About Kickstart Arts
Kickstart Arts works with live art, digital media, music, dance, theatre, visual arts, installations and hybrid arts.
Kickstart Arts involves communities in transformational art making processes. We collaborate with organisations from other sectors on creative cultural activities that improve health and wellbeing.
VISION
The Kickstart Arts Centre is a beacon for expanding what's possible, with artists leading cultural initiatives that help community members to respond constructively to the impacts of climate change, inequality and colonialism.
PURPOSE
Kickstart Arts is a Tasmanian arts & culture company dedicated to the transformational ability of collective art making and
cross-sectoral collaboration to improve health and wellbeing.
MISSION
In a world where there are social and cultural impacts brought about poverty, trauma, climate breakdown, isolation and colonisation; our mission is to turn the story around through producing community arts and cultural development partnership projects that promote health and wellbeing.
Our Goals
1. Put First People First
We recognise that the land we live and work on has never been ceded and there has been no treaty. The land belongs to the pakana, first people of lutruwita(Tasmania). We respect and consult their representatives and agents on all key decisions and hold space for them to practice culture and lead healing at the Kickstart Arts Centre as they see fit.
2. Make Art that reflects All Tasmanians
We work with local artists and diverse community participants to create arts and cultural experiences that contribute to a vibrant Tasmanian society and culture.
3. Innovate for Arts, Health and Wellbeing
We work collaboratively with health, justice, education, mental health, child safety and environmental sustainability programs to promote health and wellbeing.
4. Facilitate Creative Exchange
We provide an ideal learning environment where all kinds of people are supported to learn and to teach cultural skills and knowledge.
5. Partner across Sectors
We broker new opportunities for artists to get paid employment through working across sectors, and strategically developing earned income streams and art partnerships.
6. Advocate for the Public Value of the Arts
We influence decision makers to take action that recognises the public value of the arts and cultural engagement as an essential pillar of civil society.
Our Values
Respect
We give respect to others, acknowledging that we do not know their full story. Receiving respect from others is important because it helps us to feel safe and to express ourselves.
Courage
Courageous people feel fear, but are able to manage their fear so it does not stop them from taking action. Our teaching artists model courageous creative processes and support participants to challenge themselves.
Accountability
Accountable people are trusted and respected. People who take personal responsibility for their actions have more positive relationships and social interactions.
Wisdom
Learning from life experiences can foster wisdom. Wisdom grows as we learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of those who have trodden the same path before, as we keep trying to do better.
Collaboration
Collaboration is an essential life skill. When we work together we achieve something greater that we could do alone.
Context
Arts & Health
Evidence for the efficacy of arts and health is contained in many published reports and systematic reviews, and spans a continuum from the effectiveness of the arts in treating illness to the contribution of the arts in preventing illness, promoting and maintaining health and wellbeing.
Australia’s Health Ministers and Cultural Ministers are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all Australians and recognise the role of the arts in contributing to this. Tasmania is a signatory to the National Arts and Health Framework. Community Cultural Development practices can be incredibly effective vehicles for building social capital and Kickstart Arts provides an ideal platform for promoting service linkages and referral pathways.
“The arts employ metaphor and expressive forms, providing a ‘safe’ setting within which particularly vulnerable groups are able to address difficult issues that have profound health and wellbeing implications.” (VicHealth 2010)
Evidence prepared by the National Health Policy Research Institute found that engagement in arts and cultural activity results in:
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Greater effectiveness and efficiency in healthcare delivery,
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Overall cost savings through better management of symptoms and reduced use of health services,
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Reduced medication requirements and number of GP visits
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Increased tolerance of symptoms and treatment,
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Reduced stress and anxiety levels
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Increased self-efficacy with improved personal and social skills,
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Improved communication between health professionals and clients/patients
Within the criminal justice system in most English speaking countries, the arts are practiced in many different ways. They take place in education classes within the prison system, innovative projects are produced by community organisations and individuals conduct their own arts practices - often with extraordinary results.
Research has shown that Arts and creativity in criminal justice settings can support improved wellbeing, awaken an interest in learning and can help people build new positive identities. Engaging in the arts can also lead to new skills and employment opportunities, as well as equipping participants with a desire to actively engage in their community and culture. Dance, music, theatre, visual art and creative writing provide essential opportunities for people in prison and for those on community based orders and their families.
Arts & Justice
Arts & Social Change
The capacity for the arts to change minds and create change is well documented. This can happen when a single work of art influences and affects the opinion of one individual, or even an entire generation, and when a project instigates social change in a community (Creative Victoria, 2020).
Arts-based practices have been shown to enhance capacity to resolve social issues (Ewing, 2010) and the arts have proven effective to aid recovery from natural disasters (Cox et al, 2010).
