The Dreamers of 2011 graduated at Tranby Aboriginal College on 11 December 2011.

Everyone who began the program graduated – an amazing achievement !

We are super proud of them! Here they are on graduation day with the HBaYD Team.

Dreamers Graduating – December 2011

You can immerse yourself in the joy of graduation here:

What did they get up to during their year with us?

Here’s a roll call of each Dreamer’s journey with us over 2011.

Georgia Addison

Georgia made a show reel of acting scenes with a professional acting coach. The idea is to produce a reel of scenes showing what Georgia can do in different moods, portraying different characters and showing her acting range.

Check out what she produced, with the coaching of the wonderful Kate Box, a professional actor, here:

Luwana (Micky) Cunningham

Micky decided on a deadly project late in the year. She joined Tonika and Chloe’s project to research, plan and lead a trip back to country.

A complicated thing to do! But with the right support from family and the HBaYD Team, Micky headed to Tumut in south-western New South Wales, and to the mission outside Tumut called Brungle.

She met up with aunts and cousins and learned more about where she comes from. She interviewed her family members, brought news of her nan and just hung out learning more about what makes Brungle tick.

She wrote about it – a lot! You can read the blog that she produced with the help of Rosie Pearson and Jada Alberts here:

http://www.hbaydmickeystriphome.blogspot.com/

Chantelle Foster

Chantelle produced drawings, and more drawings and then more still. She wasn’t happy with much of her work – she sets high standards! But she was drawn to make an animation with the talented Vinh Nguyen to explore some of the complexity of her imagination.

She describes her project as “a small animation about how life can be brutal and horrifying. How sometimes you try to juggle so much that you can’t handle it anymore.”

Watch it here:

Blake Clark

Blake began designing a computer game with three challenging levels. It played with the idea of being an Aboriginal superhero in three time periods – before the arrival of European colonisers; the early times of colonisation; and today, in the schoolyard.

Blake found it pretty challenging, even though he was working with Stephen Beeson, a games developer who worked on the ground-breaking game, LA Noire .

So Blake changed direction and made a TV talk-back/comedy show called The Wombat Show . Blake hosted and wrote most of the gags. He worked with Tyrone Saunders and Chris Petrella-Smith to make The Wombat Show . It explores questions on young people’s minds and doesn’t shy away from asking the hard questions!

Enter the crazy world of The Wombat Show here:

Jeremy Clark

Jeremy is a natural born entertainer, comic and actor. Like Georgia, he wanted to make a show reel of his acting ability to win acting work in the future.

He worked with a professional actor, the wonderful Kate Box, to produce this show reel:

Kimberley Brown

Kim has a wonderful photographic ability. She explored this talent with us, in collaboration with the very talented and award-winning photographer, Sarah Rhodes .

Kim explored The Block in Redfern as it was demolished before our eyes over the year, to make way for a redevelopment. She also did some portraiture work of other Dreamers. Kim photographed Taminya, Chloe and Tonika modelling make-up designs that Taminya developed with Amy Morgan .

You can see a gallery of Kim’s graduation exhibition here:

Taylor Chalmers

Taylor wants to perform, amongst other things. Like Jeremy and Georgia, she worked with professional actor, Kate Box, to produce a show reel so that she can showcase her acting abilities to casting agents.

You can watch it here:

Taylor didn’t stop there though. She also worked with the very wonderful Nadeena Dixon to write the lyrics and music to a haunting song about her personal journey in the year, Falling Like A Leaf. Listen to her track now:

Falling Like a Leaf – Taylor Chalmers by howbigareyourdreams

Chloe (Pluto) Griffiths

Chloe, Tonika and Micky had a common mission – to explore their families’ histories, to return to country and to connect more strongly with their Aboriginal cultures.

It is a complicated thing to do well – but with family support and the support of the HBaYD Team, Chloe researched, planned and led a roadtrip back to Coonabarabran and Quirindi where her mum comes from.

Her maternal pop came along too. Jada Alberts, HBaYD Team, was there too.

Chloe wrote about what she learned and experienced on her trip to Coonabarabran and Quirindi. You can check out her blog here:

http://www.hbaydchloestriphome.blogspot.com/

Tonika Lyons

Tonika, like Chloe and Micky, decided to research, plan and lead a trip back to Kempsey and Taree where she is from. She also has mob in Narrandera, NSW.

Tonika enjoyed the company of Chloe and Micky on her trip, supervised by Jada Alberts of the HBaYD Team.

Kempsey was in flood when the girls were in town but it didn’t stop Tonika from meeting with family, including her nan, and elders with stories to share.

You can read Tonika’s reflections on her trip, and watch interviews that she recorded with family members and elders on her blog:

http://hbaydtonikastriphome.blogspot.com/

Christian (Chris) Petrella-Smith

Chris wanted to learn to be heard by other people better. He made a video reflection on just that! Check it out here:

He also had a record-setting role in The Wombat Show , Blake’s masterpiece.

Tyrone Saunders

Tyrone’s aim was to move schools – he did make a move during the year.

And he developed a series of tips, “Tyrone’s Tips”, for young people facing similar challenges to those Tyrone was negotiating.

Tyrone had a part in developing The Wombat Show , together with Blake and Chris.

Tyrone had the benefit of a strong support team at HBaYD that continues to support him now.

Jay Holmlund

Jay moved away in 2011 but not before we set him on his dream path of writing and recording his own music.

Jay was the first of the Dreamers to complete his project, before he moved away. We remained virtually connected with him.

Here is the track that he produced, I Want More . We want to hear more from you Jay!

01 Jay Holmlund I want more HBaYD 19 March 2011 by howbigareyourdreams

Amy Johnson

Amy dances everyday. We challenged her to choreograph and perform a dance piece that told a story that she wanted to tell, and that expressed some of her own feelings.

This is how Amy began – it is a dance piece that represents the pull between who we are, who we want to become and how we might get there.

Eric Avery , a dancer and dance film maker, then worked with Amy to develop her piece further and to understand better the potential of film medium. Look at the distance Amy travelled to make her final work:

Taminya Brown

Taminya battled to find a project that she could stick with – she began with the idea of being a journalist or presenter.

Like Taylor, she also worked with Nadeena Dixon to write an original song. She has a killer voice but didn’t make it to the recording studio – that’s for 2012 huh Taminya? We hope so!

Instead, Taminya landed on her feet by conceiving make-up designs that explore concepts of beauty over time and between cultures.

Taminya explains her project here:

Here is a showcase of Taminya’s designs modelled by Dreamers and Taminya herself.

Respect to Amy Morgan, a professional make-up designer and artist who worked with Taminya and inspired her enormously!