General News
30 July, 2024
Reliance on creativity
Workshop examines the use of creative processes in the aftermath of extreme weather events.
While we don’t always think of using art as a pathway for healing in the aftermath of extreme weather events, there could be transformative benefits in adopting creative methods, according to a local workshop.
A number of residents attended the ‘Creative Recovery’ session on July 26 — organised as part of the broader Let’s Talk About Big Weather series hosted by not-for-profit organisation, Make a Change.
During last Friday’s event, participants heard from Central Goldfields Art Gallery’s Helen Kaptein, Lowen Clarke, Maryborough Education Centre’s Sarina Walter and Julie Kelly from Underneath my Umbrella.
Speakers highlighted the role of visual arts in supporting the community’s health and wellbeing, and how people could turn extreme weather related trauma and “feelings of disempowerment into achievement”, through creative processes.
At the end of the workshop, organisers recorded three key outcomes — there was an increased understanding of the therapeutic and community-building power of art, participants committed to incorporating creative projects into their recovery and preparedness plans, and there was enhanced community support for using art as a tool for healing and resilience.