Throughout the Calling the Shots project, Phunktional used a whole-of-community approach and ongoing, participatory arts activities to empower young people in Mildura with the confidence and skills to ‘call the shots’, investigating local, community-identified problems and creatively exploring solutions. Calling the Shots aimed to provide young people in Mildura with the opportunity to have their say, and to enable them to be the co-creators of education, not just its recipients. The project also aimed to engage the wider community of Mildura as audience members, supporters and participants in the complex and difficult issues of sustaining regional vitality and community transformation.
“It’s been the best time of my life really to watch the kids emerge from who they were. They’ve just learnt so much about themselves, so much about other people and so much about life. It’s been wonderful!”
– Barbara O’Hara, School Counsellor at Red Cliffs Secondary College