Creative Connections

CREATIVE CONNECTIONS ART AND POETRY EXHIBITIONS

The Creative Connections project came about after a Disability Services Commission (DSC) staff member and a poet, who is also the mother of one of the residents of Bristol Hostel (a DSC hostel) talked one day about how poets and DSC workers could work together and provide an opportunity for DSC residents/clients to connect more with the community. The DSC worker had attended the 2005 WA Spring Poetry Festival and had been impressed by the community atmosphere.

From that discussion, the idea surfaced to organize an art and poetry exhibition. Creative Connections seemed like a good name, as it fitted so well with the aims of the project, which are:

To demonstrate through creative pursuits, the diverse abilities and personalities of people with disabilities
To enable disabled people, the community and community groups to connect with each other

We believe art and poetry are important ways for people to express themselves creatively and we wanted to give disabled artists the opportunity to do this and to connect with the community and each other. Working with local poets to achieve these aims has proved to be ideal.

In particular, we wanted this to apply to high-needs DSC clients/residents, as it was felt that these people have the least amount of opportunity to express themselves creatively and to connect with the community.

The first exhibition was held in 2007, and ran from Thursday 3rd May to Sunday 6th May (a special trading day) at Centro Warwick Shopping Centre. We decided to have the exhibition in a shopping centre, because we wanted to maximize public viewing.

The exhibition consisted of the display of: artworks created by DSC residents (with as little assistance as possible from staff); a profile and a photo of each artist; and poetry written to the artworks, by local poets. The artworks and accompanying poetry were for sale, with the money from the sale going directly back to the artists. 18 of the 29 artworks, with the accompanying poetry were sold. Creative Connections is a not-for-profit group.

Some of the positives that came from the exhibition were:

positive feedback about the combination of artworks, poetry and profiles
positive public interaction, and bringing understanding, awareness and connection with artists, poets, community individuals and community groups
rewarding for all concerned – acknowledgement and appreciation of the diverse abilities and personalities of the artists through their artworks and the accompanying poetry
positive outcome for DSC workers working on the project with residents.

We know Creative Connections will continue and will eventually branch out to the community even more.

Maureen Sexton

Join the Creative Connections Team! We are looking for volunteers.
The team consists of people with the following skills:

Art and its creation - We need people to assist with the creation of artworks by disabled artists. This is very rewarding! We also need people to take photographs of the artworks being created.

Photography - As well as needing people to take photographs of the artwork being created, we also need photographs of the artists and artworks for publicity and profiles. We also need photographs taken during the exhibitions.

Fund-raising - We always need funds to cover the costs of organising and displaying the exhibitions.

Administraion - We need people with either computer skills, organising skills and various other administration skills.

Publicity - We need people with publicity and marketing skills.

Any assistance towards the exhibition will be greatly appreciated. We know these exhibitions will continue to grow each year.

If you would like to be a part of this exciting venture, or to find out more information, please contact one the following people:
Exhibition Co-ordinator Bristol Hostel, Yokine Robyn Hornsey, Phone 9275 4111 Email, robyn.hornsey@dsc.wa.gov.au	Poetry Co-ordinator Maureen Sexton Phone, 0435 024 616 creativeconnections@live.com.au
Sussex Hostel, Karrinyup Bob Kemp, Phone 9446 8500 Email, robert.kemp@dsc.wa.gov.au	Norwich Hostel, Bull Creek Pauline Serra, Phone 9332 4122 Email, pauline.serra@dsc.wa.gov.au

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