This year, it's sometimes felt there isn’t much to celebrate. But we've been thinking recently about all the amazing things our students have managed to do, despite the difficulties. This enews is about celebrating some of these achievements – and the resilience of these magnificent young people.
Next week is NAIDOC week, and to showcase the talent of our Indigenous students, we’ve put some of their stories on a NAIDOC page on our website. Our Storyteller and Nyoongar man, Russ Smith, has read the pieces aloud and we highly recommend listening to them!
In other projects, we’ve had young people write thoughtful, imaginative pieces in response to artworks by Western Sydney artist Ernest Aaron. Others have made short, poetic pieces to camera about things they noticed from their window during lockdown. We’ve also had students contribute stories to Storybox, a new initiative we’ve worked on with Esem Projects, the ABC, Parramatta Council and Western Sydney University that aims to share stories in public spaces. Make sure you stop and read one of our students' stories next time you're walking to Parramatta station.
There’s more detail on these projects below. Each one of them is a great reason to celebrate.
Warmest wishes,
Cath
Dr Cath Keenan AM
Executive Director and Co-founder  | Our beautiful Parramatta centre lit up for our Art Write Light launch, image by Daniel Boud. |
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Trip the Light Fantastic
The rainbow coloured culmination of Art Write Light 2020 is live in Parramatta! From 5pm this weekend only you can catch the neon brilliance of Ernest Aaron's artworks, the inspiring and wonderful words written by our students, and the full spectrum of creativity beamed from our Parramatta centre's windows into the world. |
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 | The View From My Window
We're getting ready to introduce the world to the next generation of filmmaker poets, so watch out Terrence Malick and Bong Joon-ho! In our From My Window project we've partnered with Outloud to run workshops in the Bankstown area, working with students to write poetry and create short films about their lives in 2020.
It's an amazing way for young people to reflect on these challenging times, and for us to celebrate the perspective of some truly extraordinary young people.
Watch the trailer to get a sneak peak of these stories in action.
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 | StoryboxStorybox Parramatta has launched in Parramatta Square, displaying digital stories from Parramatta’s past, present and future. Storybox is a two-metre multimedia cube with digital screens streaming stories created by the community and footage from the ABC Archives. Students from our poetry workshops submitted their work which you can view in the cube. You can visit from 7am to 10pm daily to see their poetry, as well as work by established and emerging Western Sydney digital storytellers, artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers and the community.
Storybox Parramatta is a joint creation with Esem Projects, ABC Content Ideas Lab, Western Sydney University, Story Factory, Curious Works and Form Dance, and YOU! You can submit your stories through the link below. |
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 | Celebrating NAIDOC Week
At Story Factory we're so proud to work with many Indigenous young people. In fact in 2019-20 17% of our students were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. For NAIDOC Week we're celebrating their stories, some brought wonderfully to life by our gifted storyteller Russ, a proud Nyoongar man.
The NAIDOC theme for 2020 is Always was, always will be. And that's worth celebrating. Check it out through the link below. |
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Our Pandemic Guide in Print
The response to our e-publication A User's Guide to a Pandemic was so positive we've decided to print it! This book called on students Australia-wide to submit their written responses to this extraordinary year. The compilation is a thoughtful, funny, imaginative, heartbreaking and brilliant anthology of young voices, speaking to a changing world. Soon to be available in good bookshops everywhere. |
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Support Story Factory with a Monthly Donation
Supporting student writing, imagination, and creativity with a gift of $30 a month is a powerful way to celebrate literacy, and give a vote of confidence in our students' voices. Steady monthly donors make it possible for us to continue to reach students with the resources they need to keep writing about their hopes, fears, dreams, and triumphs—through these tricky times and beyond.
If you’re inspired by our students you can join our Inkwells community and start making a monthly gift today. |
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But Wait, There's More...- It was World Teachers' Day recently and a fabulous opportunity to celebrate the 65,000 people working across NSW to make the future brighter for students. Thank you teachers!
- Weave Mad Pride's online exhibition 2020 is now live - ‘How We Heal: Creating Our Own Wellbeing.’
- Our friends at NCIE are celebrating NAIDOC Week with a number of Covid-safe events that you can join from home, including: Monday 9 November: Virtual Smoking Ceremony - shared across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, and Wednesday 11 November: Children’s Story Time with Luke Carroll.
- With the American election dominating headlines worldwide, we loved reading student postcards to voters, from our sister-organisation 826 Valencia in San Francisco.
Reading is a great way to get your friends, family or colleagues involved in NAIDOC week, and learn from Indigenous voices and perspectives. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation recommends Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Professor Anita Heiss, and Finding the Heart of the Nation by Thomas Mayor. For younger readers, check out Young Dark Emu and Found by Bruce Pascoe, Took the Children Away by Archie Roach, Aunty's Wedding by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler, or Respect by Aunty Fay Muir.
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