Big hART

Motto	It's harder to hurt someone if you know their story.
Headquarters	Tasmania
Location	Australia
Website	www.bighart.org
Formerly called	Big hART

Big hART is an Australian arts and social-justice company. It was founded by playwright and director Scott Rankin and John Bakes in Burnie (north-western Tasmania) in 1992.

The company initiates large scale, long-term community cultural development projects in disadvantaged communities in urban, regional and remote Australia.^[1] Projects are task-focused and are to increase social, cultural and economic participation for community members following a three-step model approach.

Company objectives

At the heart of Big hART's approach rests the idea, that "it's harder to hurt someone if you know their story".^[2]

The company works to:

• make sustained changes with disadvantaged communities,
• take the issues faced by these communities and make them visible in the public sphere,
• influence social policy,
• create high quality cultural activity which drives personal, community, and regional development, and
• produce high quality art for local, national and international audiences.^[3]

Model approach

Big hART tackles social disadvantage by supporting social cohesion through involving people in creative expressions of their life and identity within cultural and arts practice. To achieve this, the company developed a working model loosely based on three steps:

1. A non-welfare arts-based community development project runs over a minimum of 150 weeks;
2. An art- or theatre production creates a public platform for the community to share their stories with a national audience; and
3. Ongoing social policy engagement addresses key issues and complex challenges that the community struggles with to promote a lasting, sustainable legacy with maximum impact.^[4]

Big hART's work is not based on a welfare model – but encourages people to reflect on their buried cultural capital and on their personal trajectories to build self-supporting futures. The adopted approach follows a socially inclusive, asset-based community development model that focuses on strengths and skills already present but unacknowledged in the respective communities.^[5] To achieve high levels of engagement and artistic quality, personal relationships are build with participants and their community at a grassroots level and by linking individuals with professional artists and cultural workers across a range of creative workshops. Without requiring any particular skills from the participants to begin with, these workshops promote an atmosphere of mutual respect. Designed to experiment with different art forms, each individual is enabled to find an appropriate medium in which to express their own story.^[6]

In presenting the artwork to the general community, individuals get to experience a positive form of attention and appreciation. The performance creates a communicative environment and challenges the audience to reflect on preconceived ideas pertaining to the participants who have been relegated to the margins of the community. To amplify the influence of the project and to enable sustained change in the community, Big hART partners with local institutions, organisations, individuals and government bodies.^[7]

The presentation of the artwork to a wider audience in mainstream venues offers a new domain of experience to the participants while raising awareness of issues facing the targeted communities. This awareness and public profile is then used by Big hART in the political domain to push for policy change which will support the community to better tackle its problems and create follow-on effects for other communities facing similar issues.^[8]

External evaluations of Big hART-projects indicate that the company succeeds in its outcomes: Many projects have consistently shown high levels of participation, improved levels of literacy, improved life skills and self-confidence in participants, as well as diversion from crime into education and work.^[9]

Projects

Projects by Big hART include, among others:

• Museum of the Long Weekend (Canberra 2013).^[10]
• Yijala Yala (Roebourne, 2010–).^[11]
• Namatjira (Ntaria, 2009–) .^[12]
• Smashed (Tasmania, 2010).^[13]
• Nyuntu Ngali (Ernabella/ Alice Springs, 2009)^[14]
• Ngapartji Ngapartji (Alice Springs and surrounds, NT & SA, 2004–2009)^[15][16]
• Gold (NSW, 2006–2009)^[14]
• Northcott Narratives (Surry Hills – Sydney, 2003–2007).^[17]
• Drive (Tasmania, 2008–2009).^[18]
• Love Zombies (Tasmania, 2009)^[19]
• This is Living (Tasmania, 2007–2008).^[20]
• Drive in Holiday & Radio Holiday (North West Tasmania, 2005–2009).^[21]
• Lucky^[19]
• Junk Theory (Cronulla Shire – Sydney, 2006–2009).^[22]
• Nuff Stuff (Groote Eylandt, Tennant Creek and Tiwi Islands, 2006)^[23]
• Knot@Home (NSW, Vic and Tasmania, 2001–2004).^[24]
• Hurt (NSW, Vic and Tasmania).^[25]

Awards

Big hART's projects are arts-based but also traverse other portfolio areas including Innovation, Health, Social Inclusion, Housing, Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Attorney-General's, Employment, Education and Training, Resources and Energy, Environment, Regional Development, and Broadband and Communications. Hence, recognition of their work comes from diverse sources, such as Government-, community- and professional institutions:

• 2 Sydney Theatre Awards, Namatjira – Best New Australian Work, Scott Rankin; Best Newcomer, Derik Lynch.;^[26] plus 3 additional nominations^[27]
• 8 Council of Australian Government Awards – for crime and violence prevention^[28]
• World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Community Award.^[29]
• Australian Film Industry Award^[30][31]
• Australian Teachers of Media Awards^[30]
• 2010 ATOM Awards Finalists – Drive Documentary, Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji and Ngapartji Ngapartji Memory Basket.^[32]
• Local Government Awards for Excellence.^[33]
• Law Foundation Award^[30]
• Film Critics Circle of Australia – Special Award^[34]
• Flickerfest – Best Documentary^[34]
• World Summit on Information – Best "e" inclusion product^[23]
• Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award^[28]
• Deadly Award – Most Outstanding Achievement in Film, TV & Entertainment^[35]
• NT Innovation Award Finalist^[27]
• Yosemite Film Festival (USA) – El Capitan Award for Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji.^[36]
• Global Social Change Film Festival – Semi-finalist Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji.^[37]
• Australian Directors Guild Awards – Nomination Drive.^[38]
• Tasmania Community Project of the Year Award – Drive.^[39]

References

Further reading

• Big hART Inc.: Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji, video-recording, Neutral Bay: bEnhance Screenrights, 2012.
• Big hART Inc.: archived website of Ngapartji Ngapartji http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/58913/20120703-0015/www.ngapartji.org/index.html Retrieved 14 November 2012)
• Casey, Maryrose: "Ngapartji Ngapartji: Telling Aboriginal Australian Stories", in: Megson, C., and Forsyth, A. (ed.): Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillian, 2009, p. 122–139.
• Davies, Matt: "Stories with the Heart", in: Outback (66) 2009, p. 88–91
• Grehan, Helena: "Aboriginal Performance: Politics, Empathy and the Question of Reciprocity", in: Australasian Drama Studies (56) 2010, p. 38–52.
• Kelly, Alex et al.: Ngapartji Ngapartji Memory Basket, Woolahra, N.S.W.: Big hArt, 2010.
• Kelly, Alex; Sometimes, Beth: "Ngapartji Ngapartji: Indigenous Language in the Arts", in: Hobson, John et al. (ed.): Re-Awakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the Revitalisation of Australia's Indigenous Languages, Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2010. p. 84–89.
• Palmer, Dave: Ngapartji Ngapartji: The Consequences of Kindness, evaluation report, Perth: Murdoch University, 2010.
• Palmer, Dr. David; James, Dr. Diana; Wright, Dr. Peter & Windmill: Suite of Arts and Wellbeing Projects; April 2009 – June 2010. Evaluation Reports, Perth: Murdoch University, 2010.
• Palmer, Dave: I'm Only Young But That's How I Will Feel Forever. The Evaluation of Big hART's Lucky Project, Perth: Murdoch University, 2008.
• Palmer, Dave & Wright, Peter: 'People Now Know Me for Something Positive': An Evaluation of Big hART's work at the John Northcott Estate, Perth: Murdoch University, 2007.
• Raja, Chris: "Namatjira", in: Art Monthly Australia (230) 2010, S. 53–55.
• Rankin, Scott: Namatjira: Written for the Namatjira Family (Aranda); and, Ngapartji Ngapartji: Written for Trevor Jamieson (Pitjantjatjara), Strawberry Hills: Currency Press, 2012.
• Rankin, Scott: "DIY Virtuosity Versus Professional Mediocrity", in: Australasian Drama Studies, (52) Apr 2008, p. 97–112.
• Raw, David: "Love Zombies: Integrating Learning through the Arts", in: Teacher: The National Education Magazine (Mar 2009), p. 42–44.
• Waites, James: Blog under http://jameswaites.ilatech.org/?tag=big-hart (access: 14 November 2012; 2 pm)
• Wright, Peter: 'It's Like Thinking With Both Sides Of Your Brain'. Big hART's LUCKY

Project: An Imaginative Intervention, Perth: Murdoch University, 2008.

• Wright, Peter: Evaluating Big hART's SMASHED project: Building Bridges for Personal, Social and Institutional Change. Perth: Murdoch University, 2011.
• For a list of projects with short descriptions: http://mrfahrenheitpr.com.au/2012/04/big-hart-turns-20/ (access: 14 November 2012; 2.30pm)

External links

• Website (access: 13 November 2012; 3.15pm)