ASSIGNMENT 3-2

CREATIVE CITIZENSHIP: BUILDING CONNECTION, KNOWLEDGE, BELONGING AND LEADERSHIP IN YOUNG PEOPLE Lisa Burnett Regional Manager Transit Lounge Caboolture Qld and Anne Spelman Client Services Coordinator Moreton Bay Region Libraries Qld

For the last three years Moreton Bay Region Libraries has hosted Transit Lounge Caboolture (TLC), a developmental program for creative young people. Although not an obvious pairing, it has been successful, with the hosting arrangement on the verge of transforming into a true partnership. Between them, they offer a suite of services and programs that support the developmental needs of creative young people from pathfinders through to aspiring artists, emerging artists and professional artists. Programs such as Mash It Up short film festival and Band Camp, services like the enewsletter and project mentoring provide opportunities for skills development, networking, showcasing and resourcing that would not otherwise exist. Through this unique partnership, a continuum of support has been offered that connects young people to each other, to community resources and to professional artists and artsworkers – connection, knowledge, belonging – developing a generation of young citizens who have a stake in their community and the skills and networks to create and lead arts and cultural activity. Edited version of a paper presented at ‘12 to 24s @ your public library in Australia and New Zealand conference’ Qld 11- 12 June 2010.

hen we sat down to develop this paper there was one word that dominated our conversation – why?

• why does Transit Lounge Caboolture exist? • why is Moreton Bay Region Libraries doing

community development work? • why are we partnering? • why are we interested in working with young

people? • why arts and culture? • why do we think other people should be doing

this?

We articulated our personal motivations, which ultimately lead back to some clear and compelling reasons.

Declining optimism In the 10 years between 1995 and 2005 there was a significant decline in young people’s optimism regarding their preferred futures

• 49% of young people think the future quality of life in Australia will be worse (up 25%)

• 65% think the world is headed for a bad time of crisis and trouble (up 49%)

• although 89% would prefer a ‘green’ future only 23% expect that is what they will see

• although only 11% prefer a ‘growth’ focused future, 77% expect that is what will prevail.1

If you are faced with a widening gulf between your expected and preferred futures, what does that do to your sense of hope – especially if you do not feel that you have any control over that situation?

Reduced feelings of wellbeing A survey2 of more than 10,000 Australian students from prep school to year 12 found that

• 40% of students could be described as displaying lower levels of social and emotional wellbeing

• there was, at most, only a weak positive relationship between socioeconomic status and overall wellbeing

• students wellbeing tended to increase in primary school and decrease in high school.3

Increasing anxiety and depression Among Australians aged 15-24 mental disorders now account for 49% of the burden of disease, measured as both death and disability (and 61% of the nonfatal burden).4 Young people appear to be suffering mental health problems at an earlier age, experiencing them at higher rates than older age groups, and retaining their increased risk beyond youth into older age.5

Something positive Despite, or perhaps because of, this general decline in young people’s wellbeing we both believe in the importance of approaching the problem from a positive perspective. It is difficult to do otherwise when Lisa, who been working with young people for almost 20 years, and Anne in the education and library sectors for about 25 years, continue to be inspired by young people’s

• energy • passion • idealism • creativity • resourcefulness.

W

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About Transit Lounge Caboolture Transit Lounge Caboolture has been operational since May 2006, and is a program of Youth Arts Queensland. It was initiated via a partnership between Community Renewal (Department of Housing), Arts Queensland, and the then Caboolture Shire Council. Transit Lounge has two fulltime staff, Lisa Burnett who manages the program and a business administration trainee, Elly Westaway.

A community that is changed by the creativity of its young people.

If you are going to have a vision, why not be bold? This vision is at the core of TLCs operations. It lights TLCs path, guides its decision making and will be the measure of its success.

TLCs mission focuses service delivery on supporting young people to become cultural entrepreneurs. A cultural entrepreneur is active with their creativity in their own lives and in their communities – developing skills, producing work and initiating projects. TLC supports young people engaging along a spectrum of cultural endeavour (entrepreneurship) that includes arts audiences, bedroom artists, workshop attendees, project participants, part time artists and fulltime career artists. TLC sees all acts of cultural entrepreneurship as valuable for the participant and for the community – assisting young people to make meaning and encouraging pride, community connectedness and active citizenship. Its services for young people aged 13-25 include

• workshops across all artform areas • fortnightly newsletter • one on one career pathways advice • project support and mentoring (grant writing,

office space, resource brokerage) • capacity building projects via partnerships with

the youth sector.

Approach to delivery In developing appropriate services for creative young people, Transit Lounge sees its clients as belonging to one of the following four categories

• Pathfinders young people discovering their creativity

• Aspiring artists young people investing in their creativity through study or participation in arts and cultural activities

• Emerging artists young people working to develop a sustainable arts practice

• Professional artists young people carrying out a sustainable arts practice

The majority of TLC’s clients are aged 15-17 years and fall into the Pathfinders category. It is interesting that over the last few years the numbers of aspiring and emerging artists we support has been slowly increasing. This is due in part to the ongoing development of some of our clients, moving from pathfinders to becoming aspiring and emerging artists themselves

TLC values highly the support of local community organisations and producers, entering regularly into partnerships to create new works and provide skills development opportunities to local young people. Examples include

• When the World was Dark residents of the Caboolture Youth Shelter worked with a storyteller, puppeteer and filmmaker to create a short film for the launch of Transit Lounge Caboolture

• Naidoc week tshirts TLC worked with young people at KYC to develop a tshirt design and hand print 300 shirts for a local Naidoc week festival

• Cosmic Cowgirls local comedian and performer Sammy Lovejoy worked with a team of six young women to create a roving characters troupe for the Urban Country Music Festival. The troupe went on to perform at Farm Fantastic and the Brisbane EKKA

• Band Camp this award winning program was developed by Cassey Russell, a local young producer who has gone on to develop a number of other music development programs that form the backbone of A-Venue Moreton Bay program.

Transit Lounge Caboolture’s network of supporters and partners includes Moreton Bay Regional Council (Libraries, Events, Cultural Services, Community Development), Qmusic, Apra and QUT Caboolture Campus, as well as local community organisations such as KYC, Yos (Salvation Army Youth Outreach Service), Better Together / Homelife (disability support service) the Caboolture Youth Shelter and the Caboolture Neighbourhood Centre.

Local festivals and event producers (such as Farm Fantastic) call on Transit Lounge regularly for recommendations regarding local bands and musicians.

24 Aplis 24(1) March 2011

Outcomes: linking vision and practice In the last two years alone TLC’s achievements include 980 service deliveries to young people via 70 workshops, numerous outreach projects with local youth services and ongoing success through

• workshops, newsletters, showcase opportunities • supporting individuals to action ‘Big ideas’ • increasing local activity by/for/about young

people • valuing young people, who in turn, value their

community • supporting young people’s self determination

and active and engaged citizenship – change makers.

Cassey’s story Cassey joined TLC as a member in mid 2007 at a songwriting workshop held at a local music venue. Not long after, Cassey approached us to do a student placement as part of her community development course at the local Tafe college. On the day Cassey started her placement Lisa asked her if she would rather support the work TLC was currently doing or action a project of her own with our assistance.

Her answer was ‘well, I’ve got this idea …’

Her idea turned into Band Camp, which she designed to be a day for local young musicians to get together and learn more about the music industry. As the idea developed it became clear that that project would be bigger than Cassey’s placement hours would allow. Cassey elected to volunteer with TLC in order to make Band Camp happen – and happen it did.

In January 2008 over 100 young people attended the inaugural Band Camp, almost double the expected numbers. It showcased six local acts with styles as diverse as rock, blues’n’roots, hardcore, jazz, indie acoustic and 80s synth pop. The day also included workshops on songwriting, promoting your act, recording hints and tips and more.

In all it was a huge success and continues to grow. The Australia Council for the Arts funded Band Camp 2009 in Moreton Bay and Cairns, and in 2010 Band Camp was funded through Arts Queensland as part of Moreton Bay Regional Council’s A-Venue program, a development program for young musicians. A-Venue also includes Amplify, Band Aid and other programs developed by Cassey. Now 21, and almost four

years since she first encountered TLC, Cassey is employed part time as the Moreton Bay A-Venue project officer and is currently studying music business at university.

About Moreton Bay Region Libraries Moreton Bay Regional Council is a March 2008 amalgamation of Caboolture and Pine Rivers shire councils and Redcliffe City Council. It is the third largest local government council in Australia. The region’s libraries are spread over 2000 sq kms in a diverse range of communities, from bay and island, to country and large fast growing outer city centres such as North Lakes.

It is difficult to generalise about the three separate councils’ library services preamalgamation but each, to varying degrees, was underutilised by young people. Programming that was happening in libraries was largely irregular and was predominantly at an engagement level.

With increased resources resulting from amalgamation, which included 150+ staff and a spread of specialist librarians that none of the three previous councils had enjoyed, came opportunities to harness broader staff skills, knowledge and experience, a larger equipment and resource base and a combined budget, to determine the best that was on offer in each service and deliver a qualitative response to library services for young people which focuses on their interests, aspirations and information needs.

A number of approaches are being used as we develop the program of services for young people, including

• exploring what we believe to be the purpose of libraries in the lives of young people ie IT and traditional literacy support, information provider, through spaces and programs supports social inclusion, leisure resource, through quality programming the opportunity to develop and showcase their creativity and contribute intellectually through content creation

• observing young people in libraries and in the community to establish crossovers between what libraries currently offer that is of interest to young people and where we might alter or extend our offer to increase use and participation

• consulting with young people to determine their expectations and aspirations around library services

Aplis 24(1) March 2011 25

• assessing our resources – staff skills and knowledge, equipment and collections

• identifying expertise within council and the community to support service development and delivery.

Libraries and young people Most communities have about 20% young people. Half of our populations voluntarily use libraries – they do not have to be pushed, challenged or coerced, they just walk right in. Based on this figure 10% of a community’s young people should be using libraries with abandon. But they are not, and changing this situation is complex and requires a commitment.

The commitment needs to be supported at council level otherwise any strategies developed at the library level may not be supported. Library managers, regardless of their enthusiasm for service improvements are likely to be less successful at implementing change if it is not supported at directorial, mayoral or councillor level. For a range of reasons, councils generally are conservative which when you are trying to develop services for young people can obstruct the innovation and risk taking often needed to engage with them. If a council has prioritised services for young people then they are more likely, with supporting documentation, to acquiesce to left of field or seemingly risky service developments such as gaming or social networking.

Equally important is a commitment at a whole of library level. Everyone needs to understand the value of supporting young people’s social, creative and educative development. It is possible to bring about change without full staff support but it is much harder and takes a lot longer. There is a whole range of reasons that staff do not get on board with new library initiatives, ranging from disapproval to a lack of understanding, ownership or interest. Staff consultation, training and involvement are critical to the success of any new venture and in particular for services where the traditional role of libraries is blurred.

One of the issues for libraries is keeping abreast of changes happening in society that affect their core business. The impact of technology across collections and services continues to evolve daily and it is easy for libraries and library staff to bury their heads in the sand rather than to understand that usually technological developments are about access and service delivery options and that the overarching content is often still the same. We still

have poets, film makers, letter writers, musicians, authors, game creators and artists who, with constant technological advances, have an ever expanding range of tools with which to communicate. Programming that involves technologies engages staff around their purpose and use, and builds confidence and familiarity.

When developing our engagement with young people we knew from observation both within the library and the community that technology was going to be a significant factor. In libraries young people were glued to computer screens playing games, browsing youtube, sharing clips that interested them with friends and family and chatting online. Through discussions with young people it also became apparent that some of them had internet access at home but they preferred to be in the library with other people. Sitting in front of the computer was a place where they felt comfortable because they were with other people and occupied at the same time. Indirectly they were telling us that there was not a lot on offer for them in our libraries. Based on these observations and conversations we did a three things immediately

• bought a wide range of board games suitable for young people to play in libraries

• upped our rolling program of upgrades on spaces for young people to include wiis, xboxes, really comfy furniture

• and we started to develop programming around technology. - the internet games program GameOn - a short film festival Mash It Up.

GameOn We started with a gaming program because it was simple and we knew that it was something that a lot of young people were interested in. Interestingly, it did not require any prior knowledge, just the program framework and a bit of research. GameOn aimed to

• provide programming that young people really wanted to participate in

• provide a social opportunity for young people to be together, make new friends and also build relationships with library staff – so we could find out more about what did and did not interest them

• for the uninitiated, develop IT literacy skills.

Gaming does not have anything to do with the arts or really building connection, knowledge, belong-

26 Aplis 24(1) March 2011

ing and leadership in young people (which is the title of this paper) but it was a stepping stone, a door opener. It attracted the interest of Krome, Australia's largest game development studio and it facilitated informal chatting with young people some of whom had not previously used libraries but who were being drawn in as a result of the program.

Also, other types of clubs initiated by young people sprang out of GameOn including Runescape clubs, a young adult advisory group Yaah, a Yu Gi Oh club and an anime club which is attracting large numbers of seriously dedicated young people up to 23 years of age. The anime club has anime artists and young people interested in game and animation development. They are keen to work with libraries to build networks throughout the region and further develop their opportunities through workshop programs, expos and game creation. Young people involved in this club also participate in Mash It Up and other activites such as the Harajuku Party.

GameOn also led to the development of Mash It Up short film festival, which is heading into its fourth year.

Mash It Up In March 2008 we ran film workshops with the intention of showcasing young people’s work at a short film festival later that year. We were aware that equipment could be a problem for young people so we purchased iMacs, cameras, video cameras, hand held recorders and tripods and made these available for loan as you would a dvd, magazine or a book.

The idea was that we would mentor young people between ages of 12 to 25 through the process of developing short films about themselves and their community.

As well as developing multimedia and filmmaking skills the project supported young people's literacy skills development, safe exploration and creative use of social networking tools such as youtube [www.youtube.com/user/mashitupfilmfest] and myspace [www.myspace.com/mashitup_filmfest] – councils were still really nervous about promoting the use of these resources through programs. Also, because we are libraries and because it is important for young people to know, application of Australian copyright legislation – which is very complex in this age of ‘everything is downloadable’ was a concern.

Outcomes in 2008 included

• 90 young people registering for the festival and participating in free film making workshops covering storyboarding, equipment handling, film editing

• 35 mashups created by 57 young film makers • screening of the top 20 mashups at the Mash It

Up short film festival which was attended by over 200 people.

This impacted on young people’s use of the library and its resources by

• a 8.5% increase in their use of resources in the 2007/2008 financial year compared with the previous year

• young people initiating the formation of new clubs around their interests

• a two fold (103%) increase in young people’s participation in library programs in the 2007/2008 financial year compared with the previous year

• establishment of partnerships that have gone on to support general library service programming.

Feedback from young people indicated that this was something that they really wanted to be doing. They were very critical (which was great because it meant that they had started to invest in the program) of what we could do to improve the program. Taking their feedback on board, we ran the festival again in 2009. Over 250 young people registered to enter the film festival and over 450 attended workshops.

We are now into the third year of Mash It Up and people were registering online before we had even announced it had started. Within the first four days of opening we had 94 booked into workshops.

In 2010, with half the number of workshops on offer, we have had an 11% increase in workshop attendance. Registrations remained similar to 2009 but 71% were from young people who had not registered in the previous year. There was a 32.5% increase in film entries.

Take up by males and females has remained similar over the last three years with slightly more males registering and participating in the program.

The real beauty of the program is that over the last three years we have built a network of over 200 vocal, interested, young people who tell us what they want and how they want it. Also, importantly,

Aplis 24(1) March 2011 27

library staff attitude has shifted from being nervous participants to becoming in some cases passionately involved with young people in the collaborative development of library programs.

Transit Lounge have been very supportive at all stages of the program delivery with advice, access to its networks of workshop facilitators, specialists, performers, promotion and has value added to the program both last year and this year. It has been instrumental in supporting the library service to move away from providing pure engagement activities to more qualitative and meaningful programming for young people.

18+ gaming project As young people begin to articulate their interests, like minded staff are putting their hands up to work with them to create programs to meet their needs. The still unnamed 18+ gaming project, is an excellent example. This project, is much bigger than a gaming program. It has evolved from the anime club and is being developed by two very enthusiastic staff in collaboration with young people. As well as facilitating opportunities such as tournaments, games testing and creation for 18+ the project will eventually pull into its realm of activity other projects such as Mash It Up through a games creation award category. It is intended that the library service, through workshops and training run by experts, will support young people’s creative development and eventual employment by connecting them to relevant industries.

Staff involvement With all the managerial support in the world the type of programming that Moreton Bay Region Libraries has been involved in developing and rolling out is not possible without staff involvement. Even with all the money in the world to engage top quality facilitators, program delivery of this sort is not possible without staff buy in and participation.

Encouraging staff to declare their passions and make their expertise available to the library service is crucial if you want a service that reflects the broader interests of the community – communities to which staff often belong. Ensuring that staff skills and experience have been audited; that there are open channels of communication between management and library staff so that staff can contribute to program conception, development and delivery; that staff at various levels are acknowledged and congratulated for their input

and dedication to their work, are all ways to increase staff ownership and participation.

Staff interest, sense of adventure and expertise is largely responsible for all the innovation that is happening in Moreton Bay Region Library Service. Their enthusiasm, confidence and success have increased the confidence level across the service and more staff are putting up their hands with new ideas or to be involved in current programming. The learnings from innovative programming are being transferred to other more traditional library services and this year we are going online with a summer reading club.

The value of the TLC and library partnership Despite the recent transfer of the hosting of TLC to council’s cultural services the partnership or relationship that has developed between TLC and libraries continues, as do the benefits for TLC of remaining under council’s larger umbrella. Some of the benefits of the hosting arrangement for Transit Lounge are

• more cost effective than running an independent off site entity

• access to resources – people, spaces, equipment • greater understanding of how council works • retention of independence • always in the right place at the right time to

hear about opportunities • access to lots of knowledgeable people for

advice/feedback/support.

Value of the partnership to Moreton Bay Region Libraries Having a noncouncil, nonlibrary perspective within council adds value to programs • thanks to TLC, libraries do things that we

probably would never have thought of eg last year together we ran a Harajuku party and this year we are going to run a Harajuku ball

• having someone around who does not think in the government groove and is comfortable with asking why things are done a certain way, brings opportunities to rethink and reimagine service delivery.

Brings alternative networks and resourcing • as Moreton Bay Region Libraries develops

young people’s programming we are able to draw from and tap into TLC’s diverse networks including arts facilitators, industry experts and for funding advice

28 Aplis 24(1) March 2011

• we also work together to achieve shared outcomes. Lisa has recently applied for funding to support programming in the new Caboolture Library Learning Centre and Art Gallery due to open in September 2011.

Specialist expertise and skill set ‘in residence’ • with TLC comes a high level of expertise of

working with young people and in this case cultural development specifically around the areas of visual arts and music

• support from TLC is 3D, not just subject knowledge. It comes with industry knowledge, networks, funding and it is absolutely invaluable.

TLC can bypass council red tape as noncouncil staff • through strong and progressive leadership

Moreton Bay Region Libraries, for a large department, is amazingly responsive to new ideas but that is not always the case with local government

• regardless, organisations such as TLC can move a lot faster. Working through them, libraries are able to do things in a more timely manner eg consultation

• Lisa is able to draw a group of enthusiastic and interested young people together quickly in a way that the library has yet to be able to do.

Works across council, reducing siloing and building relationships between departments • TLC has developed a broad network across

council as a direct result of its activities, so it cuts across the departments of Community Development and Cultural Services which includes events, galleries and museums. The relationships it has built become library relationships as well.

Success factors Some of the things that we have identified that make our relationship work are

We are both responding to young people’s needs • observing and listening to what young people

are saying they want and then actioning that really works and great things come from it. It is a very safe way to work.

Plenty of time to develop natural relationships and find genuine points of connection • approach the partnership/relationship as if you

have all the time in the world. This then gives you the space to establish the relationship and

understand where each other are coming from. If you start putting project deadlines around it, it goes nowhere.

Good people who are skilled, care and are committed to the project • it is not going to work if you are only outcome

driven – both parties need to genuinely care about what is happening and have the skills and knowledge to support the process.

Being clear about what we are doing and why we are doing it • TLC and Moreton Bay Region Libraries are

very different organisations and it is important for each to be able to articulate our priorities so that we know what is and is not possible from the relationship/partnership – this reduces headbanging.

An understanding from both sides of each partner’s peculiarities and needs • from a library perspective it is understanding

things like the way arts funding works (short timeframes) and trying not to think doom and gloom wondering if TLC will exist next year

• TLC is organic in its approach to working with young people whereas the library does tend to think more in bulk. That is not to say that we do not allow things to evolve and naturally grow. Mash It Up would not exist if we only did what we say we will do

• amalgamation has been a big task for TLC, which has taken it all in its stride – in the last two years it has moved three times, had four different library managers and is now working in a different department

• it has moved seamlessly from working with six Caboolture libraries to working with an additional five Pine Rivers libraries and Redcliffe Library – with no increased resourcing.

What is next? Caboolture Town Square is about to undergo a major redevelopment with the $23 million Library Learning Centre and Art Gallery project, which will include

• 3000 sq metres of library space, gallery with artists studios, recording/band practice studio, learning centre and a space for TLC

• with the increased space and resourcing going into the project lots of opportunity will arise to increase TLC’s and the libraries’ engagement with young people

Aplis 24(1) March 2011 29

each other’s ideas and knowledge rub off and there is an opportunity to grow and bounce ideas off each other.

• already, through our existing networks a young people’s consultation group has been formed and it is contributing ideas around the look, feel and specialist spaces and equipment.

Take aways Extending reach of TLC beyond Caboolture into Moreton Bay region

It takes a village to raise a child (young person). As we get more disconnected from each other and from our communities we feel less and less responsibility for anyone other than our own.

• prior to amalgamation TLC had a Caboolture only focus

• art + culture • as TLC and the work it does with young people impacts across the whole region, libraries are now spontaneously reaching out to TLC for ideas and support and TLC is also incorporating the wider region into their planning as opportunities arise.

- engages spirit and intellect - mechanism for making sense of the world - express your experience to other people

Arts and culture are positive, aspirational and help people make meaning of their lives.

Ensuring TLC’s legacy in libraries, council and the community, beyond the life of the program

• the more healthy adults in young peoples’ lives the better. Young people need more examples of real, healthy adults – how else will they become one themselves?

• as we know, too often things only work because of the people in place. When those people leave, program enthusiasm and commitment go with them

• partnerships are cost effective, with partnership projects outcomes are multiplied

• TLC and the libraries are working to ensure that TLC is not the holder of the work and that things are passed on by documenting TLC purpose and outcomes and consistently promoting to council the value of the work of TLC

• implementation of region wide sustainable projects such as A-Venue

• library staff training – TLC is involved with library staff, providing advice and recommendations around working with young people.

• nurturing and activating young people makes them part of the solution to community problems. Giving young people agency and connecting them to the resources they need can lead to unexpected benefits – be ready to take the journey with them,

References 1 Eckersley, R Never better — or getting worse? The

health and wellbeing of young Australians 2008 www.australia21.org.au p10

2 Bernard, M et al ASG student social and emotional health report 2007 http://www.asg.com.au/socialemotional/ Working with and working off each other

As time passes the partnership deepens and natural overlaps emerge and opportunities arise as understanding of each other’s outcomes becomes second nature. A healthy synergy arises whereby

3 Eckersley op cit 4 AIHW 2007 pp19-21 5 Muir et al State of Australia’s young people 2009

www.youth.gov.au

_______________________

30 Aplis 24(1) March 2011

Lisa Burnett’s career path has been varied and organic, moving from a degree in Visual Arts (QUT 1989-91) into theatre design, youth theatre and youth arts, then onto project management, event management, graphic design and technology training.She has over 20 years experience supporting young people to develop their arts and cultural practices. Lisa is currently the regional manager of Transit Lounge Caboolture. Email [email protected] Anne Spelman is the service support and development coordinator for Moreton Bay Region Libraries, a role that focuses collection development and program and service development and coordination across Moreton Bay’s 18 library service points. Over the last 20 years through the public and state library sectors in Queensland and the UK Anne has worked with others to develop networks, programs and services that support young people’s access to information and creative learning opportunities. Email [email protected]

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