, Esther Anatolitis, Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), and Fotis Kapetopoulos, Neos Kosmos writer and Director of Kape Communications contributed to the book. Mr Kapetopoulos’ chapter is Audiences and Cultural Diversity and Ms Anatolitis’ chapter is The Role of the Institution.
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Ms Lillie came back to the podium to thank the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Myer Fund for making the project possible as part of her Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship. In attendance were Frank Panucci, Executive Director of Grants and Engagement at the Australia Council for the Arts and Tony Grybowski former CEO of the Australia Council for the Arts. Over 200 people at the launch represented community arts specialists, academics and artists from across Australia.
For more information on The Relationship if the Project please go to https://therelationshipistheproject.com/