First Nations art centre in Umoona, near Coober Pedy, opens its doors to local artists

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new community art centre has opened up near a remote opal mining town in South Australia’s north. Locals hope the new Umoona art centre will be a place to foster the next generation of First Nation artists in this remote part of Australia.

Transcript

00:00The first artists are through the door and setting up for success.

00:07Former opal miner George Cooley is one of 18 artists working at the recently built Ulmina

00:12Arts Centre.

00:13We have ownership of it, we have access to it, we've got pride out of it.

00:19Ulmina's an Aboriginal community located on the edge of the Outback SA mining town

00:24Cooberpedie.

00:25For decades community members and aspiring artists have wanted to establish an arts centre

00:30here.

00:31We had a feeling that we may be not far enough north to get noticed and not far enough south

00:36to get noticed.

00:37The $865,000 arts centre was funded by the federal and state governments.

00:43Locals will use the space to hone their craft and collaborate.

00:49Previously Pearl Austin would paint alone in her house and sell to tourists in Cooberpedie.

00:54Now she hopes her work will make it onto the global market.

00:58It's opened up a whole new space for us, it's opened up more doors for us.

01:04The state government says remote arts centres can play a crucial role in Aboriginal communities.

01:09An ability to earn money, an economic role, but also an ability to record and capture

01:16those thousands of years of culture, of stories.

01:19Artists hope the Ulmina Arts Centre will be a place to bolster local talent, for elders

01:23to connect with young people and for community members to generate their own income in this

01:28outback opal mining town.

01:29For me it's keeping my language strong because you know you sit and communicate with the

01:33elders in language most of the time.

01:36The aim was to target a lot of the young, the single mums and especially women who's

01:44got children, women who are single that don't have an opportunity to get a full time job

01:49or earn income.

01:50A brighter future for this small community.

01:53For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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