Vietnamese Storyexchange

As part of the Cabramatta Moon Festival celebrations, Mayor Nick Lalich  launched Vietnamese Storyexchange on Saturday 26 September at the Cabravale Leisure Centre. At the launch, 120 members of Western Sydney’s Vietnamese community shared digital stories and photographs that were made during workshops in June. The ten mini-films by young people were screened, while Vietnamese elders shared their “storycubes” of photos and stories capturing the past, present and future aspirations. The initiative was a partnership between Council, the Vietnamese Community in Australia, Vietlish and Information and Cultural Exchange. The Vietnamese Elders: Storycubes project was sparked by a desire in the community to share their stories as refugees – stories which are often overshadowed the war between the United States and the Vietnamese Communists. But the stories went beyond the struggles of the refugee experience, to celebrate the joys of family and seeing children succeed in Australia. Vietnamese Storyexchange was be an intimate prelude to the spectacular Moon Festival the next day.  

Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) - Public Art

The public artists have been selected for the SSFL project, and will begin community consultation when ARTC have finalised the contracts. The artists – a collective of six artists from Fairfield West, Cabramatta and Canley Vale – will create a new public artwork on the 12 x 3 metre deflection wall at Cabramatta train station, as well as motifs that can be applied to fencing at the station, and on noise walls at selected locations.

Interwoven: Exploring the social fabrics of Fairfield

Interwoven is a craft based project engaging the multicultural society of Fairfield to plant seeds of their visions in the public spaces of Fairfield through crafted installations. Fairfield City Council in partnership with Immigrant Women’s Health Service and local contemporary artist David Capra to deliver this project with the intention of engaging the traditional crafts people of Fairfield through Westacott Cottage and the craftspeople who attend Fairfield Immigrant Women’s Health Service to work on a project combining the traditional and contemporary arts of the many cultures in Fairfield. 

Visual Abilities

Fairfield City Museum and Gallery are running a series of visual arts workshops for people living with a disability. The works developed will be exhibited at Fairfield City Musuem and Gallery for Don't Dis my Ability day this year in December 2009.

Listen, Respect, Negotiate, Understand: An Intergenerational Theatre Project

Assyrian Cultural Training Resource Kit

Fairfield City Council, in partnership with the Assyrian Australian Association, is developing a cultural resource kit. This project recognises that the Assyrian community is a significant part of Fairfield City’s population, yet is still misunderstood – a quality training resource is necessary to increase awareness of and sensitivity to Assyrian culture, leading to more effective service provision and working relationships with the Assyrian community. The project is also an important example of how to develop and present culturally-specific training material.

Living Heritage Museums

A vacation student from the University of Western Sydney will be engaged to research living heritage museums around the world. A living heritage museum is a dynamic museum-without-walls which focuses on the identity of a place, and is driven by the participation of local communities who research, preserve, interpret and manage their heritage for sustainable development.