Inverell Shire Council’s youth project titled Yillambu-Yilaathu (Gamilaaray Translation: Past – Present) was nominated for the Local Government Arts and Culture Awards and was selected as a finalist in the category of “Community Participation in Arts and Culture, Aboriginal Arts and Culture”
The Yilambu-Yilaathu Youth Project was an initiative that engaged local indigenous youth and enabled them to express themselves through film while exploring their thoughts and feelings on local indigenous culture and history.
Inverell Shire Council’s Executive Manager of Corporate and Community Services, Stephen Golding, then presented the project as a case study at the 2014 Local Government Arts and Culture Summit and received the “Highly Commended” award for its nominated category.
The Project provided youth from the Linking Together Centre with the opportunity to plan, create and display a digital film focused on indigenous culture.
Funding was provided by the Australia Council for the Arts as a result of the collaborative grant submission by Inverell Shire Council and BEST Employment.
The project included multiple partnerships with the Linking Together Centre, Gamilaraay Indigenous Elders, Macintyre High School and Inverell High School.
Under the direction of qualified arts and media teacher, David Gilchrist, interactive workshops were held where the students learnt how to capture image, sound and video and combine them to create a digital film representing their view and sentiment on local indigenous culture and history, which they named Sapphire City Blues.
The Project allowed for the promotion of Inverell’s Indigenous Culture and History as seen through the eyes of youth and assisted them to re-engage with the community and education through this relevant and hands on educational activity.
The process of creating a digital story is a deep personal journey into one’s own history and experience of identity formation and encouraged those involved to present what they know, their experiences, how they think and what they feel.
During the creation of the film students interviewed each other and their Elders where they learnt about their Elders’ past and heard first–hand what life for indigenous people was like in their generation and how the culture has changed.
The film compares the lives of indigenous youth today to the lives of local Elders at the same stage of their lives.
The film features interviews of the students, Elders and poetry written by local Aboriginal Elder Esther Gardiner.
Sapphire City Blues can be viewed on Inverell Shire Council’s YouTube page at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh6lODxeTI4
