Soul Gestures > soul events

Celebrate Active Ageing Locally, funded through the WA Department for Local Government and Regional Development, is an innovative opportunity for Soul Gestures to work with older residents in four Perth councils towards recognising those who are actively contributing to Active Ageing in their community. The stories of these people and their involvement will form the basis for a series of stories on bus shelters within each local community.

The four councils chosen are the City of Joondalup, City of Wanneroo, City of Stirling and Town of Vincent. Soul Gestures will work in partnership with these councils to identify Active Ageing programmes to celebrate. The older participants in the programmes will then be part of a process of nominating a person, celebrating their activity and inspiring others in the community to participate.

Soul Gestures has a strong commitment to social justice and an equal and quality level of participation by all groups within local communities. From the start we saw that there were specific groups within local communities that would benefit from a targeted approach due to negative media, fear and marginalisation. The elderly group in the community are one group that Soul Gestures want as a priority to highlight in a positive way.

Currently in the media, there is an ongoing portrayal of older people as victims of violence and helpless. Soul Gestures is strongly committed to creating balance in this image-both to highlight the quality of life of our older neighbours but also to encourage participation rather than fear in the community.

This project is a unique opportunity for Soul Gestures to work in partnership with the older residents of four local communities in Perth, to support them in celebrating their activities, their quality of life and their value to the community.

We thank the Department for Local Government and Regional Development’s Active Ageing at a Local Level for enthusiastically supporting this project and we know that everyone who reads the stories will be inspired by our extraordinary active seniors.

• February 2008

Attorney General's National Community Crime Prevention Project:
Soul Gestures: Celebrating Safer Communities Project

We thank the Attorney General’s Department’s National Community Crime Prevention Programme for funding Soul Gestures: Celebrating Safer Communities. This project is about recognising the people who, every day, make our local communities safer places to live.

This project will celebrate the people who voluntarily work to make local communities safer for all residents; particularly those involved in the Neighbourhood Watch programs, Safety House programs and Constable Care. By highlighting stories about the work these people do- through interviews, bus shelter campaigns and on the website, the project will raise awareness about these important activities, make residents feel that they belong to a community that actively works to make them safe, and be inspired to get involved in community safety programs themselves.

This project provides a clear balance for the constant media stories about crime and violence that highlight only the negative in local communities. Soul Gestures hopes that by providing stories about the positives measures being taken to prevent crime in local communities, people will feel less frightened and more likely to want to be involved themselves in building a safe community.

We would love to recognise the hundreds of volunteers who are putting in their own time to make local communities in Perth as safe as possible. Our public recognition of but a few will let them know that the local community cares and celebrates the important work that they are doing. The stories should allow community members to feel safer knowing that they live in an area where people do care about their family's safety.

We also hope that the stories will inspire more people to become involved in some little way with creating a safe community- free from crime. At the very least they may be inspired to get to know the people living around them and start to look out for each other.

In finding our very special volunteers, we would like to acknowledge the great support and advice from Mike Cox at Safety House WA and Brian Scully at Neighbourhood Watch WA, as well as the extraordinary enthusiasm amongst local community groups and councils for this project. What incredible and passionate people!

• February 2008

Office of Multicultural Interests WA Community Grants Program :
Soul Gestures: Celebrating Diversity Locally Project

From the very start Soul Gestures wanted to be something that makes all Western Australians feel that they belong. It is very important to our organisation that we not only to highlight the more typical “little heroes” but to highlight migrant and refugees who are making a difference here in Australia, and other Australians who are helping people of all cultural backgrounds belong within their community.

Thanks to the Office of Multicultural Interests Community Grants Program, Soul Gestures will be recognising the heroes of local communities who are actively trying to create a sense of community for and with all Western Australians; and in particularly with local residents from culturally diverse backgrounds.

This project celebrates the little gestures people are doing towards engaging new arrivals with their local community; and new residents who are doing positive things within their local community as well.

By celebrating diversity locally, we hope to bring the message of inclusion to a very broad audience within the local communities of Perth. At the very least we might bring a smile to someone’s face and they may face their day with more tolerance. The greatest outcome will be for the stories to inspire even more people to become involved in inclusive activities within their own community.

Soul Gestures has been working with an amazing bunch of experienced people working within local communities who have not only nominated people for the campaigns, but they have also supported Soul Gestures as a reference group for the duration of the project. We thank them for their support, advice and encouragement throughout this journey.

Our Reference Group are: Br Geoff Seaman (St Vincent de Paul); Tracey Anthony (EALD Coordinator, Aranmore Catholic College); Norma Josephs (Director, ASeTTS); Steve Bowman (Director, Edmund Rice Centre); Jenny au Yeong (Executive Officer, Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre); Chris Brackenreg (Principal, Mirrabooka PS); Haider Al Alkaabi (Baker, community member); Richard Liedtke (State Communications Manager, Centrelink).

It is hoped that this project will encourage more people to reach out to all members of their community, without fear or prejudice. And hopefully all people will feel that they live in a welcome and vital environment rather than possibly an isolating one. And most of all, we hope that this project celebrates the extraordinary and diverse communities we live in.

For more information about celebrating diversity please see the Office of Multicultural Interests website at www.omi.gov.au

We hope that you are as excited as we are about the huge potential outcome from this innovative way of promoting harmony to the people of Perth.

• June 2007

City of Joondalup Community Grant

Soul Gestures is very grateful to the City of Joondalup for embracing our little dream of launching Soul Gestures in the local community where the dream was hatched. The City of Joondalup has funded the launch function in September and the first three stories about people living in the City of Joondalup who are doing Soul Gestures in their own lives. These stories will be on bus shelters throughout September and also feature on this site.

The launch event for Soul Gestures will be held on Tuesday September 4 at the Voyage Kitchen and Delicatessen in Sorrento Western Australia. It will celebrate the hatching of a little dream that we hope will take off in many local councils around Australia.