FIVE

With Hiromi Tango
4 residencies across WA
a DADAA project
multiple sculptural and projection outcomes in collaboration with community members

Established in August 2013, FIVE was a two-year project that addressed the stigma of mental health in regional communities across Western Australia. Working through a series of community arts and cultural development (CAD) projects, the statewide initiative delivered programs during 2013 and 2014 in five communities: Paraburdoo, Busselton, Geraldton, Derby and Esperance. It engaged whole communities along with targeted projects for both fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) and residential workers and their families, as well as members from Aboriginal, farming and young adult communities.

Over two years, experienced artists Craig Walsh and Hiromi Tango worked with participants in four of the five communities to create artistic works that resulted from a process of collaboration and engagement. In many ways, the FIVE project has pushed the boundaries of community arts and cultural development in Australia – particularly in the case of Paraburdoo.

The initiative supports the Mental Health Commission’s Mental Health 2020 strategy, one component of which is to build peer-to-peer connection as a means of facilitating dialogue around mental health.