2009 was an intense and productive year for CuriousWorks. We successfully ran large scale projects on both sides of this vast continent, at the same time as transitioning to more mature systems and processes for the company.

It was a year of endings – we concluded our 3 year project at Miller Technology High School (in partnership with Casula Powerhouse) and already miss Sally and the 2168 crew. But our partnerships are only growing in 2010 in Liverpool  and we’re certain we’ll be able to work with many of our old friends there again.

The Migrant Project, the little dream that started the whole CuriousWorks ride – also came to a close. But we did it in style, with a packed out screening of This City is a Body: The Migrant Project film to friends and colleagues towards the end of the year. It was one of those rare, truly fulfilling nights.

Peter Cossey – although he remains a part of the curious family – also finished his time at CuriousWorks in 2009, as his position supported by the Vodafone Australia Foundation came to an end. In many ways, the All Around You model is our own take on the user-centered design approach; and the influence of the design sector on CuriousWorks would never have been so beneficial and evolved without Peter’s influence. He embodies radical innovation! We wish him well in his future, crazy journeys.

Amidst the endings, a new partnership began with Country Arts WA, supported by BHP Billiton Ore, to begin working in and around Newman, remote Western Australia. We loved getting to know the people of Newman and the partnerships with CAWA, BHP and the local council, Shire East Pilbara, look set to blossom. We hope to keep returning to the Pilbara, with Newman as our base, for many years to come.

Above and beyond all the different projects – which you can check out below – this was the year CuriousWorks turly became a “company”. We’ve set up flexible, robust systems that will enable us to turn CuriousWorks into a sustainable, cutting-edge institution that can hang around for generations – not dependent on any particular person or collective. Our Connector / Development Manager – Naomi Bower – came on board early last year and played a huge part in this, with patience and persistence. Thanks also goes to our wonderful board who took on an active role in guiding us through this transition – and are still doing so. The CuriousWorks community rocks my socks.

As our mission states, we’re not here for a haircut. The best thing we did in 2009 was successfully set up systems to take on the task of achieving our mission in a truly sustainable, innovative and creative way. We’re here to permanently and subtly affect the systems of cultural production in Australia in a way that benefits all Australians. With 2009’s work behind us – and our 2010 team and suite of programs ready to roll – I totally feel ready to do this.

- Shakthi, CuriousWorks Director

Contents

1. Highlights
2. Community Program
3. Community Development Services
4. Training Program
5. Arts Program
6. Technology Program
7. Strategic Planning

1. Highlights Package

3. Community Development Services

Oz+Lanka

With the support of the Australia Council for the Arts – Theatre Board, CuriousWorks began research on a new performance work centred around 4 generations of Sri Lankan-Australians. The work will look at some of the unexpected connections between generations of people from a minority and migratory culture, as well as uncovering some of the untold stories connecting Australia and Sri Lanka. A first draft script, containing text as well as audiovisual score, will be completed in May 2010.

There are paid work opportunities with training provided.

Refill boys shooting their how to make cool videos series

Criteria:

• Live in Liverpool or Fairfield City local government areas

• Aged 14 – 27

• Experienced or interested in any or all of the following: film, audio, internet publishing, being a producer or manager in media/ the arts

• Reasonable IT skills or above

Please respond by sending an email to: urbanstories@curiousworks.com.au

Write a couple of sentences about why you are interested and attach a CV if you have one.  Please also mention if you are currently a student, unemployed, employed etc and what your current time commitments are.

At the moment we can’t reveal too much about the project, but never fear, curious folk, you’ll be hearing a lot about it during 2010!

Each month we’ll be holding a simple fundraiser at our Sydney warehouse on Randle St, looking over Central station. The events will feature a mix of local independent artists, the latest and greatest content made with CuriousWorks by communities around Australia and – of course – you!

In February we’re hosting four great local bands with global sounds, including local CuriousWorks collective Asi. The bands’ sets will be interspersed with short music clips and mashups made by young people from communities around Australia.

Aimee from Asi

Following the intimate screening of The Migrant Project film late last year, we found that we really dug having our friends and colleagues relax, be entertained and reconnect outside of the usual work context. So please, come along, meet some like-minded people and… well, hang out!

CuriousWorks' Migrant Project film screening night

Proceeds will go towards CuriousWorks’ community program, All Around You. A portion of the proceeds will also go to the artists as we believe in supporting local, independent, creativity and innovation.

CuriousWorks is a registered Australian charity with a NSW fundraising certificate. Please do not bring your own food and drink to this event.

Details:
7-11 pm, Saturday 20th February 2010
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
0423 614 923 if you get lost on the way

Bands:
Two Trains Running – www.myspace.com/twotrainsrunning
Dave Carr’s Fabulous Contraption – www.davidcarrmusic.net
ASI – www.digitalasi.com
Wills and Ways – www.myspace.com/willsandways

Entry: $10 donation

Our time in Newman was made possible through the BHP Billiton Iron Ore – Legacy Project presented by Country Arts WA in association with Curious Works and the Newman Community.

Cave Crew: Episode 1

Jamurrara

High School Confessions

The Last Caveman

Newman News

Mr Speedy

1. January :: Indigenous Education with the PAKT crew

2009 began with 12 hour days, starting with the PAKT kids in the morning and the The King is Dead kids in the afternoon. A hot and busy start to the year.

A (confronting) highlight was Lily Shearer and Cassandra Gibbs taking the PAKT participants through an Indigenous education process. All the kids were asked to design and build a map of their country – its flora and fauna, their friends, spirits of the past and future, all gathered together in one place.

Find more videos like this on All Around You

They then proceeded to act out a potted history of Australia, starting from the Dreamtime until today. In the process, all the kids’ maps got torn apart, stamped upon, shredded. It was really full on. But as we got to more recent times, and there was more hope in the history, the kids were able to salvage parts of their maps and start putting them back together. An intense and unforgettable day.

Check out the film the PAKT kids made later in the year.

2. January :: The Tricycle in Burwood Park with The King is Dead

The King is Dead was a site-specific play in Burwood Park, in partnership with Burwood Council and Ashfield Youth Theatre. We helped kids in the inner-west develop and write their own play, through meeting online and in rehearsals.

During the season, my role was to ride the CuriousWorks tricycle around the park in a ridiculous outfit, blasting a loud horn. The goal was to embellish that night’s knowing audience with those who were just having their evening stroll in the park, unaware a performance was about to begin.

I had no idea how successful this would be – particularly with the kids. Anyone under 12 years old followed me like I was some kind of magician. They would have followed me anywhere. Never underestimate the power of a silly costume and a tricycle. I am still thinking about new ways to use this power in the future…

Of course, anyone over 12 just pointed at me and laughed. Then they saw how much fun we were all having and ran over to join in…

Silly Costume + Trike = Pied Piper

3. February :: Sharing my mother’s childhood as part of the Rasa Unmasked media strategy

My mother’s company, Lingalayam Dance Company, partnered with CuriousWorks for their 2009 production, Rasa Unmasked (I have been working with Lingalayam since I was 10 years old). We designed their digital media strategy in the lead up to a season at the Sydney Opera House. The season not only sold out before its run, but could have doubled its length, such was the interest; so we must have done something right.

One of the first things I did was set up Lingalayam with a Flickr stream for the tour (the show toured South Asia after its Sydney premiere); and create a mailing list for Lingalayam of all of the professional contacts from across Australia and Asia my mother had worked with over the last 4 decades. One of the first Flickr sets was a selection of photos from my mother’s amazing childhood. It was a simple operation that took half a day, but the response was incredible. My mother’s colleagues suddenly had an insight into her art and her world that had only been suggested at in her performance.

I recommend watching this as a full-screen Flickr slideshow, with the “show info” option turned on.

4. April :: Working with Sri Lankan refugees

Upon the completion of the Rasa Unmasked tour in India, I spent two weeks in Chennai, researching for the new CuriousWorks arts project – a performance about 4 generations of Sri Lankan-Australian families – that will premiere in 2011. During this time I visited a Sri Lankan refugee camp and worked with a local NGO there. I will never forget meeting men my own age, born streets away from where I was born, who had spent their whole lives in this camp, while I was lucky enough to migrate to a place like Australia, growing up free and with opportunity. An emotional day.

You can read about the work I did here and my reflection on the visit here.

Young tailor in Sri Lankan refugee camp in South India

5. May :: Handing over control: Sketch comedy, 2168 style

Part of 2009 was about handing the management of our community program, All Around You, over to our Lead Educator, Elias Nohra. He bore this responsibility with style and together with Jeremy Cassar and Dan O’Reilly-Rowe led an excellent series of final workshops with the Refill kids at Miller Technology High, Western Sydney. The content produced in this time included a sketch comedy series, which, more than anything else we’ve helped young people produce, gives you an insight into the world of the next generation of Western Sydney. It was a double win: I was handing over control to the new batch of leaders at CuriousWorks; they were handing over control to the new batch of leaders in Western Sydney. All of these feelings were bottled up into the moment I clicked on to the web and watched the first sketch comedy.

Respectful, two-way education FTW.

Find more videos like this on All Around You

6. June :: Iynkaran telling a story through classical Indian percussion

In June we had one of our semi-monthly events at CuriousWorks and my band, Asi, played. We had a complex set up involving many digital gadgets, a projector and many different tunings. So, in between each song we had to tell crappy jokes to fill in the time. The audience contributed a few too; much fun was had. On one of these occasions our usually quiet (on stage anyway) tabla player and beat maker, Iynkaran, popped up with this great explanation of konakol through story. He never told us he was thinking of doing this. The pure surprise of the moment makes it a highlight of last year; plus it belongs to a lovely night where the relationship between band and audience was super relaxed and connected.

Find more videos like this on All Around You

7. July :: Sisters coming together in Newman, remote Western Australia

July was the first stage of our epic ongoing project in Newman. We spent three months there in 2009 – which you can check out in detail elsewhere on this site. But the moment for me in this stage was Peta Bell saying that in the two weeks of making media, one of the things she learned was that she CAN get along with her sister. Just a few moments (0:42 – 0:45, to be exact) but a big personal change in perception for her. Go Peta!

Find more videos like this on All Around You

8. August :: Hooking up with the artists that took part in the Splendid program

For three lovely, re-energising weeks, I took part in the Splendid Arts Lab. We spent the lab developing cross-platform, cross-art form ideas suitable for music festivals, but the best part of it was simply meeting ten other Aussie artists previously unknown to me and out of my usual circle of collaborators. Every moment where I was forced to operate outside the unusual, but nevertheless comfortable structures I have set up back at CuriousWorks, was a highlight for me. I also developed what I think is my coolest idea yet, but unfortunately I can’t share it with the world for now – it isn’t ready!

Yes, we all look like dropkicks in the photo but it was actually a bunch of very sweet and lovely people.

9. September :: The Generations Conference

We spent two years working with the Refill kids and the Generations conference, led by Community Development Network, was the first time we got to hear their reflections. They were hilarious.

Coming in a close second to this moment was the fun I had in doing a speech exactly 5 minutes long (ended by the buzzer on my iphone) and an impromptu dance to the mashup I made of the first two days of the conference, played on the third and final day.

Find more videos like this on All Around You

10. October :: Thai dancers, Martu mob and mining mob all at Newman’s first ever film festival

Our time in Newman ended with the town’s first ever film festival, full of local films by the local young people. It was covered by the ABC and the West Australian and was a great success – but the best moments for me involved watching the mining and Thai community watch the Martu film; the Martu, the Thai (and the adults generally) watch the mining kids’ work; and the Martu and mining community watch the Thai dancers. The layers of cultural exchanges occurring in this town in the middle of the desert rocked my boat.

Newman Film Festival photo op!

11. November :: See you later, previous decade

CuriousWorks started in 2005 with a little dream called The Migrant Project. Four years later, the project finally came to a close with a screening of This City is a Body: The Migrant Project Film. One of the things I love about this job is the ability to creatively wrap things up and present them to people as a way of saying goodbye. Seeing our little warehouse, with a full audience, take in the juiciest professional moments of the last four years – and saying goodbye to the first professional project I ever did – is not a night I’m likely to forget.

This City is a Body - The Migrant Project Film Screening

12. December :: Remember who you are

Most of December was spent picking up the thread dropped off in April, researching for the performance work about 4 generations of Sri Lankan-Australians. This is a picture of my great-grand father, C. Suntharalingam, a leader in the Tamil movement in Sri Lanka (far left).

He was someone everyone I worked with in the refugee camp in India had heard of and had stories about, and someone I knew basically nothing about. During my time in Tasmania, this changed.

As I did more and more research, I slowly began to feel that I was piecing things together. To understand my family and the country they tore themselves away from 27 years ago. It’s not a clear moment; more the kind that washes over you one quiet evening, the moment you’ve connected enough of the dots. I can’t wait to explore much more of this history in 2010…

My mother's engagement day, in Sri Lanka. My great-grandfather is far left.

Yes, it is OK to dance.

To see a video reflection of our time in Newman, go HERE!

CuriousWorks Newman 2009 Summary Video from CuriousWorks on Vimeo.

Our time in Newman was made possible through the BHP Billiton Iron Ore – Legacy Project presented by Country Arts WA in association with Curious Works and the Newman Community.

Five years have passed since it started in 2005, around casual conversations in alleyways and beer gardens. I am now writing this in an office – running a company I founded, initially, as a way of coping with the project’s erratic and sometimes tremendous growth.

The idea of working between cultures and disciplines has always been a natural impulse for me. It was not out of any desire to be ‘innovative’ or ‘original’. I had grown up familiar with the classical Indian art form of Bharatha Natyam, where movement and music were played out as one – the art form itself born out of temple sculptures and a pamphlet of text and images. In the last years of school, I had started playing music and then expanded my creative interests during University to theatre, film and online media. Multiculturalism was the social norm throughout – and with that came the multiplicity of artistic and philosophical traditions behind those cultures. Picking away at one idea with a number of creative tools – different media, different cultural influences – is an ancient approach – and it felt much like a natural reflection of the contemporary world, as well.

My mother, Anandavalli - Artistic Director Lingalayam Dance Company :: Photo by Filigree Films

At that point, however, the opportunities to see or participate in this kind of work in Sydney seemed to be minimal. Mainstream and independent arts companies alike were offering what I saw as segments of the city – a play about refugees here, a concert by Sudanese-Australians there. It was not that these events weren’t provoking or enjoyable – but they did leave a gap. What I felt was missing was a refraction of the city itself – a creative project that used as its foundation the acknowledgement that different groups both collided in and shared the space that was our city – and that was what we had to deal with, alongside the more neatly packaged art.

So I chatted to ten different colleagues – from very different backgrounds, culturally and artistically – and asked them to embark on a project with me. My only ‘rules’ were that I wanted to explore Sydney as a city where each member shared a common identity as a migrant. I wanted to draw attention to an exchange enacting itself on the streets, between the first guardians of this place and those who had travelled to it since; a city built on a history of migration. Thus the title of the project. I asked the collaborators to present something of themselves and where they came from in this context. I felt this to be an inclusive framework that side-stepped notions like ‘black and white Australia’. A shared city and a migrant past were the only qualities everyone in our group had in common. I hoped it would be a framework that dug up some of our city’s untold stories. I had this naïve notion that we could expand people’s idea of the word ‘migrant’.

Paul and Latai in rehearsals in Ultimo in 2006 :: Photo by Steven Papadakis

It was my first foray into the professional arts industry and ironically, we got the first grant we applied for. It was the Australia Council Dance Board’s ‘Take Your Partner Initiative’, to develop the first stage of the work in collaboration with former Bangarra dancer Albert David. At the time, I was ecstatic, grateful and entirely taken aback.

I left the development of the project completely open to the group – what issues we’d explore, what stories we’d tell, what medium or media we would use to share that content. This proved to be the resounding strength and weakness of the project over the next two years. A strength because of the diversity of excellent ideas that built up the project; a weakness because of the friction and confusion that came along with that diversity, in an already under-resourced context.

The irony of the grant stemmed from its support at the relatively small and peaceful initiation to the project, in early 2005. By the time Standing opened in September 2005, we’d already had our fair share of arguments and creative clashes. Over the next 18 months, dare I say, we descended into a controlled chaos. In 2006, we received a small grant from the Music Committee at Arts NSW, but no further support to develop the work, so we travelled to the Canberra Multicultural Arts Festival with Drifting, and then presented our biggest work, Grounded, at the Seymour centre with very little support at all. Interest had grown wildly in the project since the early days in 2005 – 23 people performed in Grounded in March 2006. (By the end of 2007, over 50 people had contributed to The Migrant Project). I had trouble keeping a lid on it.

On top of all that the project was picking up a lot of media interest, with some genuinely interesting previews that opened up ideas of how we might view Sydney and Australia, and reviews that ranged from extravagant praise to extravagant criticism. Thankfully we sold a good amount of tickets in Sydney either way. I started losing my hair, not to mention plenty of sleep, over these years. Even as I maintained good financial control of the project, even as we delivered rich and provocative creative works, the explosion of ideas and personalities was always what resounded the most. It left many of us reeling. In hindsight, this might have been anticipated from setting up a microcosm of a diverse city and inviting everyone to creatively share their personal stories and opinions. But caught up in the whirl of the project, it simply felt tiring, fascinating, wearying and inspiring, turn by turn.

Rehearsals in Glebe Town Hall for "Grounded" 2006 Showing at Seymour Centre :: Photo by Steven Papadakis

Behind all this was a colourful political backdrop. If you cast your mind back to the period from 2005-2007, political public relations, under John Howard’s Prime Ministership, were often unnecessarily racial – or at least that was how many of us received the government’s messages at the time. From the strident way the issue of Tampa and detention centres was managed in an election year, to Howard’s personal response to the ‘Cronulla Riots’, the divisive nature of the Citizenship tests, Kevin Andrew’s manner in reducing the African immigrant intake, right up to the debacle of the fake pamphlets in Western Sydney just before the 2007 election, the issue of multiculturalism and race never seemed to fade. This was remarkable, coming from a man who at the time oversaw Australia’s highest ever levels of immigration. There seemed to be little point in debating the virtues of multiculturalism – it was not only here, it was diversifying and settling in its own, ultimately uncontrollable way – whether or not you approved. The debate should have been about the different methods we might use to embrace it – indeed, take advantage of the wealth of diverse experience people were bringing into the country – for its social as well as economic benefit.

John Howard SMH Front Page upon 10 years in power

Of course, this kind of ‘post-multiculturalist’ approach cannot yet be the stance for our government institutions. Currently, the diversity of participation in our arts industry does not come close to matching the level of cultural diversity in the country. So the Australia Council for the Arts must, for very good reason, specifically encourage cultural diversity in the work it chooses to support. Of course this puts those of us involved in initiatives like The Migrant Project, looking to extend the meaning of migrant or multicultural to being a descriptor of all people, not just those who aren’t Anglo-Celtic, in a strange position. It also confuses those of non-English speaking backgrounds who use ‘migrant’ as a term of empowerment, of solidarity with other migrants. Where do we stand with them? To top it off, most of the other people working in interdisciplinary and site-specific work were focused on a particular culture or issue – they had not matched a diversity of creative influences to a diversity of cultural influences. So we were isolated in a trifecta of ways. To be honest, I only use words like intercultural or interdisciplinary because I feel I have to, to give people an idea of how a particular work of ours might differ from the norm. It is amazing how many long and technical words you have to use simply to describe a creative project that mirrors the make up of the city that spawned it.

At no point until mid-2007 did a group of Migrant Project artists have the opportunity to rehearse regularly and consistently in the lead up to an event. This made a big difference to the atmosphere of the overall project. The fourth performance, This City is a Body, was a relatively peaceful stage, supported by the Theatre Board of the Australia Council. It was a phase that involved the distillation of ideas rather than the explosion of ideas and the project sorely needed it. We had a lovely, sold out season within the rooms of the beautiful Hyde Park Barracks, with little media interest or extravagant reactions when compared to the heady days of 2005-2006. Draw from that what you will.

Rehearsal for "This City is a Body" 2007 Performance at Hyde Park Barracks Museum :: Photo by Steven Papadakis

The openness of the project remains its defining characteristic; simultaneously its most positive and negative quality. It is, ultimately, what I love about it. The Migrant Project reminds me how thrilling, ruthless and satisfying exercises in true democracy can be. But it will be quite a while before I return this type of creative exercise again.

I’ve learnt countless lessons from the project, personally and professionally. You can’t rely on subsidies to sustain your independent, creative work, especially if your focus is on innovating between the lines. There isn’t enough to go around, after the already-established companies receive their portion. Moreover, diversifying your income as a creative person or creative organisation, is a healthy and usually necessary practice. This project has also shown me that the management of an idea is just as important as the idea itself – not only in terms of making it a success, but also in ensuring it has an ultimately positive impact for all of those who are a part of it. When it came to writing my Twitter profile, I was proud to list ‘Manager’ as one of my responsibilities, which is unusual for an ‘artist’.

Even though the performances made up the bulk of the first years of The Migrant Project, much of the material in the film is not from those performances. I have tried to describe the intensity with which the performances drove the project, in the hope of going someway to providing a context for the raw, earnest, unusual work that is in the film. It has gathered on the side lines, in rehearsals, in between rehearsals, filmed or recorded in little snippets of available time. It is all part of the same journey.

To my fellow Sydneysiders: the performances are over now, but what you will encounter in the film are the opinions, stories and thoughts of over 50 people who work, live and belong to the same city as you do. I haven’t said too much about their amazing contributions because the films speaks for itself – and I don’t want to be facetious about it. Suffice to say that I stuck with this project and was always proud to lead it because of the incredible array of contributions that people made to it. I would not have maintained it if not for the dedication of many people to the idea of the initiative itself.

Four of the people who started The Migrant Project with me – Aimee Falzon, Elias Bakhos, Robin Dixon and Mahesh Radhakrishnan – were still part of the project three years on. We continue to be friends and work with each other today, in different ways. Mahesh is soon getting married to someone he met through the project! Paul Cordeiro and Iqbal Barkat have been subtle mentors for me, of very different sorts, for some important periods in the past four years. Rebecca Sng has stuck through the project as a sound voice and is now the sound chair of our board at CuriousWorks. Stuart Gibson and Gary Lo were inspirations at the start of the project, dedicating great swathes of their time. Latai Taumoepeau also dedicated a great deal of her time to the project in 2006. A big love to you all, and all those who dipped into the beast that was this amazing project, that managed to surprise us all!

This City is a Body: The Migrant Project Film Trailer

The film is currently doing the festival circuit. Join up to our monthly newsletter to be notified of where you can catch it or when it becomes available to the public.

The Migrant Project website from 2005-2007, while it was a performance project, lies this way.

1. Make Zine Blog

Make Zine is a great website that has loads of DIY projects that are perfect for a high-school Design and Technology class. http://blog.makezine.com

2. Craft Zine Blog

Craft Zine is the Home Economics sibling to Make Zine. Instead of screwdrivers and soldering irons it’s projects that use hot-glue, sewing machines and felt. http://blog.craftzine.com

3. Instructables

A brilliant website for science classes, design and tech, just about any subject at school really. Instructables has DIY projects for literally any machine/invention/concoction you can think of. A great resource for high-school students to be engaged with and contribute to. http://www.instructables.com

4. Howtoons

Howtoons is a brilliant idea, a science and technology site made using comics. This website is aimed at upper primary and early secondary kids and does a great job of making science exciting and accessible. Their blog is updated regularly and finds science news that kids will actually be interested in. http://www.howtoons.com

5. Learning to Love You More

This is a website created by the artist Miranda July and it lists a number of art assignments for visitors to complete. You can then upload your assignments to share with everyone else on the site. I can’t think of another website/art project that better defines “community”. I think this would be great for Year 10 art class. http://learningtoloveyoumore.com

6. TED

Remember those boring science documentaries you had to watch at school? The TED conference takes a Large Hadron Collider and smashers boring science into obcsure sub-atomic particles. There are videos that cover a whole number of different subject categories across science and the humanities. Kids in high-school should be watching at least one of these videos each week. http://www.ted.com

7. Deviant Art

Despite the suspect name that will probably put a lot of teachers off, Deviant Art is a fantastic online community for high-school students to upload and share their own personal artworks with. As oppossed to Myspace and Bebo, Deviant Art is all about being creative and productive and sharing your work with your peers. Highly recommended. http://www.deviantart.com

8. NSW State Library Online Collection

The State Library has an online archive of some very old and fascinating documents. You can explore the journals and notes of Sir Joseph Banks, Matthew Flinders and Miles Franklin. Probably one for the older kids but really interesting when you start digging. http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/collections/online.html

9. Fun Brain

Fun Brain is not your typical online video game website. All the games have some kind of educational bent and there is also a comics section as well. This site more suited to younger students, but I’ve spent many a time there myself. http://www.funbrain.com

10. Google Maps

Google Maps has a great new feature called “My Maps” which allows users to add and upload their own content to a map and share it with friends or the public. This is a great tool for field trips and school excursions. You could create an interactive worksheet by having a map that students use to upload their answers. http://maps.google.com

And two great how-tos from our very own Peter Cossey!

Occasionally we run short CuriousWorks workshops out at Casula Powerhouse to get young people interested in making video and to provide them with a fun excursion. Yesterday I had 55 girls & boys from Liverpool Public attend, and you can see their first videos below in this post.

Firstly, I play a little ice-breaker game of introductions with the young people to get them to relax and focus. Then we check out the reFILL Film School videos to learn some basic video skills.

Inevitably, we always make the “Ball Game” video in these sessions. Its a simple exercise that allows us to shoot a structured video and edit it in a limited time, as well as covering some of the filmmaking basics like establishing a frame and simple editing.

The edit takes place on a large projected wall, and I work with 4 or 5 of the students to edit the work. This works surprisingly well, everyone is usually quite engaged as they watch their peer edit the video together. Highlights are usually watching bad takes, though. The edit takes place in Final Cut Pro, but we demonstrate it in such a way that it is totally applicable to other editing softwares such as Windows Movie Maker.

If we have time, we put together a little track in Garageband, as the Liverpool kids did, and voila! An introduction to filming & editing as well as some hand on experience completing your video all in 2 hours.

Find more videos like this on All Around You

Find more videos like this on All Around You