WORKING CREATIVELY WITH BALUK ARTS

Baluk Arts is a wonderful urban Aboriginal community arts centre in Mornington, Victoria. Baluk is a local Boonwurrung word meaning many or group of people and this reflects the diversity of their artists and their work.

Baluk’s Manager Nicole has been doing an amazing job during COVID-19 as the only full-time staff member, supported by one part-time staff member. But to keep this dynamic little art centre flourishing, more was required.

Community First Development have been working with Baluk Arts after they invited us to assist them with HR support. Their goal was to recruit for new staff and develop a program for Baluk to reach out to local volunteers for additional support during exhibitions and peak times.

Our skilled volunteer, Diane, has been working with Nicole to develop position descriptions for the new roles and volunteer documents and processes. Despite the many challenges of COVID-19, Nicole and Diane found time to connect and continue working on the project.

Baluk is excited to now be in the recruitment phase. This will allow Baluk to expand their creative and community programs in a sustainable way and build upon their already strong reputation of meaningful arts engagement.

Lockdown has also meant that Baluk has moved their focus to online sales, resulting in their stunning work now being available to purchase on their website, https://balukarts.org.au/ Baluk also recently exhibited at the 2020 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and sold artwork to online buyers from around the world.

We are looking forward to seeing more great things from the talented community of artists and creatives at Baluk Arts.