exStreamHeArt - live from the desert

exStream heArt: ANTI POVERTY WEEK

Local arts activities can help reduce social exclusion and the effects of poverty, and on 16 October at 10.30am AEST there will be a live webcast of performances and discussion of the matter from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

The broadcast is a contribution to Anti-Poverty Week and is being jointly run by Barkly Regional Arts (BRA) and the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA).

Hosted by BRA's Artistic Director, Kathy Burns, the broadcast will showcase song, dance and art from the Barkly region. It will also feature discussions among local artists of the part that a strong, diverse arts culture can play in engaging people who might otherwise be marginalised.

BRA is a grassroots organisation that works with traditional artists through the Artists of the Barkly in visual arts and with musicians and music production technicians through the Winanjjikari Music Centre. BRA also works with young women through the LADY BEATS project and young people through MEDIA MOB. They manage an annual festival (Desert Harmony Festival) and a radio station (8CCC) and have their programs and events placed in remote Barkly communities.

The NRHA is delighted to be collaborating with BRA, which is a fine example of community organisations that are working across rural and remote Australia to combat the effects of poverty. The webcast will display and promote the feasibility and benefits of such work in more remote communities, and will hopefully bring some national attention to the means through which social capital can be built in communities in more remote areas.

The webcast will be accessible live to the public on mobile devices, computers and smart TVs across Australia. After the event, it will be able to be streamed on demand from the websites of both BRA and the NRHA.

This collaborative webcast is one of the hundreds of events taking place across the country to mark Anti-Poverty Week, 12-18 October 2014. More than ten thousand Australians will be involved in the Week overall, which is to highlight the need for research, discussion and action around the causes and consequences of poverty in Australia.

Rural and remote areas have a higher proportion of people living in poverty than in the major cities and 18 of the 20 electorates in Australia with the lowest household incomes are outside the capital cities.

For more information about Anti-Poverty Week, contact [email protected] or visit the website, www.antipovertyweek.org.au