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ellianajune · 10 years

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Goodbye for now!

Sadly, it’s my last week as an intern at dLux.

The experience has given me confidence and skills that I will take with me into my future endeavors, and while my internship has come to an end I hope to continue the relationship I have built with both dLux and the communities they work with.

As an Aboriginal woman I had a personal interest in working on the dLab National Program because of its special focus on young women from CALD and Indigenous backgrounds. From a personal perspective, I have seen many programs come into my own community and leave before they had reached the people who needed them most. The dLab program is unique in the way it forms relationships with previously established community organisations, and runs workshops several times throughout the year, as opposed to a once off. I was proud to be a part of this journey and this connection.

It was a good experience for me to change roles from a participant to a facilitator and see first hand just how important the relationship is between the dLux facilitators and the communities they work with.

When I reflected on my work in Kempsey from a small-scale perspective, the participants had learnt new skills. However, when I looked at in on a larger scale they had been given the opportunity to build confidence, explore their creativity, begin to dream and ultimately envision a different future. This was evident in their enthusiasm and progress throughout each day. And while I was only there for a week, the dLab program will be returning to the community and running workshops for at least another 2 years. Continuing to build these students confidence and grow their future.

I was so proud to see the community coming together, sharing stories and working collaboratively on projects. It was rewarding for me to see the participants wholly engage in each activity, and become confident in their ideas and themselves.

My small team at dLux has become like a family, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for the organisation and myself.

#dLux MediaArts #dLab National Program #Elliana Lawford #Goodbye #Future #Family #Pride

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ellianajune · 10 years

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My week in Kempsey

What a week!

I’m back in the office after my week facilitating digital media workshops with the community in Kempsey. It was a huge learning curve – and an exciting one at that!

From the first day I hit the ground running and worked alongside dLab Facilitator, Yenny Huber. Yenny has been the dLab Facilitator in Wilcannia and Wagga Wagga since 2012, so I was able to learn a lot from her hands on approach. We worked with teachers and students to create animation movies, edit photographs, and mix/edit audio and video around the theme “My Favorite Place”.

The dynamics of the week allowed me to observe different learning methods, and see how everyone interacted with the various programs. It allowed me to develop my own style of teaching to connect with students and participants – something I have always wanted to do. When I fist began working with some of the students they were extremely shy and “shame" (a term commonly used in Aboriginal culture, that refers to embarrassment due to attention or certain circumstances). I needed to help them overcome this through support and encouragement. I found that if I embraced the student’s ideas with enthusiasm, they also began to adopt this enthusiasm.

dLux gave the opportunity for participants to give feedback after each session, which really showed how the program cared about the needs of the community and what they wanted to achieve in the long run. The feedback was really positive and they expressed the need for the dLab and the difference between other workshops that travelled through the area. It was not just about providing things to do for the young people, but developing skills and resources for the whole community.

When the weekend came around it was time for the Saltwater Freshwater festival! We had four different stations:

(1) a portrait studio;

(2) an interactive map;

(3) a screening lounge and

(4) a media lab.

At the media lab and the screening lounge we showcased all the artwork the students had created in the workshops! It was great to see so much engagement and pride from families and the community. The most rewarding was to see the change in confidence of the young people throughout the program. I had young girls who at first didn’t want to participate in the workshops at all, coming up to me at the Festival excited to show their finished animations to their whole family!

I believe somewhere along the lines young people can lose the ability to dream and it especially effects me when it’s young Aboriginal people, my people. Seeing the youth of Kempsey begin to dream was an extremely fulfilling experience. While I was facilitating the “My Favourite Place” station you could see first hand young people not only mark existing sites, but also create new places – things that they would like to see happen in Kempsey.

Yenny captured generations in the portrait studio and proved to be a great hit.

I felt the dLux stations were an exciting way to wrap up our stay in Kempsey and also gave us the opportunity to give back to the community.

This experience gave me something I didn’t know I was looking for. I have always been a nurturer. When I was a little girl, I would carry a doll around with me everywhere I went. As I grew older I began to think I would take on a role as a social worker or teacher. It was only after facing my own hardships that I decided this wasn’t the path for me. So, whilst I let go of my dream of social work, my passion for disengaged youth still stuck. My week away in Kempsey allowed me to see a new way I could enrich the lives of young people in an extremely positive way without necessarily being a social worker.

dLux understands that relationship building takes time. From my own experience growing up, I would often see programs come and leave before the majority of people who needed them most had even heard about them in the community. Trust is not born over night, dLux’s long-term approach in forming partnerships allows them to wholly connect with the communities they work with and I was proud to be a part of that connection.

The residency taught me a lot about community engagement, digital media, facilitating workshops - even myself. Going to Kempsey for the Saltwater Freshwater Festival was an amazing opportunity to work alongside my community and gain some real know-how through the guidance of an experienced facilitator.

Until next time!

#dLux MediaArts #dLab workshop #Saltwater Freshwater Festival #Elliana Lawford #Kempsey #community #Aboriginal #Indigenous #engagement #photography #digital media

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ellianajune · 10 years

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A story that comes from two worlds

"This opportunity allows me to embrace the mix of my city and bush upbringing through working in the Sydney office coupled with the dLab workshops out in regional Australia. I am a proud Wiradjuri woman with ties to the Dunghutti people and I am excited that the dLab Program allows me to connect with my people and assist in building a strong and deadly community."

Growing up my friends and family would always say – “Elli has a story about everything”.

I remember when I was just 15 years old, playing a game of cricket with friends in the park. I went over to the swings for only a few moments and came back to tell a story of a young girl I’d just met. My friends all burst out laughing because I found out later that my brother had explained I “would no doubt come back with a story,” and indeed I did.

It was this desire for story telling and the art of delivery, which sparked my interest in the world of communications and digital media. My passion continued to grow from when I was younger and only heightened when I understood the importance of story telling within my culture. I’m in my final year of a Bachelor of Communication and aim to make a difference to the perception of Aboriginal people by actively engaging in issues relating to my people.

Elliana (front, third from the left) and her mob back home. Listen to Elliana's Heywire entry "I'm a Novocastrian" here.

I grew up with the best of both worlds, with a mother who loves the rush of inner Sydney, and my dad - a proud Wiradjuri man who grew up out bush, on his land. As a child I was exposed to both these luxuries, always travelling between the two. So, who am I? I grew up in the city, but I’m not a city girl. I also spent a lot of my time out bush, but I’m not a country girl.

I’ve found both the rush and the calm all in one – an internship at dLux MediaArts. This opportunity allows me to embrace the mix of my city and bush upbringing through working in the Sydney office coupled with the dLab workshops out in regional Australia. I am a proud Wiradjuri woman with ties to the Dunghutti people and I am excited that the dLab Program allows me to connect with my people and assist in building a strong and deadly community.

I am about to begin that journey.

On Sunday I’m heading to Kempsey to attend my first dLux residency as part of the Salt Water Fresh Water Festival. My grandmother was an Anaiwan woman from Uralla, so I’m heading home!

I'll be posting updates about my time in Kempsey - so stay tuned!

More about Elliana: Elliana is completing a Bachelor of Communication through the University of Newcastle. She is part of the CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship program and will be interning at dLux over the summer holidays. She was also awarded a Cadetship with ABC Radio and is very active in her community assisting in programs such as iBelieve and s2u through The Wollotuka Institute. She is a proud Wiradjuri woman with ties to the Dunghutti people, however she has spent most of her life on Awabakal land.

#Aboriginal #Elliana Lawford #dLux MediaArts #ABC #Wiradjuri #Dunghutti #Communications #Digital Media #Bush #City #Story telling #Community #Saltwater Freshwater Festival #Regional Australia #CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship Program #Heywire #I'm a Novocastrian #Culture #dLab workshop

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