Youth Art Project Funding

Make Your Mark FreedomThe Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is pleased to announce that it has received funding to undertake the third iteration of its successful Make Your Mark youth art initiative.

Funds have been provided by the Australian Government's Better Access to Palliative Care in Tasmania Programme, through the Tasmanian Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (TAHPC) 'Networking End of Life Care' Project.

TAHPC has provided $48 500 towards Make Your Mark: Death, the third Make Your Mark youth project to be delivered through the museum's art education program, AccessArt.

Two mental health organisations, Cornerstone Youth Services Inc. and MI Fellowship, are also partnering on the project to help support the wellbeing of all those involved.

Each Make Your Mark project has a theme that young participants can interpret and respond to in their own way using a different art medium each time.

Make Your Mark: Death will explore ephemeral art forms to respond to themes of death and dying.

"There is strong evidence that artistic expression can help youth build the resilience needed when facing life challenges such as bereavement," TMAG Director Janet Carding said.

"By giving young people a platform to express their ideas around the natural process of death and dying, this project can help foster that resilience in the broader community."

TMAG and its partners will work with five municipal areas across Tasmania to deliver the Make Your Mark: Death project through artist-led workshops in each region resulting in a community exhibition at TMAG during March 2016.

"As the peak palliative care body in Tasmania, TAHPC's aim is to increase awareness in the community around death and dying," Colleen Johnstone, Project General Manager at TAHPC, said.

"We are very excited to be involved in the state-wide Make Your Mark youth initiative as this will enable us to broaden our current reach."

Information sessions and expressions of interest for Councils and artists wishing to be involved in the Mark Your Mark: Death project will take place over the next month. For more infomation, click here.

The pilot project, Make Your Mark: Freedom, took place during 2014 with five council areas in the Greater Hobart area (Brighton, Glenorchy, City of Hobart, Clarence and Kingborough).

The second project, Make your Mark: Respect, is currently underway and participants are using electronic art to respond to the idea of 'respect'. Council partners include Huon Valley Council, City of Hobart, West Tamar Council, Central Coast Council and Waratah-Wynyard Council.

Image details:

Balance (the big picture), Glenorchy City Council Make Your Mark: Freedom project, 2014. Photographer: Jake Thomashaw