Young people from Woorabinda had a taste of possible arts futures when they experienced an arts workshop at CQUniversity’s Canning Street Visual Arts labs as a part of their Youth week activities. This experience was also one of the first for new projects rolling out under the new Central Queensland Regional Arts Services Network (CQ RASN) – this particular project with the aim of building and showcasing Woorabinda and Central Queensland region’s Indigenous arts profile.

The Woorabinda arts project is being coordinated by First Nations artists and youth worker Nikeema Williams with the support of CQ RASN Regional Arts Officer Julie Barratt.

For the CQU visit, Associate Lecturer and artist Patrick Connor facilitated a 2D drawing workshop during which the student’s worked with plant based materials to look at ways of ‘seeing’ and rendering those objects as still life and abstract drawings.

This was the first time these young people had been on to a CQU campus and it was a great opportunity for them to tour the facilities as well as take part in a fun, creative activity. The only downside was that everyone was so engaged that the time went too quickly.

This is just the start of more arts engagement with the Woorabinda community who have aspirations to use the arts as a key pillar to open up more employment, training and enterprise opportunities for the community.

For more information about Visual Arts courses and intake details see:
https://www.cqu.edu.au/courses/visual-arts-courses