SAIYWAT PDF Print E-mail
SAIYWAT  is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, aged 14 to 27 years, who are associated with Kurruru through participating in our workshops and programs, as well as those interested in making a difference in their community. Young people from both metropolitan and regional communities are involved in SAIYWAT.
 
SAIYWAT (standing for Solid Aboriginal and Islander Youth Working All Together) Youth Voice, Kurruru’s youth leadership committee, is made up of ten young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in the western suburbs of Adelaide. Meeting regularly, and with a representative sitting on Kurruru’s Board of Management, SAIYWAT Youth Voice plays an important role in providing input directly from young people into the strategic management of Kurruru.
The SAIYWAT Committee encourages young people to identify issues or gaps within their own communities and to develop creative, arts responses to them. Members are supported to develop skills and knowledge, enabling them to respond to their concerns constructively and creatively. Young people on the committee learn leadership skills and meet other young people from around SA.

SAIYWAT WAY

From 2007 to 2009, Kurruru initiated SAIYWAT WAY to lead the growth and development of the SAIYWAT Youth Voice committee. This three-year program worked with a number of young leaders across metropolitan and regional South Australia. Through a series of regular cultural and leadership camps, and by supporting a number of performing arts development opportunities, SAIYWAT WAY developed young peoples' opportunities to explore and create their own responses using the performing arts, addressing five areas;
  • Social Health
  • Identity
  • Cultural Knowledge
  • Leadership
  • Political Awareness
Supported through funding received from the Foundation for Young Australians Youth Led Futures program the SAYWAT WAY leadership program undertook a series of camps, leadership activities supporting political activism and facilitated creative arts exploration to support and engage with young leaders from across regional and metropolitan South Australia. Highlights of the program included;
  • Over 40 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth travelled from communities across South Australia (and even Broken Hill, NSW) to take part in a two-night youth arts and leadership camp held in the Adelaide Hills.
  • Kurruru's SAIYWAT Project Officer regularly travelled to regional communities as diverse as Coober Pedy, Ceduna, Copley, Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Point Pearce, Murray Bridge, Meningie and Leigh Creek to meet with young people and support artists to travel to these communities to work with their young people.
  • Working with community and youth organisations including NIYMA (National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia) and Reconciliation Australia to support participation and engagement.
  • Banner-making workshops were held with young people and local artists to prepare a strong youth presence in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 NAIDOC marches in Adelaide.
  • Working to coordinate the content of Blak Nite 09, a feature event as part of the Come Out 2009 Australian Festival for Young People that saw participants from many regional communities travel to Adelaide to perform at the event.
  • Delivering a presentation outlining the SAIYWAT WAY project as part of the national Regional Arts Australia National Conference, Art at the Heart in October 2008.
  • Supported regional young people from Point Pearce and Port Augusta communities to work with respected dancer and artist Gina Rings to develop performance work to include in the Yarnballa Cultural Festival in October 2008.
  • SAIYWAT members received training in documentary production, video editing, hip-hop dance training, digital storytelling, project management and community engagement.
SAIYWAT WAY’s three-year project culminated in November 2009 in a performing arts conference and festival held in Adelaide from November 13 to 15 at Tandanya – National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. The SAIYWAT Festival brought young people from regional townships as disparate as Murray Bridge, Ceduna, Port Augusta and Coober Pedy to take part in forums and workshops exploring opportunities for performing arts to support youth and cultural leadership in their communities.
 
The highlight of the Festival was the performance of Minno and Medika – a participant devised new-work exploring violence, loss of community, culture and broken identity.The work was devised through a series of creative developments that focused on exploring ideas of culture, community and history and the finished work reflected the youth-led ethos of the entire SAIYWAT WAY project.
 
Kurruru's SAIYWAT WAY project was funded by the Foundation for Young Australians Youth Led Futures program between 2007 and 2009