2017 was a big and exciting year for g-oz. We marked our eighth year in Halls Creek, our fifth year in Carnarvon and our second year in Lockhart River, but most importantly we celebrated our 10th birthday!
In 2017 we:
- Reached over 500 students across three program locations; Halls Creek and Carnarvon in Western Australia and Lockhart River in Far North Queensland,
- Delivered 12 week-long Performing Arts Intensives – that’s one visit to each town per school term,
- Ran 275 sessions in total, with participants ranging in age from newborns to 17 years old,
- Were able to work with the Kimberley Language Resource Centre in Halls Creek to teach students songs in their native languages, Kija and Jaru thanks to funding from 100 Women,
- Sent 22 g-oz Instructors to deliver the program – 16 returning and 6 first time Instructors,
- Organised a community performance for our Halls Creek participants at Shire Park,
- Took 17 Halls Creek participants to Kununurra to perform at the Ord Valley Muster,
- Organised a group of Carnarvon participants to perform at the town’s TropiCOOL Festival,
- Made an extra surprise visit to Carnarvon to record a promotional footage and hold music for Westpac after receiving one of their 200 Community Grants and being selected as a feature recipient of the 2017 campaign,
- Delivered a Professional Development workshop for the teachers at Carnarvon Community College,
- Organised our biggest Travel Program to date, both in the number of trips (3) and the number of participants (26), and
- And, ran our third annual Giving Circles campaign aiming to raise $40,000 by June 30; we were thrilled to raise $51,450.15!
What a year it has been. We’re already making plans for 2018 and can’t wait to see all that we can achieve in another 12 months!
