Glenorchy City Council, Tasmania, has developed a COVID-19 Economic Recovery program to deliver both emergency measures and strategic investment into the City.
One of the ten identified projects was Showcase Moonah Creative Hub, a creative placemaking project to promote and activate the Moonah precinct.
Council partnered with Town Team Movement and Future Common to coordinate the activities of Showcase Moonah and to build the capacity of those participants in implementing their ideas.
A total of 49 expressions of interest were registered from which 32 grant applications were received.
Successful applicants were as diverse as the local community, with participants including local businesses, multicultural communities, a youth social enterprise, artists, musicians, and not-for-profit groups. The facilitation of multiple projects in unison meant that inter-community collaboration was incentivised and enabled.
Happenings included activities sharing Southwest China ethnic culture, a multicultural street library and a multicultural showcase of interactive music and dance performances celebrating the cultural diversity of Moonah.
The Troublesmiths, a youth-led social enterprise of talented Tasmanian makers, conducted interactive making workshops and created a collaborative job board, situated outside the Moonah Post Office.
The largest project was To the North market, a pop-up street market showcasing business, produce, local makers, performers, artists, and entrepreneurs.
Four local musicians that perform with The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra brought classical music to the streets with Bach’s Fugues, and the community coloured a large mural in Make Your Mark Moonah.
People with disability put on two placemaking street activation events and assisted with stalls at the To the North market.
Thirty original artworks were placed around Moonah for people to discover and take home for free (Flying Oxygen) and multicultural dancers boogied at the Silent DisGLOW, activating a key precinct site, and stimulating the night-time economy.
Streets and laneways were filled with artwork including rainbows of colour along the walkway of Memory Lane.
Streets came alive hosting guerrilla gardeners and an interactive guided walk telling tales and testimonies of Moonah’s history while dancing in the streets.
Even the airways were occupied with LIVE from Moonah! – broadcast on Edge Radio to celebrate the diversity of the Moonah area with a street-side radio broadcast.
