Art brings community together

MacKillop College in Werribee has developed an art project aimed at building a sense of community and connectedness between Wyndham residents.
The MacKillop College Family Art Project, which will be unveiled on Thursday, November 21, is the brainchild of the school’s Cultural Inclusivity team.
The college’s communications and marketing manager Nicola Muller said that the team decided to apply for a Wyndham council grant to give families from diverse cultural backgrounds the opportunity to tell their personal stories and the journeys which have brought them to the area,
“Over the past four weeks, the families have come together to develop their ideas and turn them into individual pieces of art that, when combined, form an impressive collection of powerful migration stories,” Ms Muller said.
“In one of the MacKillop College art classrooms, students, their parents/guardians, and staff have come together to draw, paint, workshop and chat, listening to one another and learning about one another.
“A special mention also goes to staff members Andrew Exton, John Jok, Akuc Deng and Silvio Mannello without whom the project could not have worked.
“We sincerely hope to build on the foundation of the relationships formed by this project, growing our community and our opportunities for learning from one another.”
Ms Muller said that across the past three years, the college has also developed a partnership with The Huddle, an educational facility embedded within the North Melbourne Football Club to work towards addressing the causes of youth disengagement and improving social cohesion.