Community Arts Network's

LOTTERYWEST DREAM PLAN D0

Lotterywest Dream Plan Do is a platform for diverse voices and stories
to be shared with new audiences

In 2020, the Second Generation were accepted to participate in Community Arts Network's Lotterywest Dream Plan Do program. Lotterywest Dream Plan Do supports culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) community groups who would like to develop a community arts project that celebrates and shares their stories and experiences.

Empowering Communities:
DREAM – a fresh project idea
PLAN – the steps to achieve your outcome
DO – the project while developing your skills the support of experienced mentors

We were most fortunate to be paired with Lee Kinsella and Emele Ugavule as mentors, teachers, guiders and friends of our community and the vision to share our stories through the arts. It was via Dream Plan Do that Eshrghian-Haakansson & Kiani began running workshops with the Iranian-Australian community as a development process for the creative projects that have arisen since (see Our Projects tab). Read on to hear about what our creative process has included throughout our year as part of the Dream Plan Do Program.

Community Arts Network Lotterywest Dream Plan Do 2020/21
Workshop Series

Workshop 1

Workshop 1 saw elders from the Iranian-Australian community come and share their stories of pre and post-revolution Iran, refugee-ship, migration, displacement, reintegration, survival, hope and faith. The younger members of the collective were able to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of their roots and the stories of those who have come before.

Stories were shared by Dr. Hessom Razavi, a local Iranian-Australian doctor and writer who has worked with Iranian refugees on Manus and Nauru Island and was the 2020 recipient of the Behrouz Boochani Fellowship for writers. Dr Razavi’s father Heshom had established Perth’s first Iranian radio station when they came to Perth in the 90s and helped many more refugees and migrants feel at home as the integrated in to Perth city.

Arjang Pirmorady who was 12 years old when his father became a target after the '79 revolution. Arjang shared about the process of their home being confiscated and their father, a hard working doctor, needing to hide for several years due to his commitment to the Baha’i faith. Eventually, to avoid his father’s execution and his own use as collateral in the Iranian military during the war, the family decided to leave and travelled by Donkey in to Pakistan at the hands of people smugglers, eventually moving to Perth, Australia. Arjang spoke of the seemingly funny, light-hearted and hope-filled moments that existed despite the harsh reality they experienced.

Nouranieh Kiani who is a local member of the Baha’i community and spoke of her families journey through the revolution which saw both parents imprisoned and tortured for several years (due to their belonging to the Baha’i community who are the most persecuted minority in Iran today) while her siblings were very young and the continued prejudice her family has and still does receive in their home in Iran. She shared of how, by her father’s death in 2019, his spirit, courage and dignity had impacted the spirit of many in the town and been a catalyst for unity in many ways.

Khanomeh Rohanghis spoke about being a mother after the revolution and standing up fiercely for her daughter who had begun to be mis-treated at school simply for being a Baha’i. She spoke of the dangers they faced and the difficulties endured which eventually left them no choice but to escape on Camel Back with their youngest grandchild only 6 months old. She highlighted the message of the oneness of humanity and need to forge unity in our daily lives to avoid such scenarios being a reality in this world.

Workshop 2

Workshop 2 was provided a space for the community members to process the stories of the past and explore concepts around their identity today, living in Perth WA as Iranian-Australians. Art therapist Carla Philips ran an art therapy session with the group, providing avenues for expression, exploration and therapeutic reflection around generation trauma and healing. At the end of this workshop, participants set goals as to how they hope to creatively express the themes that had been explored. Such goals included: ‘To connect with Farsi language by learning calligraphy and connecting with Rumi poetry’ ‘Designing and creating sculptures the symbolise hope and faith’ ‘Writing rap lyrics and producing accompanying music that speaks of our culture, parent’s journey and our identity’ ‘Storyboarding for footage to be capture that explores the themes via video art’

Workshop 3

Workshop 3 facilitated participants to plan, execute and curate the creative material they had aimed for based on their reflections, stories and emotions previously explored. Participants began their creative pursuits and mentorship of various kinds was offered to empower skill building and creative expression. This is when the project began to focus more on the March 2021 exhibition which was discussed within the context of the gallery space that had been booked in Fremantle, WA. Part of workshop saw 3 days of filming take place at local WA settings to capture footage to be used as the multi-channel installation part of the exhibition. Withstanding volatile weather conditions, a plethora of props and costumes and a lot of experimenting based on the position of the sun, footage was captured with significant cultural symbolism and non-linear threads of narrative pertaining to the themes or the revolution, displacement, integration and the new generation.

Workshop 4

Workshop 4 saw the curation of an exhibition in a gallery setting. In between workshops 3 and 4, participants were busy producing, creating and fine tuning their works in the forms of video art, performance art, sculpture, photography, painting, music production and rapping, live instrumental performance and singing. The participants, led by founds Esraghian-Haakansson & Kiani were guided through the process of curation for a gallery setting, exhibition installation and preparation for opening night.

Our mentors for dream plan do

We engaged with our Mentors, Curator Lee Kinsella & Theatre Community Producer Emele Ugavule to help realise this Community Arts Project.

dream plan do mentors lee kinsella

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dream plan do mentors emele ugavule

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