Engawala, also known as Intiarntwa, is a remote community 200 kms northeast of Alice Springs. It has a women’s centre, childcare facility, school, remote health clinic, Council office and recreation hall with a youth program servicing the 150 people that live there. Excitingly, it will soon also be home to the Engawala Art Centre.

The Engawala Art Centre Aboriginal Corporation (EACAC) formed in 2019 and is overseen by a committee of five. Twelve local artists have been making the 400 km round trip to Alice Springs to sell artworks, with the cost of travel a drain on their income. There was agreement that it would be ideal if they had their own Art Centre where they could paint and have a gallery to sell to the public.

Long-term impacts

The benefits of a strong arts and crafts sector are far-reaching. Establishing and building the capacity of Indigenous art centres goes a long way to sustaining remote communities. They play an indispensable role – as a place of cultural leadership, language and identity, community engagement and are often also a provider of essential social and wellbeing services. They are a link to the mainstream art market and, when operating effectively, these enterprises can be a key source of income, training and employment.

Recognising this, the EACAC developed plans for a dedicated Art Centre in the community and set about making it a reality. In 2021, they applied to FRRR’s Strengthening Rural Communities program (Small & Vital stream) for a grant to cover administrative costs during the start-up phase. This would cover subscriptions to the Stories, Art, Money (SAM) software program; membership of Desart, the peak Arts body for Central Australian Aboriginal Arts and Crafts centres; telecommunications equipment; promotional signage; and art materials.

With strong letters of support and partnerships in place, the application was successful, and the group was awarded $8,595, thanks to the Yulgilbar Foundation.

Getting it right with upskilling and the tools for the job

The EACAC maintains that the most valuable outcome has been the employment and training of an arts worker. Once a week, an experienced volunteer has visited the Engawala Community to do training, with other training completed remotely, via the new phone. This meant the project could continue in between visits. The Centre’s arts worker now has all the basic skills for running an office and working with the SAM database, even attending an advanced course in using SAM at Desart in Alice Springs.

“While we have secured funding from the Commonwealth Department of the Arts to continue her employment, we would not have got to this stage without support from FRRR. Their grant to our Art Centre is allowing us to go from strength to strength.

“The equipment purchased through the grant has also made a critical difference. We cannot operate the Centre without the phone, and the iPad and scanner have made the recording of artworks for upload to SAM possible. Previously this was done using a borrowed mobile phone, which was very time consuming and unsatisfactory.”

Building for the future

While the renovation of the old shop for the new Centre was heavily delayed, the group sees the silver lining – they had had extra time to prepare to hit the ground running.

The EACAC is now actively promoting of the Centre which was opened by the NT Minister for the Arts in August this year., The Centre has worked with nearby Gemtree Tourist Park to provide short tours to see the artwork billboards on the Plenty Highway followed by a visit to the Art Centre. The billboards, some depicting work by Engawala artists, are part of the Outback Way Outdoor Gallery project which was also supported by FRRR.

The Art Centre project has also helped to open up new markets, bringing with it more resources to continue to grow the Centre. The artists  sold an impressive $13,000 worth of Engawala artists’ paintings in one day at the Desert Mob Marketplace in Alice Springs, assisting them with paying for items they could not secure funding for such as electricity and insurances.

“While not our biggest financial partner (the bulk of our fundraising was for the renovations), FRRR’s contribution towards our project was critical at an important development phase. Many projects fail at this juncture between getting the ideas and finding substantial financial support. In a commercial sense, the funding was critical in terms of kick starting the project.
“We appreciate the flexibility FRRR has shown – something not evident in some government funding programs. This is one of the major strengths of the philanthropic movement.”

David (Taffy) Denmark, volunteer Business Advisor

A huge congratulations to the committee and all those involved in the project to date. By deciding to professionalise the management of the Arts Centre, this group is building a place for employment, training, business opportunities, tourist-based income, cultural maintenance, pride, “a laugh and a cuppa”, and thus strengthening the Engawala community for the future.

A modest $4,700 grant from The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund program has helped a community group transport a 215 kg ceremonial stone to Susan Island in October 2021 by a local builder who contracted a truck, forklift, excavator and barge. The excavator carried the stone to the gathering place, where a concrete footing had been laid by volunteers who supervised the process, and helped to manoeuvre the stone into place on the footing.

Four benches were purchased in November 2021. They are solid hardwood benches with galvanised fittings, each weighing about 80 kg. The benches were transported to the island in June 2022 by volunteers in a private boat. They were installed in deep holes on concrete footings, with cross-bolts added to keep them in place during floods. The installation was carried out by volunteers.

Native food, dye, medicinal and fibre plantings were carried out in August 2021, and May 2022. The plantings included Lilly Pilly, Red Kamala, Lomandra, Red Bean, Creek Sandpaper Fig, Red Ash, Moreton Bay Fig, Black Bean and Wattle (Acacia fimbriata). Planting was done by volunteers, and the trees were supplied as a contribution from the Susan Island Board. Around 250 trees, groundcovers and understory shrubs were planted between July 2021 and June 2022. Volunteers created a network of walking paths from the boat landing to the gathering place, passing through newly planted areas onto regenerating areas downstream.

“We have been trying to establish the gathering place since 2018, when the women’s group designed the stone. Finding a way to transport this 215 kg stone to the island was very problematic. We discussed ideas ranging from a helicopter with sling to elaborate pulley systems off small boats, but without money we couldn’t do anything. The funding let us focus our efforts, and we ended up asking a local builder to organise the logistics, which he did successfully. Without the funding, none of this could have happened. We thank you. It is really a lovely place now.”

The community of Copmanhurst in the Clarence Valley in New South Wales is a strong and resilient group of around 300 people. In 2019/2020, Copmanhurst was severely impacted by the Black Summer bushfires, as well as flooding. For so many in the area this created a stressful environment. Many families were forced to evacuate and sadly leave livestock and other animals behind. Between the financial and emotional stress and hardship caused by these disasters, the community also saw a rise in mental health incidents.

For the youngest residents, stressful family situations, orange smoky skies and the loud noises from helicopters landing behind the preschool was causing a lot of anxiety.

Copmanhurst Pre-School wanted to create a space that would support the recovery of young children and provide a place nurtures respectful sharing of thoughts, ideas and knowledge. Their plan was to construct a Healing Circle that included a native garden. To help achieve this goal, the Pre-School secured a $8,650 grant through The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund.

They were able to establish the Healing Circle and also repair and upgrade a memorial of a past student. The memorial stone was moved to the Healing Circle and the family was very pleased to be included and remembered.

The garden was created under the guidance from local Elders and Ngroo, a local Aboriginal education program, to incorporate native plants and ideas for the healing circle including logs sourced from Bundjalung Country.

Since completing the project, the average day now begins around the healing circle for a talk before everyone goes off to play. This gives the children and educators an emotionally meaningful way to start the day in an area they all feel, safe, secure and supported.

Because of COVID lockdowns and restrictions, there was a delay on the opening celebrations for the new space. The Pre-School wanted to invite all the community services to the opening so they could acknowledge and thank them for all the hard work they did to keep their community safe during the fires and floods.

Woombah is located in the Clarence Valley, on Yaegl Country, and has a growing population including long-time residents, older residents and young families. Without a community hall or cafe, the community has long needed a place to gather, connect, share ideas and resources.

The Woombah Residents Association (WRA) created the Woombah Wellness Community Garden to provide a sustainable gathering space for locals to come together and share gardening tips, knowledge, stories and create community connections.

They received a grant last year from The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund grants program, which FRRR manages. It supports communities in the Clarence Valley and surrounding regions who have a desire and need to strengthen their capacity and resilience in response to the 2019/20 bushfires, flooding and continued challenges across the region.

WRA used the $12,100 grant to create a series of promotional and educational videos to celebrate the recently established community garden and share the 2021 program of workshops and events with members, residents, community groups and wider social networks.

Six videos were developed to create a stronger online presence, encourage greater onsite participation, educate residents about the benefits of gardening, and engage their volunteers and members:

• Native Bee Hotel Workshop Promo
• How to Make a Native Bee Hotel
• Saturday, It’s Garden Day Promo
• Tunes in the Trees Highlights
• Gardener Profile Vicki
• Gardener Profile Cara
• Vicki’s Garden Map Promo

From developing creative video content with different members and groups in the community, to screenings virtually and at Woombah Residents’ Association meetings, the production of these resources helped deepen WRA’s engagement with the wider community. It also provided opportunities to build stronger relationships within the community garden team, by working together on this series of creative video projects.

“We are grateful for the support from FRRR and The Yulgilbar Foundation, and proud of the workshop activities and virtual resources that have built organisational capacity in the WRA’s Wellness Community Garden and increased awareness and engagement in environmental sustainability initiatives in our community.”

Berri Brown, President

Grants part of $2M funding commitment for region

Thanks to a new partnership between the FRRR and The Yulgilbar Foundation, 22 projects in the Clarence Valley and surrounding region have received a much-needed boost this year, with community groups sharing in $1,214,206 in grants.

Funded through The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund program, these grants are part of $2 million investment across the region over a three-year period. Funded initiatives include 19 one-off grants and two multi-year grants that will strengthen community capacity and resilience in the wake of the 2019/20 bushfires, drought and continued challenges across the region.

A broad cross section of groups has received support for a wide range of initiatives, with grants ranging from $1,600 for a creative writing workshop to $571,000, distributed over three years, for the Changing Lanes Community Youth Garage program run by The New School of Arts. Mudyala Aboriginal Corporation has also been awarded multi-year funding, totaling $148,413, for a project focused on resilience and wellbeing of Indigenous boys and men from Clarence Valley and surrounds.

Natalie Egleton, FRRR’s CEO, said that the breadth of the projects funded reflects the diverse needs of communities in the Clarence Valley and surrounding areas.

“Great ideas and initiatives to create strong, vibrant communities are prevalent across the Clarence Valley and neighbouring regions. However, the last 12 to 18 months have made it pretty challenging to find the funding and resources to bring them to fruition.

“These grants, which are generously funded by The Yulgilbar Foundation, mean that these 22 ideas will become reality and have a positive impact on the capacity and resilience of their communities. It is fantastic to have dedicated funding available to support this region,” Ms Egleton said.

The projects supported range from creative arts, heritage and culture projects, events and festivals, gardening, street-scaping, creating employment-pathways, IT equipment and business, leadership and mental health workshops.

Further opportunities for grants will be available through The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund in the coming year. More information is available here.

The full list of grant recipients and their projects are listed below by LGA: