HighWater Theatre - the project
There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela
Since 2001, Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company, in collaboration with Gateway Community Health Service and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has been working intensively in Albury/Wodonga, on a full-time creative arts-based education program with rural teenagers called, HighWater Theatre.
Set on the banks of the Murray river, at beautiful Gateway Island, multi-award winning HighWater is a unique program where professional artists and post-release women (trainee artists) work with some of the most disengaged, high risk young people in this regional community.
All of the 12 - 17 year old participants have missed not just days but years of school. Most have histories of extreme abuse and homelessness and all are seen as the most difficult. HighWater’s success has derived from the fact that the arts lead education and the program is intensive and long-term. Nothing has worked for them except the arts. It is wonderful that these young, totally disconnected individuals, who would have found sitting in a classroom or being in a group impossible, come every day. It is the creative work that connects them.
Gateway Community Health employs a Young Person’s Advocate to support the health and welfare needs of each young person and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (Hume Region) funds a specialist full-time teacher to work one on one with participants on literacy and numeracy and to negotiate pathways back into education or training.
Between 2001 and 2007, as part of the HighWater Theatre programme:
- 2016 core workshops were conducted
- 4 new Australian plays were produced - and toured to schools and theatres 1 play was placed on the VCE drama and theatre studies syllabus.
- 186 performances were presented in theatres, schools and community venues, 23,200 people attended these HWT performances
- 98 workshops were facilitated with diverse groups
- 27 conferences had HWT performances or presentations - including the World Health Promotion Conference, International Judges &
- Magistrates Conference, National Crime Prevention Conference, National Youth Health Conference
During 2008 -2009 there were:
- 33 performances to over 5200 people. Audiences varied widely from national policy makers and researchers at the ARACY Conference Melbourne Convention Centre to school students in small rural communities
- 52 creatively led workshops (36 of these to education communities - teachers and students)
- 4 art exhibitions
- 3 major forums attended by over 1200 people including education leaders, School Principals, teachers, health and welfare workers and students
. . . . . . .
“Before HighWater I was disengaged from school for a long period. I was binge drinking at least once a week and smoking dope daily. I had no relationship with my mum and crime was escalating in my social life. At home things were awful and violent. I felt alone, not sure where I belonged. I wanted to run away and forget about things and never look back but I didn’t even have my Year 9! I wanted to die. Since HighWater, I have faced what I wanted to run from. I no longer have to pretend I’m not me. No longer do I smoke dope and drinking is more infrequent. In the past year, I have stopped binge drinking altogether. Violence at home is still around but now I am old enough to stand up for myself. I find it easier to trust. I even have an education to still keep growing/progressing. I know I can do anything – I just need to believe I can. When things are seeming hard – I know just to stick with it."
- quote from a participant
The Learning Journey - Felicia's Story
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