Mapping the health promoting aspects of art centres on the APY Lands

An Australian Research Council funded project with Flinders University, Ananguku Arts and Culture, Palya Fund, Centre for Remote Health and Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Wellbing

Iwara kunpu artcentreku (strong healthy art centres)

Mapping the health promoting aspects of art centres onthe APY Lands

The anangu name for the project in at a concept development stage. Strong healthy artcentres is the main focus of the research and the concept of mapping is going to be a key consideration. When you think about the painting on canvas we know that Anangu map their country, map their connections, Anangu map their tjukkurpa or dreaming.

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Introduction

Maree MeredithPhD Candidate, Flinders University (South Australia)mere0030@flinders.edu.au

The opportunity to commence my PhD came last year after I had 2How the health in arts story began......In 2009, a meeting was held with the Ku arts board at Amata.Palya Fund met and come up with the idea to ask the board and members to think about contributing some money to an Arts in Health StudyThe board agreed and there was a resolution passedIn 2010, Ku Arts, Palya Fund and Flinders University decided to apply for an ARC grant to fund a PhD student to undertake the studyIn 2011, the ARC grant was successful and Flinders started the recruitment process

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4Anangu Aims and Background of the art and health story...We paint to tell the stories of our land, and to get money to buy food for our familiesAlyson Milyka Carroll, Aboriginal Art Board Director and Ernabella Art centre Worker

5The Research Study

6Aims and Background3000 Anangu on the APY Lands460 people (15%) engaged in art activitiesAnecdotal evidence suggests that these centres contribute to community health and wellbeing broadly understood within a social determinants of health frameworkEngagement in Art Centres potentially provides Anangu artists and their families with enhanced economic security, opportunities for continuing education and training and employment

The potential intermediate determinants include: links to bonding and bridging social capital through Art Centre activities and resources, and psychological well-being through sustained and empowering engagement in organisation and community decision-making. These operate within a framework7Objectives:Identify Indigenous understanding of how art is health promotingInvestigate how this understanding is related to the social determinants of healthExplore to what extent, and in what way organised art generates health and wellbeingIdentify essential features of the art centre organisation and function that underpin the success of this model/s in contributing to community health, well-being and capacity building as a blueprint for other remote communitiesIdentify what strategies could be adopted to further enhance the health promoting aspects of this modelProvide opportunity for currently employed Anangu Artworkers to learn the principles of, and engage in, art-based health promotion research

In stage one of the study the primary methods of ethnography; participant observations and informal interviews will be employed to gain insights into why art centres are considered essential for community health and cohesion. I will be observing the relationships and dynamics between art workers, art managers and others who may be attending the art centre. The art worker perspectives will be essential in this section. For example, art workers may talk about how the art centre resources, such as telephones and computers may be used to help access payments from Centrelink or how meals on wheel services in the community provide more senior artists with nutritious food on a daily basis. On an individual level, artists may talk about why they cannot attend the art centre on certain days due to sickness, sore back and sore eyes. On a family level, the sale of a painting means artists can have money to buy food for the immediate and extended families. These issues will explored through objectives 1-3.Objective 4-5: Participant observation, interviews and document collection: Art centre managers, past and present, will be interviewed in order to discover the factors related to health promotion which impact of the art centres. Despite the positive evaluations of art centres, there is a considerable tension for art centres between the economic objective, and the health promoting agenda as well as the idea of art as a vehicle for cultural maintenance. Art centre managers (from a diverse range of background including marketing, printmaking and curatorial) know very well these tensions and can help to illuminate the many roles the art centres play in communities. Within this chaotic context, managers need to adopt strategies to counter factors which may impact negatively on the successful functioning of an art centre. These factors include lack of community management, poor standards of community health, hunger and disease, domestic violence and substance abuse. Art centre manager can help identify what strategies could be adopted to further enhance the health promoting aspects of the centres. More importantly, they can identify indicators of success for a model/s in contributing to community health, well-being and capacity building as a blueprint for other remote communities. 8Significance and InnovationThere is currently a growing interest in the link between arts and health, along with recognition of the difficulties in identifying the specific benefits (Putland 2008). Art is seen to offer a unique contribution to health due to its focus on creativity, expression and identity and as a health promotion tool.Some commentators have suggested that the arts might play a vital role in promoting social well-being in rural and remote Australia (McHenry 2009), helping to build or reinforce the social fabric of a community by engendering a sense of belonging , trust, reciprocity, identity and place. Others point to the contribution to the Indigenous hybrid economy, via opportunities for income generation and employment (Altman 2007) The focus on creativity in health promotion is particularly central this project. Everitt and Hamilton (2003) argue that it is not the arts activity alone that provides a health gain, but how the activity is delivered, and the environment and conversation around the activity that lead particpants to feel better. They found that community arts participation enhanced healthy personal development, healthy eating, healthy mothering, positive mental health, emotional literacy, health promotion and healthy communities. So besides generating social capital, community based-arts inititiatives have the capacity to regenerate traditional forms of culture in new ways. 9A staged Approach...Stage 1: Introduction to the field and scoping the fieldStage 2: Development of interview and participant observation framework and case studiesStage 3: Training, and delivery of a cross cultural surveyStage 4: Analysis and reporting and thesis write-up

Stage one:

Stage two: 10Methodology and TheoryMixed Method ApproachWhy have I used ethnography? Ethnography through an indigenous lensOne of the indigenous ethnography an the survey part of Authority to speak from my own experience as an Indigenous Primary methods used in stage one participant observation and case studiesIntricacies of the ethics process

Study DesignApplication within the Anangu context. How will Anangu be involved in the study design? The theory behind the Malpa systemThe use of Anangu InterpretersDiscussion around stage two and the survey design. What am I doing to prepare for stage two. For example, building a pool of researchers/ artworkersHow will the survey design will be adapted to fit the Anangu context

Where are we now..... STAGE 2 January December 201313Mapping Health promotion aspects of art centres on the APY LandsWhat is health promotion and how is it applicable to the Anangu contextArt centres as health promoting institutions (Johnson 2000)Common features of health promoting art centresInstitutionalisation theory applied to ACCHS and in this case Art Centres on the APY LandsMapping the aspects including benefits and non-benefits

Anangu Way...documenting an Indigenous MethodologyRecording the process and protocolsThe role of art and mapping as key conceptsTelling the storyand the role of storywork. (Rothwells articles of senior artists)Anangu research governance

15Process and ProtocolsThe title of the project Iwara kunpu artcentrekuThe Malpa SystemConsultations and the role of the BoardsWhat are the risks to Anangu?What are the benefits for Anangu?

16Anangu Way...strong voice, strong decisions, strong healthy artcentres

17Josephine Mick (Board of Directors for Ananguku Arts and Culture) and artist from Ninuku Art Centre, and MalpaBorn in 1955 near Ernabella to Kuntjiriya Mick, Josephine grew up in Fregon, Ernabella and Amata. She moved to Pipalyatjara as a teenager in the homeland movement in the early 1970s. She then moved to Kalka with her children and now she travels between Pipalyatjara and Ernabella

18The Board and GovernanceReport to the Board on a regular basis This includes for 4 times a yearFormal feedback on project milestones to be provided at AGMsMajor decisions influencing the project will be decided by the BoardMain channel of decision making and information dissemination for the project is with the Board.

19Emerging Issues for art centresRe-current funding programsIntergenerational Knowledge Transfer and language preservationArt centres and cultural maintenanceArt centres and health promotion

Next Steps....Initial sweep of the art centres and continuing participant observationBuilding a pool of Anangu researchers Some of the challengesProfiling the art centres

Question Time

Palya!!!All photographs courtesy of Ananguku Arts and Culturewww.anangukuarts.com.au/Chart183.21.41.21.51.4

MONEY STORY and Partner ContributionsOur Industry Partners

Sheet1MONEY STORY and Partner ContributionsARC8Ananguku3.2Flinders Uni1.4Palya Fund1.2Poche Centre1.5CRH1.4To resize chart data range, drag lower right corner of range.