In 2015 Dusseldorp Forum supported Sharing Stories Foundation with a small grant of $25,000 to evaluate their Victorian Digital Storytelling Program between 2015-2017.
Sharing Stories Foundation supports the holding, maintaining and sharing of Indigenous culture using contemporary digital technology. Its ‘digital dillybag’ of programs and tools promote social cohesion, increase conventional and digital literacy, lead to employment opportunities and the development of creative, contemporary interpretations of Indigenous cultural heritage.
The programs bring together Indigenous youth with Elders and community, supporting intergenerational transmission of language and culture and the holding of culture for current and future generations. Sharing Stories’ ‘digital dillybag’ includes: its Digital Storytelling Program with tailored curriculum resources; its print Storybooks and interactive Multi-touch Books extending its award-winning ‘Sharing Our Stories’ storybook series with teachers resources; its interactive Language Tool to support the learning and teaching of language; and its Ancestral Dreaming Track Mapping
Program facilitating the recording of stories, songs and dances on Country, GPS-linked, to support a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives on land and caring for Country.
Exhibitions and installations co-curated with traditional custodians feature material selected by the community to stimulate understanding among the broader public of Indigenous culture and promote reconciliation. Sharing Stories’ work strengthens Indigenous communities and deepens understanding of, and respect for, Indigenous culture.
“As a Koorie educator, but more so as a Koorie, I find the SharingStories work an amazing
opportunity to continue the story of my culture in a modern digital format. To see these
religious stories that are culturally significant, treated with such great respect and then
almost enhanced by the visual aspect of the digital media and the quality of the
organisations work, it is truly inspiring. I’d like to incorporate the teaching ideas and
approaches offered as part of this program into our own classrooms in the long term….it
offers us exactly the skills and capacity to develop the resources we need to establish the
Cultural Learning Centre we’ve been hoping to create for some time.”
Phillip Cooper, Koorie Educator/Woiwurrung Educator, Thornbury Primary School