Desert Workshops
MonkeyMarc has been working on Transfer of Knowledge Workshops in remote Australian Aboriginal communities for over ten years.
The workshops use modern music to reinterpret traditional Aboriginal dreamtime stories of cultural importance to younger generations.
The projects bring young and old community members together to try and bridge the ever expanding generational gap through modern music.
MonkeyMarc also conducts oral history recordings of traditional dreamtime stories - that are slowly being lost through the generational changes - for preservation in local and national archives. Mini documentaries and music videos are produced as an outcome of these projects (check out the videos on this site for examples).
Through these workshops, Monkey has been lucky enough to have worked in some of Australias most remote communities in the Western Desert in the Northern Territory, the Kimberly region in Western Australia, far North Queensland and Palm Island.
The main objectives of the projects is to conserve traditional stories for future generations, provide a platform for the transmission of these stories between generations, boost self-esteem in the kids and young adults, provide music training and encourage young people in communities to recover from drug and alcohol addiction.
As a result of the workshops MonkeyMarc has written a protocol/paper on "How to Record in Indigenous Communities intended to be a field guide to culturally appropriate conduct and respect for those recording in Aboriginal communities.
To find out more about the desert workshop projects please monkeymarc.
Gooniyandi Reggae Music case study with Monkeymarc
Workshops on Palm Island, Queensland 2008
Workshops in Aurukun, far North Queensland 2006
In 2008 MonkeyMarc fitted out the inside of a VW van so that the Hip Operations crew from the Street University in Liverpool, Sydney would run mobile music workshops.
Photos of MonkeyMarc conducting Desert Workshops
Workshops in Palm Island, Queensland 2007
