Creating Indigenous futures: using applied theatre to construct a participatory creative space for Indigenous Australian young people

© 2012 Dr. Rosemary Joan BlightSee also: Dansick, R. (1994). From theatre to communication: the application of theatre techniques to an orientation program for overseas students. Masters Research thesis, Institute of Education, The University of Melbourne. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/16435This thesis investigates the use of applied theatre with disadvantaged Indigenous Australian young people. It examines the characteristics, challenges and opportunities of using applied theatre practices with Indigenous young people in an Indigenous community setting. The research considers the relationship between the fields of applied theatre, participatory forms of qualitative research and Indigenous research. The research responds to the low attendance and engagement of Indigenous young people in education in Australia. Poor rates of school completion combined with high rates of imprisonment means that at least half the Indigenous young people in Australia are underachieving, and are at risk of a future characterized by extreme disadvantage and disconnection from the mainstream. This research began as broad concern with how to reconnect disaffected Indigenous young people with education. Subsequently the research question was reframed as: how can applied theatre be used in the construction of a participatory creative space for Indigenous Australian young people? The study began as an invitation from Nungalinya College in Darwin to the researcher, a non-Indigenous teaching artist experienced in intercultural drama and theatre. Adopting a reflective practitioner stance the researcher explored the central role of applied theatre in building Indigenous young people’s engagement with culturally appropriate creative practices. The study consisted of three applied theatre projects conducted over three years. The first was a one-week Pilot Project in 2006. The second was a five-week intensive program conducted in 2007; the third was two weeks in 2008. The research was a partnership between Trinity College, the researcher-practitioner, who was employed at Trinity College, and Nungalinya College Youth Program. Contact was maintained between the three projects. The researcher became immersed in a new and unfamiliar cultural, social, political and environmental space in order to try to understand the lived realities of the young people. The development of deeper understanding by the researcher of Indigenous perspectives on partnerships, relationships, and cultural safety facilitated the young people’s participation. The researcher found it necessary to adapt applied theatre to incorporate the making of short films as a medium of storytelling and as an initiative of the young people. The building of conditions for participation required complex and sensitive relationships, which evolved through negotiation and collaboration. In a newly constructed creative space the young people had the opportunity to build new narratives to move beyond their habitual patterns and to imagine a different future. As a result of this research, a model for partnerships and for participation is proposed. The researcher identified a range of modes of participation in the creative space and these were subsequently characterized as a continuum from Peripheral to Marginal to Embodied to Active Participation