Arts Initiative with Muslim Australians
The Australian Human Rights Commission is coordinating a national arts initiative in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts, to offer Muslim Australians the opportunity to engage within their communities and the broader Australian community. The initiative will work in the agencies’ mutual areas of interest- human rights and the arts.
The initiative will provide a safe environment for participants to share and explore the issues affecting Muslim Australian communities, particularly Muslim young people, through a range of community arts-based projects in urban and rural locations around the country.
The project is based on the idea of ‘community cultural development’ which encourages participation, collaboration and inspiration to work creatively with individuals and communities to tackle complex social, economic and cultural issues.
The Arts Initiative aims to help:
- promote a positive message, and counter negative stereotypes, about Muslim Australians
- provide an opportunity to build better understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians
- increase community awareness of the social and personal impacts felt by victims of discrimination, vilification and abuse
- build self-esteem and knowledge within Muslim communities, especially among young Muslim Australians
- increase the sense of belonging felt by Muslim communities and young Muslim Australians in the broader Australian community
It is anticipated that the Arts Initiative will start in the late 2008 and run over the next few years.
Find out more in 
PDF [30 KB] or in 
Word [31 KB] about the project or send us an email to register your interest.
Updated November 11, 2008
