Annual Review stories Community stories: 30 September 2021
Tommeginne Country
A group of young women from Tasmania’s north coast have taken ownership of their stories, thanks to a Strengthening Rural Communities grant.
For 27 years, Big HART Inc has found innovative ways to respond to disadvantage on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Young women are a particularly challenged cohort, but a program run by Big HART helps them build confidence and skills to succeed and steer their course away from negative social outcomes, at the same time as learning new digital skills.
Radio Diaries pairs young, disadvantaged women with professional audio artists to create compelling podcast pieces exploring the lives of young women, like themselves, growing up in a disadvantaged community.
A $10,000 grant, funded by the Bertalli Family Foundation, supported the development and presentation of the podcasts, including delivery of the workshops and mentoring. The participants, aged between 11 and 15 and at risk of disengaging from school, were identified by local schools, Rural Health Tasmania and youth services. Interest in the project and numbers for the audio skills workshops exceeded expectations.
What emerged was a compelling body of work. Radio Diaries was showcased at a celebratory community dinner, attended by 70 community members, to mark International Women’s Day in March 2020 including Government representatives. This included Trinity’s story, (watch – Facebook video with animation), which has since been showcased at an online audio conference presented by a leading podcast agency, and picked up by the ABC (listen).
“One of the key benefits of this event was that a number of young women who may ordinarily struggle with systemic challenges were able to feel heard. They were able to share their stories with a room full of community, friends, family, political and business representatives, and feel that they were being taken seriously.”
-Sam Hawker, National Producer, Big HART Inc
Through Radio Diaries, these young women became the storytellers and drivers of changing perceptions around their capabilities. They were given the chance to engage with others in the community and be trained up as citizen journalists, equipping them with new digital abilities, and bringing them a step closer to being prepared for the jobs of the future, armed with new confidence and support.
