Neighbour Day competition FTW!

As part of celebrating Neighbour Day (28th March 2010), Brisbane City Council ran a competition for young people under 18. ‘Stories from my street’ gave young people of Brisbane the opportunity to share stories about what they love about their street, neighbours, or share house or tell us how they met their neighbours and what Neighbour Day means to them.

Check out the other entries and have a listen to Shannon’s winning song about Neighbour Day here:

My Neighbourhood by Shannon Becquigny

We asked Shannon a few quick questions when she came in to collect her prize.

1. When did you first become interested in music?
I’ve always been interested in music, ever since I can remember!  I have long-ago memories of singing nursery rhymes and times tables.  However, I have become more serious about it in the last couple of years.  I wrote my first song in year 4 and did my first recording in year 6.  Since then I’ve been writing and recording a lot – at home and school, and even in the car or on the bus I jot down ideas for my next song.  I find it relaxing and enjoyable to be able to let out emotions through songs.  I play cello and piano, and sing of course, and I love the feeling of achievement once I’ve really nailed a difficult piece or completed a new song.  I’m in several ensembles at school, and really enjoy music camps.

2. What do you want to be doing in 5yrs?
In 5 years I hope to be at university studying music, or better still, in a recording studio recording my songs professionally.  I want people to hear my songs because if I enjoy and have fun writing and recording them, I think people would have enjoy and have fun listening to them.

3. How did you find out about Neighbour Day?
I found out about Neighbour Day by reading about it on the Visible Ink website after my mum handed me the ad from my school newsletter.

4. What made you enter the Neighbour Day competition?
I enjoy entering competitions and liked the way this one sounded – being able to be as creative and original as I could.  I love writing and recording songs so I thought it would be a great opportunity to record one for the competition, especially as I’d never considered writing a song about my neighbourhood before.  It was an excellent experience and a pleasant change from my usual style.

5. Do you think its important for young people to know their neighbours? Why?

I think it’s important for young people to know their neighbours because there are so many interesting people around us! Those people could live their lives and not be noticed by us, which would be a shame because it would be sad to not know such interesting people.  There is so much you can learn from new people – people who do or see things differently.  It can bring a whole new perspective or way of looking at things which you may not have known before.  Also, if you’re living in the same street as someone, it’s good to be friendly with them.  It makes the world a better place and has many advantages!

Breaking Ground

Breaking Ground is a partnership project with Brisbane City Council’s Visible Ink Zillmere, Contact Inc and Jabiru Community Youth and Children’s Services to provide 12 weeks of music, dance and performance workshops for young people in Brisbane North.

The focus of this project is on exploring culture, respect and peace through singing, song writing and dance with other young people from a diversity of backgrounds. Forty young people aged 12- 19 years are currently involved in the project.

The short performance produced through the Breaking Ground process will be presented to community audiences at the Zillmere Multicultural Festival to showcase the young performers’ strengths and achievements and the power of cross-cultural collaboration to build peaceful
communities.

Come and check out the Breaking Ground performance at Zillmere Multicultural Festival on Saturday 22nd May at O’Callaghan Park, Zillmere.

To give you a snapshot of the upcoming performance, Breaking Ground photographer Kiana has provided us with a behind-the-scenes look at the performance. You can read more about Kiana’s work here.

Come and check out what’s happening in 4017

Discover 4017 Festival is on the 1st of May (Saturday) from 4pm – 7:00pm in Ferguson Park – Behind Bracken Ridge Library

Come and join the local community in an afternoon filled with music, dance, art and food!

PERFORMERS:
Macbeth
Zenith
Juliettes
Sammy J
Igg Squad
Katie O
NZ Cultural Dance Group
+Local Artists!

+ Food Stalls
+ Art & Craft from Creative Nine Artists
+ Rides

AND The NOVA Sandman Will Be There!

Proudly Supported By Brisbane City Council and Jabiru
Check Out the Discover 4017 Festival Fan Page Here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bracken-Ridge-Australia/Discover-4017/111132745569408

And check out the event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110291502322976&index=1

Celebrating Neighbour Day – Stories from my Street Competition

Enter Stories from my street with your best story, movie, photos, poem or any creative way to tell us what you love about your Neighbourhood and be in the draw for some awesome prizes.

As part of celebrating Neighbour Day, Brisbane City Council is running a competition for young people under 18. ‘Stories from my street’ gives young people of Brisbane the opportunity to share stories about what they love about their street, neighbours, or share house or tell us how they met their neighbours and what neighbour day means to them.

It is also a chance to meet your neighbours if you don’t already know them and then tell us about it! Invite them over for a cup of tea, bake a cake and take it over to them, or even just say hi next time you see them.

To view current entries click here.

What is Neighbour Day?

Neighbour Day is all about people, it’s about getting to know your neighbours and the people around you; it’s about bringing people together to create safer, healthier and more vibrant communities.

Here are some questions/ prompts to get you started:

· What does community mean to you?

· Have your neighbours ever done anything to help you or your family out? Have you ever done anything to help your neighbours out? We want to hear all about it!

· Draw a picture of your street, and tell us what you love to do there? Maybe you have a favourite corner shop that you like to visit? or you love to go the park with friends?

· Do you and your neighbours ever get together for a bbq? If not why not use Neighbour Day as your first street party and then take a photo or write a poem and send it in!

· Be as creative and original as you can, paint or draw a picture, take a photo, make a mini movie, write a poem or simply share you’re a story form your street… Winners will be judged on creativity, originality and ability to demonstrate the importance of being neighbourly.

Download competition Terms and Conditions here…

Ethnic Communities Youth from Burma Fun Day and Coast Trip to Caloundra

Ethnic Communities Youth from Burma Fun Day

Saturday 16th January

Young people and families from the Karen, Rohingya and Chin communities joined QPASTT and Visible Ink Zillmere last Saturday for a day of sports, food and fun. Held at O’Callaghan Park Zillmere, 70 people came to the event to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton and cane ball. Followed by a BBQ lunch, it was an enjoyable day and we hope to run another event soon.

Coast Trip to Caloundra

Tuesday 19th January

Surf, Sand n Sun was the theme for this school holidays activity at Dicky Beach, Caloundra. The day was spent basking in the sun, swimming, body boarding, playing footy, frisbee and cricket and cooking a BBQ. The last activity for this school holidays was the Karaoke, Pool n Pizza night on Friday 22nd Jan at Zillmere Community Centre.

if you have any other ideas for awesome school holidays activities, write to us here and let us know…

Let’s go Berzerk! Canoeing, airbrushing and more these School holidays

Berzerk Snapshot: Canoeing

Boondall Wetlands

Tuesday 15th December

Elissa McMillan

On the 15th December 8 lucky participants took to the water at Boondall Wetlands for a paddle. With canoes provided by the Boondall Wetlands Environment Centre and a guide to show us the way, we spent the afternoon learning how to canoe in a straight line (it’s harder than you think!), enjoying the beautiful surrounds and learning about the unique wildlife at the wetlands. During the paddle we saw stingrays, small fish, crabs and some birds that had flown 7000km from Alaska!

This activity is part of the Berzerk School Holidays Program, which has lots of fun activities happening for young people 12-25 years during the school holidays. Still to come this holidays is a coast trip to Caloundra on 19th Jan and the Karaoke, Pool n Pizza night on 22nd Jan. There are also loads of other awesome activities happening- you can check these out here. Hope to see you!

Visible Ink Zillmere School Holiday Program

Webby Lurve

More than your average skate park!

Local young people recognised the Webster Road Skate Park had the potential to be more than just a place to skate, but a place where they could host events and get other young people involved in activities.

A few events had been hosted in the space in the past, but the local young people knew they had the ability to design and run an event in a way they wanted to – and the idea for Webby Lurve was born.

What’s Webby Lurve?

Visible Ink Zillmere worked with local young people and community to utilise the local skate park for a creative event that showcased young artists and was a generally cool place to hang out for a day.

Webby Lurve was held on Saturday 24th October at Webster Rd, Skate Park. Visible Ink Zillmere, Marchant Ward Councillor Fiona King and local young people worked together over three months to plan, design and deliver the event.

Young people’s level of engagement ranged from providing input and ideas to playing a key role in planning the event and facilitating the skate competition component.

Approximately 360 young people and community members attended on the day to:

• enjoy a range of activities including a rock climbing wall, guitar hero, horizontal bungy run and airbrushing tattoos,
• participate and check out amazing Skate and BMX skills being displayed in the skate bowl,
• Listen to and watch new up and coming young Brisbane Bands and performers including Tonga, Hello Yoko, Mantist and a Screamo band which catered for every genre.
• consume 600 free sausages and 80 packets of delicious mi goreng noodles.

The aim of the planning process for the event was to:

• Build a link between the community and youth services, local government and other support mechanisms
• Meet identified community needs to offer opportunities for young people to participate in free to low cost activities,
• Profile the skate park as a positive space for young people to recreate,
• Learn and gain experience in designing, planning and delivering their own events or activities within their community,
• Building and maintaining a good relationship with stakeholders, clients, sponsors, volunteers, staff,
• Identify low cost activities that offer opportunities for young people to participate in
• Showcase and celebrate young people’s talents in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Why Webster Road Skate Park?

In response to community issues and needs raised by Cr King, Somerset hills primary school and frequent skate park users at Webster Road Skate Park, Visible Ink Zillmere has worked with a group of 20 local young people, community members, and services to plan and deliver the ‘Webby Lurve’ Skate Event.

The event had a strong youth and community focus, using community involvement in order to re-ignite outdoor entertainment and explore further strategies to address community issues and needs.

Visible Ink :: Visible Leaders

Participants from the Visible Leaders program…

Young people leading the way

The Visible Leaders program is a way for you to be involved in shaping Brisbane for the future. Have you ever wanted to design, plan and deliver your own cool workshops or creative music and cultural events? Then the Visible Leaders program at Visible Ink Zillmere might be what you are looking for. You can come and be a part of the Visible Leaders project and learn the skills that you need to create and run your own awesome event.

The Visible Leaders project supports you in a bunch of ways. These help with everything from:

• Accessing event management training opportunities
• Developing group and leadership skills
• Connecting with other young people, workers and services across Brisbane
• Understanding other cultures
• Designing, planning and delivering a community event

Visible Leaders have already been involved in a bunch of activities for young people. The Krumping Around Street Party was organised by Visible Leaders through a lot of time, energy and creative thinking. It took place on Tuesday the 30th of September, 2008 and was a major success: with over 100 young people coming and having a mad time. Bands, pizza and krumping combined to show how young people in Brisbane can work together, have fun and shape a friendly and safe city for the future. Check out more information about Visible Leaders here.

Third Lagoons Wetland Project

Visible Ink Zillmere in partnership with Kurbingui Youth Development will work with primary and secondary school students to design, create and install various art pieces along the Ariba Unuba walking trail, including 3 signs and 3 signature art pieces. This will involve a series of 10-12 hands on design workshops, including installation.

The design of the art pieces, are to incorporate a “Wetlands Biodiversity and Nature Recycles”, theme into the design elements.

• Young people will develop an awareness of their environment, history and cultural significance of their local area.
• The project will involve young people in BCC planning processes and community arts process.
• The project will engage young people and BCC in exploring issues of mutual interest.
• Young people will further develop their artistic skills, have the opportunity to work with established artists and have opportunities to showcase their work to their peers and community.

Participant Organisations

• Visible Ink Zillmere
• Third Lagoon Wetland, Deagon
• Bracken Ridge High School
• Nashville primary school
• BCC Natural Areas Team
• BCC Creative Communities Team
• BCC North Team
• Local Indigenous Elders

Photo Gallery

Look at some of the beautiful and colourful photos from this event! (Needs Flash enabled)

Video

Watch the “Bush Neighbours” video, which was part of the Third Lagoons Wetland Project