01 Mar Story Factory

Posted at 01:08h in Current Grants by

Story Factory is a creative writing centre for young people based in Redfern and Parramatta. They believe that all young people, no matter their background, should be given opportunities to develop the communication skills and flexibility of thinking that will allow them to live their lives to their full potential and flourish in a rapidly changing world.

In 2012, The Balnaves Foundation supported a joint program between Story Factory and Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia. The 6-week program saw 20 marginalised primary students produce their very own stop motion animated films. Their films were screened in the National Centre for Creative Learning at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia for an audience of family and friends.

   

In 2017 and 2018, The Balnaves Foundation supported the Unmapping project. Unmapping is another program with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia. It involves an extended workshop experience for 160 primary and secondary students to develop creative stories with artists and writers as mentors.

Since 2020, The Balnaves Foundation has proudly supported Art Write Light. Art Write Light is a free creative writing project curated by Story Factory, that connects Australian artists with young people in an explosion of creativity over three colourful years. This year-long project creates opportunities for students to creatively respond to the work of living artists, and to each other, and for this to inform and enrich their approaches to writing and storytelling.

For Art Write Light 2020, the multi-disciplinary artist Ernest Aaron created three original artworks (above) exploring the fragmented and episodic nature of the modern world, using brilliant colours and pop-culture references. This work was used as inspiration for students in a series of writing workshops in schools across Western Sydney.

For Art Write Light 2021 Story Factory is partnering with local artist and legend Blak Douglas, a contemporary artist with proud Dhungatti Aboriginal origins as their 2021 artist. Douglas’s works are culturally & politically charged with a sense of irony & hint of sarcasm, perfect to inspire a year of writing with the lucky students.

Find out more on Art Write Light here.
Find out more about Story Factory here.