By Taylah Eastwell
After four days without power following the storm, the moment light was restored to Burrinja Cultural Centre was a lightbulb moment. Eager to help, the centre was quick to open its doors, coming up with ways to shine light into the darkest days of the hills.
Running a ‘Parents without Power’ day on Sunday 13 June, Hills parents with young children were invited into Burrinja to allow children the chance to reconnect and play, with painting, drawing, and story telling the perfect distraction from the trauma and shock. For parents, the opportunity of a warm coffee, phone recharging point and a warm, dry space to relax was also well received.
Burrinja CEO Gareth Hart said the idea to welcome families into the centre came to him the minute the power came back on.
“I walked into the building as the power came on to make sure everything was in good order, and I walked past a tub of pencils. That got me thinking about young kids who have been doing it hard, they’d just gone through two weeks of lockdown, hadn’t seen their friends for weeks and had no sense of play or joy and had now gone through five days of bleakness after the storm. I also thought of parents who would of been a bit exhausted from it all,” said Hart.
“We realised we were in a fortunate part of the Hills to have power back on so we thought we would do what we do best, which is bringing the arts and community together. It was just a simple offering that we thought they’d enjoy.
Hart said the children had a great time dancing, making origami and making friends, while adults met people that lived on the same street and exchanged numbers for the first time.
“People were saying they will check on each other in a couple of days, art brought people together and I think they really valued the social connection. Some said it was a ray of sunshine in their week, we could really feel the personal impact on the day,” Hart said.
As the power outages grew longer, the centre turned its large shared studio space into a “co-working space” for anybody without wifi who needed somewhere to work.
“We have all pivoted really quickly towards working from home, but what happens when you can’t do that? We opened our doors and have a free open space for the month of June where people are welcome to come in, grab a coffee, use the wifi, do their work and connect with others,” Hart said.
“It’s proving really useful for people’s mental health as they feel focused and can get work done without distractions.
Art workshops are also being run for local artists who would typically run their workshops from home but are unable to due to no power to assist with income losses.
“We’ve also programmed two weeks of activity over the school holidays with art activities every morning in the foyer. The first week will be a local indigenous woman running arts and crafts with kids, and the second week will have a nature focus and includes an arts and nature scavenger hunt that is either take home or do here,” Hart said.
For more information on the school holiday activities visit https://www.burrinja.org.au/burrinja-whats-on/what-s-on-all-events.
