A new art project will celebrate the Aboriginal women who shaped the Yarra Ranges community.
Balit Bagurrk: Strong Aboriginal Women of the Yarra Ranges was among seven projects to share more than $630,000 in VicHealth funding.
The cash came from the health promotion foundation’s Gender Equality and the Arts grants.
Yarra Ranges Council will partner with Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association (HICSA), Wandoon Estate, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Wurundjeri Land Council, Cultural Development Network and Worowa Aboriginal College on the project.
Together they’ll find, explore, celebrate and share the stories of Aboriginal women who have shaped the Yarra Ranges community in the past, their descendants, and women leaders in the contemporary Aboriginal community.
Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams said the grants program would harness the transformative power of the arts to push for real change on gender equality.
“We want every Victorian to enjoy the benefits of good health and wellbeing, and their gender should never be a barrier to that,” she said.
“However, we know that women are more likely than men to experience family violence and abuse at the hands of their partner, which can have an enormous toll on their physical and mental health.
“This initiative will see councils partnering with cutting-edge female artists to deliver exciting new art and theatre works which give voice to local women and girls’ experiences and push for change.”
VicHealth Acting CEO Dr Lyn Roberts said it was important that women were empowered to have a voice and claim their space in the community.
“Since the #MeToo movement we’ve seen an outpouring of anger and grief from women who’ve experienced sexism, harassment and violence at the hands of men,” she said.
“We’ve also seen immense courage and optimism from many women pushing to change things for the better.”
Dr Roberts said one way of changing things was to provide greater information, knowledge and skills for the public about why gender equality in the community was good for everyone.
“Art enables people to walk in the shoes of others, it validates the experiences of people who might not have been heard or who have been marginalised,” she said.
“These projects will provide an opportunity for councils to work with artists and local women to share their experiences and challenge the harmful attitudes and stereotypes about gender holding us back.”
