Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Acknowledgements This report was prepared for Performing Lines by Denise Wilson, Performing Lines’ Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator, and Tandi Williams of Patternmakers. The authors would like to acknowledge the individuals and communities involved in the Head Full of Love tour and associated community engagement activities, including Performing Lines staff. Particular thanks go to those who took the time to participate in the evaluation, including 19 presenters and 11 community engagement stakeholders. Performing Lines and Patternmakers acknowledge the traditional land and its owners and the contribution of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia both past, present and future. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this report may contain images of people who have passed away.
1 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Contents Introduction
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Outcomes
5
Conclusions
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Key Lessons
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Introduction To strengthen engagement with Indigenous communities throughout its tours, Performing Lines piloted a new part-time coordinator role alongside Head Full of Love, a Helpmann award-winning play about the friendship between a white woman and an Aboriginal woman at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival, which toured nationally in 2015 as part of Blak Lines. Gamilaroi woman Denise Wilson was appointed to the role of Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator in March 2015, with funding from Australia Council’s Key Organisations. Working with the Blak Lines Producer and Associate Indigenous Producer, Denise liaised with tour presenters, Indigenous communities, local government and non-government organisations to understand local needs and help develop community engagement plans for each location on tour. Over six months, Denise used regular emails and weekly telephone calls to each of the 22 presenters to provide the linkage, focus and coordination to ensure ideas for engagement translated into practice. In addition, Performing Lines prioritised six focus locations for Denise to work with more closely, resulting in 15 visits to communities during the pilot. Some of the work Denise undertook in consultation with presenters and communities included: •
Organising Welcome to Country – In some locations Denise located a member of the community to provide the Welcome, whilst in others she arranged a prerecorded Acknowledgement of Country.
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Introductions and invitations – Linking presenters with key Indigenous organisations, and ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members were included in workshops and engagement activities.
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Local tours – Organising for the cast and crew to meet community members and visit key Aboriginal organisations in some communities.
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Events – Supporting organisation of specific Indigenous community engagement activities.
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Logistics – Providing logistical advice and transport assistance, such as picking up Elders for performances and engagement activities.
A range of community engagement activities were ultimately delivered together with presenters and other organisations, including beanie exhibitions, discussion events on issues related to the themes of the play; including renal failure and social isolation, pre3
Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation show suppers, morning and afternoon teas, ‘Crafternoons’, BBQs and other social events, and post show Q&A sessions with the cast. Working with independent consultant Tandi Williams, Performing Lines surveyed presenters and community engagement stakeholders to gather feedback on the pilot. Tandi also interviewed Denise Wilson and conducted workshops with the Performing Lines team to develop a project logic framework and identify areas of learning. Figure 1 - Denise Wilson (second from left) with Roger Penrith (Griffith Regional Council) Jo Southern (Griffith Regional Art Gallery), Alan McKenzie (Youth Off The Streets), Sarah Boon (Griffith Regional Theatre) at Griffith Regional Theatre, NSW.
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Outcomes The Community Engagement Coordinator served as a catalyst for engagement activities, and provided a link between tour locations to facilitate sharing of ideas and good practice. A total of 15 out of 19 presenters (79%) agreed that the Coordinator helped them to engage with Indigenous communities. Presenter comments emphasise the value of regular check-ins, making introductions and sharing ideas about the design of engagement activities. In many cases Denise was able to open new doors to allow enhanced engagement to take place, as one presenter explained: ‘Until the Coordinator was introduced I had tried by various means to contact Indigenous groups in the area but to no avail. The Coordinator was able to successfully make contact… and we then started to engage with them.’ When asked if they felt they enhanced their relationship with the Indigenous community, 60% of presenters said they had. Many also mentioned specific new relationships they had formed, and hoped to maintain, with local Elders, Aboriginal corporations and Land Councils, local governments, regional arts centres, local media and the Aboriginal medical community. Figure 2 - Cast members worked with Purple House staff to make bush medicine in Alice Springs. The Purple House is a key element the play’s story.
Another important area of impact was arranging appropriate Welcome and/or Acknowledgment of Country in each location, including organising a Welcome to Country for the first time ever in one community. In the evaluation survey, community 5
Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation stakeholders confirmed the value of establishing correct protocols, as one Indigenous community member commented: ‘Thanks to you Denise! You understand the importance of doing the right things in the community and follow protocol where ever you go - fighting the battle for our people and helping breaking down the barriers also.’ Other highlights of the pilot involved providing health education in an engaging way, by bringing presenters together with local medical professionals and Indigenous community members to discuss renal failure and social isolation. The community engagement activities alongside the show helped raise awareness of the production, and contributed to attendances in some locations, as one respondent said: ‘The engagement strategy was vital in attaining the bums on seats. It is extremely difficult to sell drama here - so having the tour come with readymade ideas for engagement was a bonus!’ Figure 7 - Purple House’s Sarah Brown with community members in Alice Springs
Denise’s work also helped to bring different parts of the community together, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members, as one Indigenous person noted: ‘The Indigenous Engagement Officer did a lot of work with the whole of the community. There were a mix of Aboriginal people who work in the key roles in our town, but there were also people from the general community and Elders who attended and really enjoyed the show.’
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation Almost two thirds of presenters (62%) said that members of the Indigenous community they engaged with attended the show (Figure 3). At least one presenter suggested that whilst direct Indigenous community involvement was limited, the activities contributed indirectly to greater engagement: ‘There wasn't a huge direct involvement of local Indigenous communities, but the project's presence and community support contributed to a strengthened relationship.’ Figure 3 – Presenters’ perceptions of community engagement outcomes (2015)
Additional engagement activities were wellreceived by the community
91%
Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator helped us to engage with Indigenous communities
79%
The Indigenous community we engaged with attended the show
62%
We enhanced our relationship with the Indigenous community
60%
Some presenters said they were disappointed with Indigenous attendances, despite having good responses to engagement activities, suggesting there may be an opportunity to better connect marketing with community engagement activities in future, though it is recognised that this can take time. Overall, the main challenges for this pilot largely related to: 1. Time constraints of the Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator. Denise was not able to visit every community, which limited the amount of support she could offer via weekly phone calls for most locations. One presenter explained:
‘It’s very difficult for someone outside to assist with contacting and encouraging participation from local groups. The Engagement Coordinator provided regular motivating phone calls but no real assistance with coordinating on the ground.’ 2. Limited resources available to presenters for outreach and engagement activities. For presenting organisations, staff time and resources were found to be the major constraint for engagement, with some venues under considerable financial strain. One presenter explained:
‘It's quite difficult to do any lengthy or in-depth community engagement for specific groups of people, particularly ones we don't have existing ties 7
Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation to. It's essentially a one-man show in our office with this kind of thing, and we have 36 productions coming to us in any given year.’ Denise explained another case: ‘For one location I was able to get all the contacts requested but the presenter could not do anything with the information in the timeframe available. But they were grateful and will be using the contacts in the future.’ 3. Limited capacity of communities to participate. With a busy schedule of events in some communities, it is inevitable that tour dates at times clashed with other major events such as sporting events. In one location, sorry business meant that it was not a good time for engagement, whilst in others, NAIDOC week led to an already crowded schedule of events. Figure 4 - A community engagement event in Caloundra, QLD.
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Conclusions This pilot shows that tangible positive outcomes can be achieved within the context of a single tour, for a relatively small additional investment. Denise spent a total of 65 days on community engagement between March and November (equivalent to 2 days per week), generating value for presenters, communities and the production itself. Relative to past approaches, the Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator position appears to be an appropriate model for supporting community engagement, as one presenter illustrates: ‘I believe by having the coordinator on board this year Performing Lines have taken the right direction in providing assistance to the Centres. The coordinator was able to answer any queries we had and also helped us to engage with the Indigenous community in an extremely positive way.’ Whilst the engagement activities may not have equated to higher ticket sales in all locations, over time feedback suggests that such efforts could help foster sustainable and growing community involvement in performing arts productions. Denise was able to kick-start engagement, and provided fresh impetus that has the potential to continue beyond the tour. When asked what they would like to see happen in future, one presenter said, ‘Exactly the type that we achieved via Head Full of Love - with a well thought out and appealing engagement strategy culminating in a visit to a live performance.’ Feedback suggests that there are also further opportunities to pursue: •
Greater participation – Increasing community participation in engagement activities, particularly by Indigenous community members.
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Indigenous audience development – Incentivising participation, potentially through reduced price or complimentary tickets and/or alternative models for audience development.
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Broader engagement – Extending Indigenous community engagement across presenters’ annual programs, including for non-Indigenous productions, and greater use of venues by Indigenous community outside of performances.
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Exchanges of stories – More active sharing and storytelling between local communities and the artists / companies that tour performances to different locations.
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Two-way relationships – Presenters supporting Indigenous community initiatives and ventures (such as Indigenous-owned and operated tourism and hospitality businesses) and employing Indigenous people within their organisations.
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Sustaining genuine engagement with individual communities can be challenging, particularly for national organisations with limited capacity to invest in local relationships. However, across Head Full of Love’s tour locations, this pilot has generated some meaningful connections and valuable community goodwill. In leading this pilot Performing Lines has begun to establish trusting relationships, and forge a new way of working. There is an exciting opportunity to continue building on this, and Performing Lines will be continuing in this role in 2016 with Sugarland, the next Blak Lines production to tour nationally. If resources can be sustained or expanded to embed community engagement in more Indigenous and non-Indigenous touring work, it is likely that positive outcomes could be extended into new communities, and into new contexts outside the performance realm. The ultimate objective is for this work to be fully embedded at the local level, led and sustained by communities themselves. Figure 5 - Uncle Ron Wilson delivering Welcome to Country in Colac, VIC wearing a possum skin cloak.
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
Key Lessons In combination, feedback collected from presenters, community contacts and Performing Lines staff suggests a number of opportunities for future community engagement: •
Start planning early – With tour schedules planned years in advance, there is an opportunity to increase the planning horizon for engagement, so activities could be built into tour programs from the outset. Long lead times would also allow for meaningful relationships and engagement plans to develop organically.
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Invest in Indigenous talent – Securing the right person for the role can take time, but is a pivotal step. As an Aboriginal woman with experience of engaging with communities, Denise was able to establish trust and act as a communication bridge between nonIndigenous and Indigenous stakeholders. She is also building up valuable experience that can now be transferred to other contexts.
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Conduct initial research before prioritising resources – If resources are limited, it is important to carefully prioritise resources across tour locations, with a range of factors to consider. Denise explains, ‘Call the presenters first to discuss engagement and what help they would need before choosing target locations. I would also research what is happening in the communities in the lead up to tour to tap into what is already happening in the communities.’
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Invest in face to face meetings upfront – Denise notes, ‘The most effective way to engage was to go to the location prior to performances and get the right groups together. By planning what activities they will do, they are accountable.’ Once relationships had been established, Denise found she could maintain contact via telephone and email, but early visits were essential to initiate activity.
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Nurture sustainable local relationships – Rather than stepping in to run activities, Denise looked for local partnerships that could be sustained beyond the tour. For example, Denise introduced The Events Centre Caloundra to the Nungeena Aboriginal Corporation for Women's Business, who have since collaborated on other local activities. By building local capacity, there is increased likelihood this activity will continue into the future.
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Leverage tour assets – Adding the touring beanie exhibition alongside the show captivated communities and deepened engagement. Alongside the production content, looking for ways to engage the cast and crew in community engagement can deliver value for communities and productions alike.
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Tap into community interest groups – A craft emphasis helped generate strong community engagement with one community contact explaining, ‘The critical thing is to adapt the community engagement activities to the show, not have a standard response.’ Future engagements may find it helpful to explore new ‘hooks’ to capture people’s attention, with the ability to connect into existing community groups and social networks.
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Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator - Pilot Evaluation
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Maintain a supportive style – A warm and friendly style was important for building relationships and supporting others to engage, as one community contact explained, ‘I really appreciated Denise's support. We just went with our original plans but it was delightful to get a call from Denise, and it always worked as a bit of a nudge; "Oh yes, I must get back onto that". Denise has a lovely, warm manner and her interactions were always just right - supportive but never pushy.’
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Facilitate sharing between tour locations – Providing ideas, photos and content from successful events to other locations helped to inspire new engagement activities and motivate action, as one presenter explained, ‘One of the really valuable things that Denise was able to provide was to let us know what was happening in other locations. This acted as an “ideas trigger” but also showed us that we were on track with our plans.’
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Track down local partners – Connecting with local news outlets helped to promote the production in some locations, such as 4K1G radio station in Townsville. There is value in researching local organisations that relate to production themes, and local media outlets such as radio stations, print newspapers and social media networks. Partnerships with other Indigenous programs and organisations may also be worth exploring, to help strengthen and sustain engagement over the long term.
Figure 6 - Denise arranged for the cast to visit local Indigenous radio station 4K1G in Townsville, QLD
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