AustLit

'Article 27 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is unequivocal in its claim that culture is central to human dignity and identity. Projects such as Ngapartji Ngapartji, Acoustic Life of Sheds, Project O and Namatjira are 'large-scale, long-term, process-based' partnerships with 'high-needs communities' (25) that intend to go beyond nationally circumscribed ideas about capital 'C' Culture to engage with communities whose stories have been systematically silenced, sidelined, buried or dismissed. Since Big hART's beginning as an arts-based project in Burnie, a community deeply affected by the closure of a paper mill in north-west Tasmania, Big hART has partnered with over fifty communities across Australia and toured its works in theatre, music and film, internationally. Testimony providing evidence of the personal, social and language-recovery outcomes of Big hART's work is affecting, making the impact of Rankin's call for cultural justice speak all the more persuasively as it relates to practice on multiple platforms to multiple audiences. Equally important to the communication of these impacts in this essay is the description of Big hART's five foundational principles or 'domains of change' (15): with individuals and communities (who are supported for at least 150 weeks), with the nation, with art and content, and with knowledge and learning.' (Publication abstract)