A new workshop has been launched in Sydney to bolster Indigenous literacy. The first participants were from remote Communities in the Northern Territory, who travelled interstate for the inaugural program.
The Talent Pathways Program is an initiative of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), and has been supported by Lendlease’s Workplaces with Impact Grant. “It is a two-year pilot program to prepare and equip First Nations participants to use their creative skills within their Communities as publishers, graphic designers and or writers,” explains ILF.
The organisation selects four participants aged 17-24 years who are not studying, but looking for new career opportunities. The biannual program looks to dovetail with ILF’s existing CREATE and Pamela Lofts programs.
ILF CEO Ben Bowen says the new program has been a long time in the making. “[It comes] off the back of decades of supplying support through the provision of culturally relevant books and literacy material around Australia.”
He continues: “In life it is easy to lose sight of where you can have true sustainable impact, but the ILF has the incredible privilege of trust in the Communities we have partnered with. This value of the lived experience has given us the insight and confidence to invest in people to access the opportunities and live up to our motto of ‘reading opens doors’.”
The Talent Pathways Program involves learning modules, mentorship, practical experience and tailored study based on each person’s unique career passions, in Community.
The inaugural participants in the Talent Pathways Program are:
- Deborah Archie, who goes by ‘Rose’, from Bulla in the Northern Territory, located 130 kilometres east of the Western Australian and Northern Territory border
- Rusinya Brooks, who goes by ‘Ruby’, from Milikapiti, which sits on the northern side of Melville Island, the bigger of the two Tiwi islands
- Murrwale Godden, 23, who comes from Jilkminggan, which is 145 kilometres south of Katherine (where he lives), which itself is 320 kilometres south of Darwin, and
- Bronanna Waterloo from Amanbidji, Northern Territory, which is located 115 kilometres east of the Western Australia and Northern Territory borders.
Brooks says she hopes to use the program to “turn words into illustrations”. Her goal is to, “make a graphic novel, cover or illustration” and “to get better at digital art”, she says.
ILF’s new Talent Pathways Project Manager Darren Moncrieff says: “It’s exciting to be at the start point of this program – for the participants and myself. After several online sessions since January, we have just met each other for the first time in Sydney, where we spent four fruitful days in practical sessions with a number of ILF staff. From this, we will build on what we have set in motion in the coming months.”
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is a national charity working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia and is Community-led.
