Future Reset: Focus Group Gatherings

Event Information

Future Reset: Young People, Arts and Mental Wellbeing is a three-year program funded by VicHealth committed to engage with communities through using collaborative co-design frameworks and processes to create a series of creative activations. The purpose is to ignite social connection among young, creative Victorians and to enhance their mental wellbeing.

As part of this initiative, Footscray Community Arts is supporting a three part series facilitated by artist-led and community-led collectives, South Sudanese Minds, Way Over There Collective (WOT) and Next In Colour. Each session provides an opportunity for the community to collaborate and co-design with Footscray Community Arts, by offering cultural wisdom and knowledge to shape and inform the creative delivery in 2023-24.

These sessions are a gathering space for members of the African Diaspora community, creatives of colour, and POC-identifying community members.

The research and data collected during these focus groups will be shared with VicHealth whose goal is to create an inclusive and healthier future for young people in the arts.

All participants will be given a $50 gift voucher for their contribution and lunch will be provided at the in-person gathering spaces. Each participant will need to complete a survey prior to or after attending the Focus Group Gatherings.

Complete the Community survey here. 

Way Over There Collective
Date: Thursday 24th of November
Time: 6-8:30pm 
Where: Online session via Zoom 

WOT Collective are running a Focus Group Gathering based on our/their Safe Spaces Series (2020- 2021). In hopes of asking some big questions about the challenges of the arts and cultural sector, WOT will guide a discussion between artists from both the South-East and the West. We will collect, connect, collaborate, challenge, and consider actionable ideas like –  

• What is the value of art for culture and community, and how is this sustained?
• Where does uncertainty in art come from and how can it be solved in the future?
• What is the future of arts practice in the outer suburbs? And for creatives who are diasporic, migrant, refugee?
• What does a flourishing arts ecosystem look like and how can we get there?  

We especially invite people involved in the arts or community, and artists from the African diaspora, to gather with us and share.  

South Sudanese Minds
Date: Sunday 27th of November
Where: 45 Moreland St, Footscray VIC 3011 
Time: 3-6:30pm

 This session intends to curate a grounding space where the African Diaspora community can hold dialogue around:  

• The intergenerational gaps
• Cultural taboos  
• Creating language around mental health and mental wellbeing  
• Share lived experiences of how we create/observe mental health through a cultural lens  
• Validating mental health experiences  
• Sharing resources to support community  

Additionally, Asha Hussein will be facilitating Meditative Zen space – where participants can do bullet journaling exercise as well as offering tangible skills, resources, and tools of support regarding creating or adding to your self-care practice.  

Next in Colour
Date: Saturday 3rd of December
Where: 45 Moreland St, Footscray VIC 3011
Time: 1-4pm

Inspired by a research and evaluation project documenting the work of Next In Colour, this focus group session invites community members, artists, educators, youth workers, and individuals from the African diaspora who have an interest in the creative industries to participate in conversations about creating spaces, practices, and processes towards self-determined futures.