OUR ACTIVITIES
Public Programming
In 2022, we offered a free daily program at the Think+DO Tank Community House in Fairfield NSW for women and their children and youth. Participants reflected the wealth of the diversity in South Western Sydney communities.
Our daily program included digital and face-to-face elements including:
Seed of Hope
The Writers’ Room
Homework Club
Forked Tongues Storytelling
NXT Gen Youth Arts Collective
Your Gig Guide
We Love Music
Community Lounge
Grow Well Community Garden
Language Writing Academy.
Original Works, Commissions and Residencies
We produced:
IN OUR OWN WORDS, an online Arabic language course delivered through contemporary art experiences to create a love letter to the Arabic language through movement, play, song and story;
We Love Music Multilingual Songbook, a collection of 13 multilingual songs recorded, transcribed and notated to allow early childhood centres, schools and families alike to learn new songs in community languages;
Sound System Musical Residency.
New works from MIRROR, IN OUR OWN WORDS, We Love Music Multilingual Songbook and the Sound System Musical Residency will be released in 2023.
Social Enterprises
Lost In Books
Think+DO Tank Foundation runs the Lost In Books multilingual kids’ bookshop as a social enterprise. Lost In Books stocks books in more than 70 languages including English. It Profits are reinvested into the operation of the Community House. We generate employment for local women through the operation of both LOST IN BOOKS and the Community House and its creative programming.
In this year, we expanded our book collection and appointed two key staff to LOST IN BOOKS - Natalia Bragaru, Consultant Book Buyer; and Jonathon Kelley, Distribution Manager.
Learn more: https://www.lostinbooks.com.au/
Shop with Lost In Books: https://shop.lostinbooks.com.au/
Lost In Books Impact 2022
- Since 2017, Lost In Books has enabled access to high-quality multilingual kids’ literature for at least 76,404 students in 110 schools around Australia
- In 2022, Lost In Books employed 5 staff (2.3 FTE) including three people with refugee/refugee-like experience speaking six languages
- Since inception, Lost In Books has employed 51 people with refugee/refugee-like experiences
- Lost In Books had a volunteer workforce in flux as we recover from COVID and currently has 19 regular volunteers
- 982 customers, 23.11% of which are institutional
- Lost In Books’ collection represents 70 languages
- Featured in a national print, TV and online Google advertising campaign; was covered by SBS Arabic, SBS Russian, SBS World News, News.com.
The People Movers
We asked low-income community members in Fairfield and Liverpool: “What would make life here in South Western Sydney easier, better or more affordable?”.
We heard that transport disadvantage impedes low-income residents’ full participation in their community, in seeking services they may require, and in the workforce. Lack of mobility impacts social connections, choice and wellbeing.
We heard that improved mobility and greater feelings of safety in public space would positively impact daily life.
Think+DO Tank Foundation’s solution is The People Movers, a 12-seater bus capable of providing increased mobility to low-income and socially isolated community members in South Western Sydney.
In this year, we built on the Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment we completed with partners, Western Sydney Community Forum; NSW Health; and CHETRE, UNSW by conducting research and service design. We are now capable of describing the need and the possible solutions. In 2023, we will seek partnership and funding to deliver The People Movers in Fairfield and beyond.
Learn more: https://www.thepeoplemovers.org.au/
Systems Work
Think+DO Tank Foundation was established to find critical points for intervention and action to shift the systems that affect low socio-economic and excluded communities and that contribute to keeping them relatively disadvantaged.
That means that in all our work, we look for systemic drivers and ways to act on those systems. In this year, we undertook systems work in these ways:
Wester’ly
Think+DO Tank Foundation is a founding member of the Western Sydney coalition of community organisations and community members that advocates for improved digital connectivity and ability in Western Sydney. Through Wester’ly, we have enquired into the digital connectivity of community residents who are connected with our work; developed key policy asks; advocated with government; and brokered partnerships to deliver devices and data to community members who access Think+DO Tank Community House.
Learn more here: https://westerly.org.au/
Agile Infrastructure
Think+DO Tank Foundation understands the barriers to access for high quality arts, culture and educational experiences in communities experiencing disadvantage and exclusion are myriad and include cost of access; transport; time; language barriers; caring responsibilities; low perceptions of safety in public spaces; and difficulty in wayfinding.
We have always invested in a practice that goes where the people are living, playing and working more heavily than strategies that demand their presence in our spaces.
As a result, we are slowly adding to a steadily growing fleet of vehicles and agile tools that let us take the value of our work to the places where women with migrant and refugee experiences live with their families and communities.
In this year, we added:
Making Space Studio/Stage
funding for the Forked Tongues Outreach Van,
to our existing tools: The Universe of Possibilities caravan, and The People Movers bus.
Think+DO Tank Community House
Places for Belonging Research Project
Professional Development Curriculum
Workforce Development
