A group of approximately 12 highly skilled artists from the Aboriginal community in Hobart who have been working and performing in their chosen fields for some years, ran a pilot performance training program in 2008 with the assistance of Tasmanian Theatre Company.

The group identified the desire and need to further develop theatre performance skills. “We believe theatre is a fantastic forum for us to share our voices, stories and spirit with both the Aboriginal and wider Tasmanian community” (Jodi Haines)

Tasmanian Theatre Company was again approached to run follow-on performance workshops as part of their Aurora Energy Community Enrichment Program. This collaboration has already gone into its second phase for 2009/10.

Workshops took place this year in the context of the Nayri Niara (Good Spirit) Festival which is held on Bruny Island in February each year. Sean Choolburra ran comedy/performance workshops in order to assist in the development of individual and group performance pieces for the festival.

Sean Choolburra has developed into one of Australia’s Finest Cultural Ambassadors’. A captivating comedy and cultural performer, Sean is in constant demand as a MC, Comedian, Dancer, Hip Hop didge player and traditional workshops performer. Sean conducted a 3 hour workshop, provided an inspiring performance and was available for three days to assist workshop participants to develop their own story/performance to be showcased at the festival. Sean’s comedy and performance workshop was set within a series of skill and cultural knowledge workshops “Sharing Stories….Sharing Country” with the aim of providing community members with Cultural knowledge and traditional stories from cultural custodians and then to provide highly skilled professional arts practitioners to assist in creating interpretation through song, dance, arts illustration, theater and story telling.

As a follow up the the Nayri Niara Festival, a workshop was held on Mt Wellington in Hobart, made possible with support from the Hobart City Council.

Exploring Our Stories workshop created a stimulating environment in which 10 Aboriginal women and young people examined their personal and collective stories.  The Workshop aimed to encourage a deeper connection to Country, Community and Self and participants developed skills as stories tellers.  It is envisaged that women will engage in a dialogue with each other as to a performance outcome later in the year.”