Continuous Voices
Enabling Compassion through Creative Arts
** Warning - content INCLUDES reference to sexual assault and sexual abuse**
If you need assistance with the issue of sexual assault or abuse please contact:
Ballarat CASA 03 5320 3933
After Hours/Crisis Care 24 hours - free call 1800 806 292
Continuous Voices is a project that connects trauma and creativity to stand for change and resistance against sexual assault and sexual abuse. The project acknowledges the courage of those who have stood for change and provides hope for these continuous voices to be heard. The project will work towards creating a space in Ballarat to reflect. The shape of this space will be determined through creative collaborations with community.
Background
The impact of sexual assault and sexual abuse in Ballarat has drawn attention and resonates both nationally and internationally. A call for support from local government had a wide and strong support base in the community; the City of Ballarat have been in conversations with community members to support a program acknowledging the community impact of this issue for a number of years. City of Ballarat funding has been allocated to support a project led by the community in the development of a site through trauma-integrated arts activities.
In March 2019, members of the Ballarat community again approached the City of Ballarat with the proposal to develop a public site dedicated to acknowledging survivors of sexual assault in the community. This was a response to an online fundraising campaign by local resident and secondary school teacher Blake Curran whose family has been impacted by this issue. Blake began the campaign to “assist our broken Ballarat community move forward from the years of historical abuse by many institutions.”
While the City of Ballarat Community Development Team have worked with affected community members from the establishment of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2013 and beyond, we recognise that we do not have staff with expertise in the fields of therapy, trauma recovery or inter-generational trauma. The City of Ballarat sought advice from the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) to ensure that the Continuous Voices Project would meet the needs of impacted community members and offer high-level expertise to drive positive outcomes for the widest range of our community possible. In May 2019, Ballarat CASA staff joined representatives from the City of Ballarat staff and the Art Gallery of Ballarat in developing a long term, multi-arts project for Ballarat called ‘Continuous Voices’.
This project is very different to other public space or public art projects that the City of Ballarat has undertaken as it is related to healing deep-set trauma that has affected so many in the Ballarat community. The project has engaged art and community development practitioners Beyond Empathy to facilitate immersive arts activities that will create space for conversation and compassion. Beyond Empathy (BE) collaborates with communities across Australia to shift perceptions and generate positive social change through the process of creating and sharing art. Over the past 15 years BE has developed a unique way of working where everyone is welcome to contribute and each person involved as an equal.
The community will lead the development of the project with key projects partners:
And other community advice and support organisations:
Your voice is needed
All community members are invited to be involved in the project. You can express your interest in becoming involved
Where to from here?
The invitation for community to become involved in the Continuous Voices Project will be open from November 2019.
From December 2019, podcasts will be created to begin to tell local stories and extend the ideas of conversation and compassion throughout Ballarat.
In early 2020, we will be offering artists the opportunity to attend collaborative creative professional development sessions that will prepare them to work with community members. Community participants will then be offered a number of opportunities to get involved via planned workshops, online participation or one-to-one creative ventures.
All activities held in 2020 will work towards creating a public space in Ballarat. The shape of this space will be determined in 2021 through creative collaborations with community.