Our Community

Over the last 20 years, Milk Crate Theatre historically has worked with community members who are living with, have experienced or are at risk of homelessness.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that 116,000 people were homeless on census night in 2016, representing 50 homeless people per 10,000. This includes those sleeping on the streets, in cars, at crisis centres and in overcrowded accommodation. This is an increase of 14 per cent from the last census in 2011. In 2020 as part of our strategic planning, we consulted with our community and decided to remove labels that community members did not personally identify with or did not support our strengths-based approach.

Our community of Collaborative Artists now includes all people whose voices are under-represented in mainstream discourse.

In 2019, our community of Collaborative Artists disclosed the following support needs:

identify as having a disability or mental health concerns identify as being a survivor of trauma

identify as having a neurological or learning disability

identify as experiencing problems with alcohol & other drugs

identify as having a physical disability

36%

living in private market accommodation

58%

living in government supported housing

6%

living in crisis housing, boarding house, sleeping rough

of Milk Crate Theatre's Participants identify as having complex support needs, defined as having three or more co-occurring lived experiences or issues.

Image Credit: OLC workshop collaborators. Photo by Kay Armstrong.

Image Credit: The cast of Natural Order 2019, photo by Patrick Boland.