Collaborating for a better world
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 5, No. 3
8 June - 12 July 2009 ] By Lindy Joubert
In the 21st century students are increasingly expressing their concerns about globalisation, climate change, loss of culture, social equity, habitat and the rise in poverty and mental health problems.
The UNESCO Observatory for Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Arts (UNOB) was established in November 2006 to address concerns such as these by engaging students and staff in projects which provided opportunities to learn from and contribute to the wider community.
We bring together people with shared interests in arts and culture and encourage activities that cross disciplinary divisions, drawing on the combined expertise of national and internationally recognised researchers.
The Observatory organises projects which involve students and staff in arts and design, cultural research, health and wellbeing, social planning, architecture, sustainability, construction and landscape architecture. These projects provide valuable resources for future community developments.
We are a collaborative venture within the University and foster connections with government, community Elders, NGOs, professionals and community organisations to promote, research, evaluate and publish initiatives which make innovative use of the arts in achieving positive social, educational and health outcomes.
UNOB actively explores opportunities for students to work across disciplines, bringing together teaching and research staff and students with shared interests in inter-cultural education and knowledge transfer.
Student teaching and learning field trips are an important way for students to participate in inter-cultural education. Some of our successful projects have included the research and design of a health, cultural and education facility in Gichocho, Kenya; a Cape York school renovation project with Carnevale and Divall Architects and former-student Ursula Chandler; and research and design for the Point Nepean Cultural Education Visitors Centre run in a third year studio under the guidance of Peter Malatt (Six Degrees Architects) and Anna Ely, Architect.
We have also been involved with the development of a Community Health Centre in Papua New Guinea. Two Faculty field trips, supervised by Pacific and Melanesian architectural specialist Dr Martin Fowler, are leading to the design of an eco-tourist resort on the Island of Mua in the Torres Strait and the design for the Ministry of Education building in the Cook Islands.
This growing body of work is increasingly attracting attention among diverse Faculty members as well as the interest of professionals outside the University who are offering their work on a pro-bono basis.
During our field trips we focus on designing culturally appropriate facilities by using local knowledge, arts and cultural practices, materials and traditional construction methods. This encourages communities to identify with the new developments while at the same time using their knowledge to teach local youth how to apply traditional skills in order to foster a sense of cultural belonging. An appropriately sensitive application of these methods gradually leads to the restoration of health and wellbeing of the communities concerned. This approach is proving to be relevant globally.
The UNOB core research team and Advisory Board Members Professor David Dunt, and Associate Professor Margaret Kelaher from the Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics, Dr Steve Curry from CAPPE at the University of Melbourne, Dr Angela Hass, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, provide the academic rigour for associated research projects, such as the recently completed Community Arts Development Scheme for Mental Health funded by VicHealth in collaboration with the Victorian College of the Arts and the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
The regeneration of neighbourhoods and communities which have undergone a radical series of changes over the past two decades, and the collaboration with arts-based projects, have been closely connected in these processes of transformation. Cultural authorities, local, regional and national governments and funding agencies understand the impact of the arts in assisting communities to cope with societal pressures and the proliferation of issues which contemporary life brings.
Arts programs provide meaningful and effective ways to instil cultural values, heighten a sense of place and belonging and deliver social services that open doors to the disadvantaged in most effective ways.
Cultural authorities, local, regional and national governments and funding agencies now understand and support the use of the arts to assist affected groups of people to cope with social pressures and re-integrate them with their wider communities. Two exhibitions were held by UNOB at the George Paton Gallery, The University of Melbourne, of internationally regarded artists Hans Guggenheim of Project Guggenheim in 2008 and Torres Strait artist Billy Missi in 2007. Both artists work tirelessly to promote social equity, preservation of culture and vocational opportunities for young people through the arts.
In 2008 UNOB held a conference titled ‘Vital Arts – Vibrant Communities’ that firmly embedded the arts within health policy and planning.
Refereed papers from this conference will be published in Issue Four of the UNOB e-journal in June 2009. UNOB was also involved with a series of six international cultural education programs for Chinese secondary school students, corporate, educational, non-government and government organisations.
The programs included informative discussions relating to culture and cultural differences, languages and customs, social structures and institutions and the benefits of inter-cultural education. UNOB’s initiatives have led to several wide-ranging invitations to participate on various committees and projects with community leaders and local councils. To become involved in our activities or for more information please contact us.
Lindy Joubert Director, UNESCO Observatory on Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Arts Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning The University of Melbourne
lindyaj@unimelb.edu.au
www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/unesco/
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