Stories about life in the Retta Dixon Home will be documented by Darwin Community Arts as part of a project funded by Festivals Australia. A sum $10,000 awarded to DCA will be used to make video interviews with former residents talking about their experiences at the Home. The interviews will then be exhibited in a video installation adjacent to the site of the Retta Dixon Home at what is now known as the Bagot Community, Ludmilla, Darwin. The idea for this project arose from discussions about creating a 'memorial' to the Home and its role in the lives of Stolen Generations people. Any former residents interested in participating in this project in 2009 and telling their stories are welcome to contact DCA. Email ao@darwincommunityarts.org.au or telephone 8945 7347.

$35,000 for the "My Sister's Kitchen" project has been awarded to Darwin Community Arts. The money comes from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's Living in Harmony Community Relations Funding program. The project will promote interaction and understanding between Indigenous, broader community and refugee women through exchange of cultural information contained in cooking and storytelling. Participants will develop skills in food handling and cultural enterprise, skills exchanges and opportunities to perform and cater at events at local festivals and cultural development community events hosted by Darwin Community Arts. Activities will include at least 35 three hour group meetings at which women will exchange stories and gain skills around food handling, cooking and diet in the Australian context. The participants in the workshops will cater for three community dinners open to the public.

In relation to the Darwin Fringe Festival, the DCA Board, at its meeting on 28th October, resolved the following:
In 2009, the Fringe will adopt a model where:
- artists who wish to be part of it apply for inclusion, pay a participation fee, and organise their own event or contribution;
- a steering committee is formed, comprised mainly of local artists and producers, which decides on who is included in the program and coordinates activities, including marketing, to service needs of Fringe participants;
- the schedule is organised to overlap with the Darwin Festival, commencing within ten days of the start of the Darwin Festival, so that it again becomes a Fringe Festival, providing alternatives (mainly locally-produced) to the events of the Darwin Festival.
Towards this, DCA will engage a Coordinator who will manage the remodeling and running of the 2009 Fringe. The Coordinator will:
- report to the Executive Officer of DCA and be guided by the steering committee;

In November we'll be commencing theatre, music, and movement workshops at Sanderson Middle School. The workshops will explore student interests and concerns.

Also in November, we will resume the "Our Malak/Connect" digital media workshops at the Malak Telecentro. We'll be running podcasting workshops with the Multicultural Youth of the Northern Territory. We hope to run video workshops with Melaleuca Refugee Centre and Danila Dilba by December.

After a good Cycle-Logical Festival and Under 18s Dance Party on 1st November, we are preparing for the next monthly community gathering for December. The Dance Party is scheduled for 20th December. We will hold a street party this month in a cul-de-sac in Malak (to be announced later) rather than having activities in Malak Shopping Centre Car Park (as was the case for the first two events: CulturFest and Cycle-Logical).

You are warmly invited to come on down to the Malak Community Garden to help with our Wet Season preparations!

Our next session is on Sunday 26th October from 4 – 6.30pm, behind Malak Shopping Centre. Please feel welcome to pass this message on and bring some friends.

Join the free activities:
- transplanting lemongrass
- potting some rocket to take home
- planting kangkong seedlings
- sharing gardening advice and tips for the Wet
- laying duckboards & putting in some edging
- harvesting basil to take home

Bring gardening clothes, hat and positive thoughts. Tools and cold drinks provided. Tools however are always useful so donations are gratefully accepted. Any enquiries about the gardening may be directed to ao@darwincommunityarts.org.au

Darwin City Council supports Malak Garden through the Community Grants Program.

Plans for the November Malak Community Gathering are under way. The theme for this event is “Safe Cycling”. On Saturday, November 1st, we will host a Bike Safety session for all ages. If you don’t have a bike we will supply one from the pool of donated bikes we are receiving. After the Bike Safety session, cyclist will cycle around Malak, accompanied by drummers and other performers. The parade will return to the car park for more entertainment and refreshments.

We are looking for volunteers to assist with this event. In particular, we need the support of ‘bike mechanics’ to do safety checks on the bikes. We are also still looking for bike donations. If you can assist please contact Nic on 8945 7347 or email: projects@darwincommunityarts.org.au

The Malak Shopping Centre car park and Chambers Theatre came to life Saturday 20th September for the 2008 CulturFest. The afternoon started at a frantic pace with an energetic displaly of Irish dancing performed by the Keltika Irish Dancers. The dancing programme also featured Acholi, Burmese and Cambodian dancers.

Demitrious Magriplis provided a recital of Greek and English poetry and Reggae Dave entertained the crowd with his fine blend of folk/reggae tunes. Local celebrity Ali Mills delivered a humorous and heartfelt welcome from the Larrakia people, and a trio of Karen youth took to the stage to perform an impromptu traditional song.

Neighbourhood watch kept the young ones entertained with their go-karts, while the taste buds were satisfied by Burmese and Congolese culinary delights.

The outdoor cinema featured a locally produced documentary and the 2008 Refugee Film Festival.

The Malak Street Cafe got underway Monday August 25. Already by this first outing, the benefits of tapping into local knowledge have been confirmed. Residents in the Fawcett Court cul-de-sac area came out to share their thoughts and ideas about Malak. They also outlined a vision for a small scale outdoor film screenings during the balmy wet-season evenings when many of the locals enjoy the evening breeze in the park area at the bottom of Fawcett Court. Our intention has always been to tap into this local knowledge and follow through to work with the Malak community to realise some of these visions. The work is underway. One person has a dream, but if two people have the same dream, it becomes reality.

Liberty Songs is a collaboration between women from Darwin's Liberian community, led by Deborah Poe, and three acclaimed Indigenous musicians: Shellie Morris, Leah Flanagan, and Lou Bennett. They have been working at Chambers Crescent Theatre this past month to prepare their performance for the Darwin Festival on 28th August, 6:30 PM, at the Star Shell. The image accompanying this story is from their open rehearsal on Sunday, 24 August, at Chambers Crescent Theatre. Liberty Songs is a continuation of the collaboration initiated by the Strong Women project jointly organised by Darwin Community Arts and Melaleuca Refugee Centre for International Women's Day in 2007.

The Malak Street Cafe will be out in the streets of Malak from Monday August 25, between 4 and 6pm. A flyer has been distributed throughout the neighbourhood to inform people what the Street Cafe is about. In a nutshell, we would like to meet the neighbours, introduce Darwin Community Arts to you and exchange ideas about the possibilities that exist in Malak. We will do this by setting up our van, tables, chairs, hot coffee and tea and wireless laptops for you to connect to the Net, in the cul-de-sacs of Malak. Some of the initiatives and projects DCA is working on at present are: the Community Gatherings; The CulturFest 2008; a walking club; a homework club; artistic expression workshops with Sanderson Middle School and the community gardens among others. Hopefully, people will come out to meet with us and have a bit of fun.