I got Funding to run Art workshops

Last year I had a uni student on placement at my service and as part of her placement she developed a funding submission which we submitted to our local Council. The projects aim is to develop the links between community services, their clients through Art workshops with Christian from Aerograffix.
We were unfortunately unsuccessful on that occasion, but we were asked to resubmit for the second round due to the strength and scope of the project.

And today I received the letter advising that we got the $8000.00. I called Christian as soon as I found out and he is setting dates to begin the workshops in a couple of months. It  is a  great opportunity to link up the art work project with the school and have them involved with the multiple workshops over the coming months.

The project will:

Involve up to 72 participants, six per session over 12 sessions.
The target group will include people with disabilities or who are currently disengaged from mainstream community activities.
Each participant will have the opportunity to complete an individual artwork on canvas or contribute to a group mural.
Participants can also attend an exhibition to celebrate achievements and display works of art for community members to view.

The services and the clients of the services who will be involved are Redlands District Committee on Ageing, Canteen,Babi Youth Services, Cerebral Palsy League Qld, Redlands Bayside Disability Service, Boystown, TRACC South Foster Care and Horizon.
 
Happy ending to a very long funding process and community development project for Uni

Reflecton on Blogging and Project

Well here we are in the final week and I have just been going over Lynda's notes from Class and a few things stand out for me at the end of this process.

In Week 1- Lynda talked about Love and Fear.
For me I have to say I definitely started in Fear. I was worried about doing the blog. It was very different from any other form of assessment that I have done in my masters course. I always feel a little bit anxious  attempting new things. In particular with the computer technology.

For me the community that Lynda was hoping to achieve given the limited time that we were going to spend together in class, seemed ambitious. I was fortunate that I started the course knowing a few people very well. WE have been supporting each other through our course for a year already at this stage.
Much of the original support I got was from them. But in true Community Development Lynda had activities that ensured that we got to know others within the group.

I had strong on going support from my close community within the group, but found through the discussion board, and following the nine blogs I chose I developed a great community network.
This lead to the love of blogging- I think I have become slightly annoying to all my work colleagues and friends as I yadder yadder on about this technology. I took another  huge leap last week and jumped on to twitter as part of my blog.

Having said this and how much I love the blogging  I have convinced a few networks I am involved with that we need to go down this path. It is also proving to be a useful tool for clients as a reflective diary (you can lock of the blog so no one else can view it).

Now that I have made the commitment they are patiently waiting for my uni commitments to stop and I will then set them up and manage them for 2 network groups I am involved in for work.
So I am ending love of the technology and of the learning process.

In reviewing my project  I see my self  having done the dance between Retreat- Advance, Top down -Bottom up and Real- Ideal.
Getting the balance right in between these and the right timing  can be difficult. Mostly this balance for me has been the reliance on others. The main people involved in the project, the students had as busy work commitments as I did .

The project timing was difficult for all of us, and  we were overly ambitious in our time frame to get the art work shop done prior to the 23rd May- exceptionally Ideal. Our discussion to re launch and get others involved at a later date after the mid year assessment period for the student is far more Real.
Which meant times I had to take the lead when I was hoping to have a bottom up approach happening in  order for things to be decided.

I mention a lot about Collective Action in my blog- much of the research I did showed that when young people become involved n community issues are more likely  to remain involved in civic and political matters on an on going basis. So it has become a focus of the community project.

Lynda mentioned for us to go and 'Be brave and go out there' and 'Fail gloriously'. I think I did this. I did fail in down loading a video I wanted, I struggled in getting n to Utube, and finding podcasts. But the hard work and failure helped with developing the connection to others in the course for help to get things done.

Part of what I am most excited about is my new version of a Butterflies wings flapping- which for me was Twitter. Joining this and making it apart of my project has opened up a whole new world. I am now sharing this experience with others and the information that I am getting from my twitter and those that I am following.
It has been a long semester  but I have learnt a lot and my skills with the computers has progressed in leaps and bounds.

It has been Great.

Video add I have developed for next phase of the project

Arts Project from Karen O'Donohue on Vimeo.

I have finally managed after weeks of trying and faling to get the technology to work for me. This website allows me to lock down the video to access with code access only. This is the video I wll be using at my talk at the school to get people nvolved in the next phase of my project.

Business and the Community

Hi All,
As we think about moving out into the world and working n the community some of the community members we really need to target and get involved within  their community to make a difference s business.
I came across this utube from a twitter link, it is very insightful. It is business men at a conference answering  "If you could redesign the world, what would you do" . Technology as a tool and introduced efficiently and quickly is one of the identifyed points interesting. Have a look.
http://sn.im/wy6h4

Reminer all human lives should be valued

Hi All ,
came across a great Twitter site where the focus is on promoting Human rights. In thinking about technology- I think I need to have a bit of a focus for my Twitter account to. Not sure what that is yet. I am trolling through many and getting an idea of all the possibilities and the potential that is out there first.
Check out the twitter site
https://twitter.com/QueenRania

Video's- failure to download image from the Youth Day Out

Hi all,
Well even bribery of dinner can help to help fix a stuff up. Somehow I have managed to download off the video memory card and whilst it is in my computer and also on the card I can not get it open. Thanks again Theresa for giving up your time to try and figure out I have done with the footage- now to be know as currently lost in cyber space.

I will take to works I.T. department and see what they can do next week. But as we are fast running out of time thought I would try with DVD footage that I already have of the last Youth Day Out and of the last project I ran with Christian of developing graffiti art with a group of young people. But I couldn't get this to work either- this is very frustrating. I just wanted to give people a visual of where the second part of the project is heading and what it will look like.

Whilst it is not the young people from this project it is where we are heading, and I felt that I needed to give this project blog some clarity. But alas this part of my project plan didn't go according to the project plan that I had originally.

Today at the library I was chatting with an ex member of our class re my blogging and project. She raised with me one concern that she had had and that is what happens if you start a project, get everyone involved and then as your semester ends- you leave. We discussed the concerns of the issues of beginning projects and leaving communities in the lurch when for us our time is up. This can do more damage than having done nothing at all leaving behind a very sour feeling in the community. I am aware of this as an issue but I have to say t was not something that I had considered in beginning this project, mostly because I was lucky enough to have a project that will continue past the end of the semester, and even beyond me in my position- it is a long term commitment between the service, the organisational and the school to continue to develop projects together into the future. And the second part of the project will definitely drag out past the end of semester when it rolls into action, but I am ok with this as it is a long term committed project I am aiming for.
Karen

Twitter lessons I have learnt in 24 hours since I joined

OMG-

 I have learnt that there is so much to learn
Fortunately I have had some tips from Theresa and I have stumbbled across some great twitters.
1.Found a great twtter to follow that sends me the top 10 for the week, very important to know to keep up to date http://mashable.com/
2. Have been advanced to meme - and I found the key board cat that you showed me Theresa _ I had to put it in as it is a lesson I Learnt.
Thank you

Keyboard Cat - Watch more Funny Videos

Eureka - I have managed to get a podcast

Another Eureka,
Not sure how I did it but I did. I managed to down load a podcast. The frustration of the last few days to find one I could download given the restrictions of work computers.
It is a podrights podcast by the Australian Human Rights Commission. The Disability and Race Discrimination Minister Graham Innes speaks to Departing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma who is reminiscing on his term.
Very interesting listening-

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/podcasts/2010/podcast_2010_1.mp3

Words from the Dalai Lama

Hi All,

Passing on a pearl of wisdom, that is something that when entering into communities we need to remember -
We need to develop a sense of equanimity towards all living beings, expressed through the ability to relate to all others equally. Dalai Lama
AHHH got it from his twitter- me and my new found toys love it

The Karen people displaced from Burma

Against All Hope from Art and Justice League on Vimeo.

I also sent this video link to Sylvia http://ugandansandfriendsunite.blogspot.com/ but I love it so much. To hear about the hardships these refugees have faced- the persecution of a peoples for 60 years - yet they still have faith, and have named their place the place without evil despite all the atrocities that have occurred there. It is a very moving video

Young People in Australia leadng environmental action

Find more videos like this on All Around You

So when I look at this subject and the medium used to assess it - a few things have happened- one I just got off the phone with a fellow class bloggette (Theresa) discussing how the blog helped with the community project.
So I am gong to spend tomorrow reflecting on this and then address it.
Whilst it was about getting the project happening, it has opened up a new focus for me and given that I work with youth I should have been over this a long time ago-using technology. I have loved it and can see the benefits on so many levels for my work, the community sector, and to develop community projects into action.
In thinking about this I came across this video of young people involved in environmental action and how they are leading this action. This is the focus of my project is to have the young people to own and lead the action.

Becoming a Community Champion

Why become a Community Champion with BTCV from Doug BTCV on Vimeo.
This is a great project run in the UK that targets and gets community action happen - I found it very interesting and full of useful ideas to continue forward with my own project in the future. Hope that everyone finds it as useful as me.

I especially liked the way it identifies the person as a champion n their area, I thought was a great way of positively recruiting for community action.