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Adel Salman

Project: Introduction to Islam, Islam Day workshop

Background:

Islam is the second largest of the world's religions with over 1.4 billion
Muslims, the majority living in Asia. Sizable Muslim minorities can also be
found in many Western nations, and yet there is widespread ignorance and
misunderstanding of Muslim beliefs and practices. Further, current world
events exacerbate the sense of an emerging "clash of civilisations". It is
against this background that the need for greater understanding and
dialogue has never been more acute.

Objectives:

1. To provide an introduction to Islam to promote greater understanding
amongst the general community, and to establish a platform for informed
dialogue.
2. To provide a flexible course framework that can be utilised to deliver
similar courses on Islam.

Description:
The project was delivered in three segments over the course of a full day.
The first segment comprised presentations which introduced Islamic beliefs
and history, Islamic law and current issues facing Muslims. The second
segment consisted of a visit to King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria,
Australia's leading Islamic school. The final segment involved a panel
discussion of the day's material and other topics of interest.

For more information regarding this project please contact:
Adel Salman
Cadbury Schweppes

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Kyla-Jane Hunt

Project: Opening the Door to Asian Homelessness: encouraging discussion, assistance and advocacy

This project aimed to facilitate greater discussion about Asian homelessness in Melbourne. The particular tool utilised to encourage the exploration of issues relating to Asian homelessness and the current community response was a 42-page school education resource. "Homelessness: Searching for home in Australia" is a joint publication between The Age, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Urban Seed. Building on Urban Seed's engaging walks and seminars; this resource contains not only statistics and facts, but addresses causes, legal issues and media representations, and presents case studies that go beyond stereotypical views of homelessness.

Prior to this project, Asian homelessness and the specific cultural issues relating to and causing Asian homelessness would not have featured in the resource. To ensure Asian homelessness was represented, a young Asian woman was approached to share her personal experience of homelessness.

The process of supporting a young Asian person to share such private and culturally sensitive experiences was challenging but extremely rewarding. By encouraging this young woman to share her journey this project provided the opportunity for a young person who has suffered adversity to find a positive and empowering use for such knowledge and first hand experiences. By sharing her story it is hoped her courage in doing so will see greater understanding and support for Asian youth who find themselves homeless and prevent others from having similar experiences.

The education resource was launch on 7th December by Rod Quantock at Baptist Place in Melbourne. An initial print run of 5,000 copies of the resource will be distributed to schools across Victoria.

For more information regarding this project please contact:
Kyla-Jane Hunt
Urban Seed

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Kelly Gellatly

Project: New Horizons: Contemporary Asian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria

This project charted the outcomes of Queensland Art Gallery's Asia Pacific Triennial since its inception in 1993, researching changes in audience development, tourism, economic impacts/benefits and the establishment of professional and broader cultural relationships. Through a study of the exhibition reports generated for the APT between 1993 and 2002, along with the exhibition catalogues and associated conference papers, the unique position of Queensland Art Gallery's Asia Pacific Triennial within Australia was able to be determined. An analysis of the past (encompassing the period since the APT's inception) and future commitment of other State institutions and contemporary art spaces to displaying work of this nature was also undertaken. These results together provided a past snapshot and future forecast of the display of contemporary Asian Art within Australia and will be used to inform a strategy for the National Gallery of Victoria that contributes to the activities occurring Australia-wide while developing a unique profile for the institution in this area.

The survey of art institutions around the country revealed that very little contemporary Asian art has been shown in depth outside of Queensland and that when the work of contemporary Asian artists has been displayed, it is often through the vehicle of thematic group exhibitions in which one (or a small number) of Asian artists are included. It appears, given the strength of the QAG in this field, that institutions have consequently looked to other areas, but there nevertheless remains scope for further work without replicating the activities and specific focus of Queensland Art Gallery.

For more information regarding this project please contact:
Kelly Gellatly
National Gallery of Victoria

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Jeremy Maslin

Project: Cities for Climate Protection China Partnership Project

Cities for Climate Protection China Partnership Project is building a collaboration of partners to assist the City of Tianjin, Peoples Republic of China (P.R.C), to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable development.

The Project is a cooperative approach by the City of Melbourne, City of Tianjin, and ICLEI Australia/New Zealand (ICLEI A/NZ) to climate change.
Chinese agencies already engaged in the project include National Development Reform Commission, Tianjin Municipal People Government, Tianjin Foreign Affairs Office, Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau and Tsinghua University.

Potential Australia partners include the Australian Government through the Australian Greenhouse Office, Ausaid, state government departments, local government support organisations, relevant private sector interests and philanthropic organizations supporting Australia-China relations.

The collaboration will utilise the highly successful international local greenhouse action campaign framework, Cities for Climate Protection (CCP), delivered by ICLEI. CCP has over 700 international participants ranging from large mega cities to small rural and regional communities. CCP Australia has grown to become the largest and most successful CCP program in the world.

CCP capacity builds existing local government structures, operations and networks to institutionalise sustainable development. Local governments are then well placed to lead their communities into a sustainable future. The outcome is a range of triple bottom line benefits - social, economic and environmental. Between 1998/99 - 2004/05, CCP Australia has delivered cumulative greenhouse gas reductions of over 5 million tonnes, $100 million investment into abatement actions and $6 million dollars into employment.
CCP China Partnership Project will assess whether the CCP strategic framework can be adapted to provide benefit for the P.R.C. If achieved, then to commence discussions with P.R.C representatives on the potential roll out of CCP China Partnership in other Chinese cities.

For more information regarding this project please contact:
Jeremy Maslin
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability AUS/NZ
03 9660 2270
jeremy.maslin@iclei.org

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Ian de Cruz, Helen Stitt and Jeremy Cox

Project: Victorian Public Service Asialink Networks (VANS)

VANS is developing a team of leaders across Victorian government with the knowledge, networks and cultural literacy of countries in Asia to build effective relationships between the Victorian Government and countries in Asia. VANS will also help strengthen the relationship between the Victorian Government and Asialink.

There are currently a number of participants of the Asialink Program being sponsored by the Victorian Public Service (VPS), including Arts Victoria, Department of Justice, Department of Infrastructure, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, and the Victorian Police Force. Over the previous 3 years there have been 9 participants in the program from the VPS.

The ongoing development of these future VPS leaders in terms of their cultural literacy skills in Asia and their contribution to the Victorian Government is not co-ordinated or integrated to relationships the government is developing with leaders in Asia.

The VANS project is changing this by developing a network of future public service leaders from the existing Asialink Leadership Program alumni.

The primary role of VANS will be to provide advisory support and representation where appropriate in relation to negotiations the Victorian Government has with Asian leaders. In addition, VANS will:

• Develop a project proposal for Department of Premier and Cabinet's annual ongoing funding commitment of 2 outstanding future leaders in the VPS
• Explore how to develop a critical mass of people in the VPS with the knowledge, networks and cultural literacy of Asia
• Explore how this network can leverage off its skills and networks developed from Asialink to provide advisory support and representation where appropriate in relation to negotiations the Victorian Government has with Asian leaders
• Explore the possibility of a strategic alliance being formed between the Victorian Government and Asialink.

For more information regarding this project please contact:
Ian de Cruz, Department of infrastructure, 0416038461 / 03 96512690
Helen Stitt, Deparetment of Justice, 0413 580 403 / 03 9651 5536
Jeremy Cox, Department of premier & Cabinet, 0414582518 / 03 96515959

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