Kickstart Arts is about connections and relationships.
We are consciously creating a place that is friendly and accepting where people can trust they will be treated with respect and kindness.
Friendly Music
Our music events are inclusive and friendly.
Entry is by donation. If you cannot afford to pay you can still attend.
They are family friendly and not alcohol focused.
You can dance. There is delicious food.
There are comfortable places to just sit and listen.
There is a profound sense of joy at these events.
Workshops
Creative workshops are wonderful for getting together with like-minded people and learning a new skill.
They are really social occasions where the focus is on doing creative things together and getting to know new people happens along the way.
Art as Emotional Education
Understanding the personal stories of other people and developing trust to share your own is a profound process. It takes time.
The Happiness Project ran in 8 communities across Tasmania, 1,879 people explored their own values and their ideas and feelings about the true nature of happiness through making 69 short films that were seen by an audience of 11,311 people (and counting..)
The Cygnet Stories part of the project took place in 2014, offering unique opportunities for young people to learn collaboration and teamwork skills, to explore values such as generosity and courage, learn new things about each other, develop new relationships and gain a new perspective about what was important to themselves and to their class mates.
Each workshop session started with a group check in; a circle where they could share their news and how they felt. This became normalised through repetition, growing from engendering nervousness to a sense of greater understanding and confidence as the project progressed.
By the end, participants shared their stories with the rest of the community in a public screening event to great acclaim.
The Evidence
Research shows that if we have positive social and family connections, we are generally healthier and happier.
Feeling lonely is becoming more common in societies across the world. Participating in community focused creative activities is a great way of overcoming loneliness.
International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) / Johns Hopkins Medicine (USA)
Website: The Arts Can Liberate Us from Loneliness
Baring Foundation (UK)
PDF: Tackling loneliness in old age - The Role of the Arts.
Arts Equal (FIN)
PDF: Art prevents loneliness
A collection of research findings about the effectiveness of singing in combating loneliness for older people:
PubMed.Gov (USA)
Website: Effectiveness & Cost-Effectiveness of Community Singing on Mental Health-Related Quality of Life of Older People: Randomised Controlled Trial
Being lonely seems to carry a stigma, yet most people feel lonely at times:
Psychology Today (USA)
Website: Accepting Loneliness
Loneliness is proving to be more than just part of the human condition. New research shows it’s a serious public health problem, for young people as much as the elderly:
Vichealth.Vic.Gov.Au (AUS)
Website: Loneliness - a new public health challenge emerges
The Foundation for Art and Healing: The UnLonely Project - How creative expression is helping to address this public health crisis (USA)
Website: Why The UnLonely Project and Why Now?
HeadtoHealth.Gov.Au (AUS)
Website: Connectedness
More than 80 per cent of Australians believe our society is becoming a lonelier place, according to survey results:
Lifeline (AUS)
Website: 82 per Cent of Australians Say Loneliness is Increasing
Network Weaving
A few examples of local programs that might suit you.