Image Inside the Bendigo Art Gallery, local creators from diverse communities work together on the decorative designs which will be laser cut into the walls of the Pavilion. Photo: Diana Domonkos.

Developed as a creative response to the Bendigo anti-mosque movement, the Pavilion Project seeks to to enable members of the Hazara, South Sudanese and Karen communities to engage with established Bendigo and Castlemaine communities in positive ways, bridging cultural divides through story-telling, shared knowledge and access to local cultural institutions.

Snapshot:

• The Pavilion will invite dialogue and knowledge-sharing, and is designed as a safe, neutral community space for discussion, discourse and artistic expression.
• The project aims to celebrate and profile Hazara, South Sudanese and Karen community members making artistic and cultural contributions, and will initiate exchange and understanding between members of these communities, traditional cultural institutions, and members of the greater public.
• The program of performances, rehearsals, Pavilion events, conversation themes and events will be developed and crafted over the two-year project period with young and older members of the newly arrived communities.
• The Pavilion itself will be a unique structure for public gatherings, in the form of a round, flat pack, lockable and ventilated space, able to be moved and set up in different locations. Modelled on the prototype for Punctum’s Cooling House, the decorative laser cut-out patterns on the walls will be designed by local creators from the communities involved.

www.punctum.com.au