Celebrating social change

Ash Buchanan
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read
Photo: Christopher Wong @christopher_fotobook

It was early on a Saturday morning in November.

The temperature was rising, as a crowd was bubbling with energy under the shade of a big tree and main stage marque at the 2016 Commonground Festival.

Located in Seymour, Australia, the Commonground Festival is a celebration for social change. It’s packed with workshops, performances, music, food and poetry dedicated to supporting the social change movement.

It’s a festival that’s as much about making meaningful connections as it is about getting involved in all the festivities. The crowd was buzzing with meaningful connection when The Marruk Project — a Swan Hill based company of Aboriginal young people and elders took the stage together with the local Taungurung people.

Platypus stories

“Marruk is about celebrating diversity and creating a space where the community can come together to learn about each other’s cultural differences.” — Angela Frost

The first story was from the young people and elders from Marruk who live in Wamba Wamba country. Theirs was a story of social change, where the platypus reminded all the animals that they belong to one another. The second was from the local Taungurung people about the platypus as a community peace maker.

In sharing the stories, the young people and audience discovered that while the stories were quite different, there were important social change messages that over lapped.

This timely narrative moved the crowd and once finished, there was an eruption of applause. But the performance wasn’t over — now it was time for everyone to celebrate.

The audience was taught, one animal at a time, how to embody their dance. First like a platypus. Then like a fish. Then an emu. a kangaroo and so on. After a few practice runs, the group led us in a dance — celebrating our oneness in concert with one another.

Photo: Sam Irving photography

You should have been there; the energy levels went through the roof. We weren’t just dancing — we were dancing with purpose. Led by performers who chose to use the stage as an opportunity to bring everyone together in concert with one another.

The performance was so elevating, the company was asked to repeat their show as part of the closing ceremony. Commonground was thrilled to support the development of the project and host the Marruk and Taungurung young people and celebrate their inclusion in the festival.

The value of youth-led social change

What I particularly loved about the performance was how the group had a higher purpose when they stepped onto the stage.

Typically, when we see a show, performers use the stage as a platform for entertaining the audience. But this group went further, they not only used the stage to entertain, they used it as a platform to lead — and create a participatory space for celebrating social change. They used the stage as a platform to bring everyone closer together around something deeply meaningful.

“One of the unique things about this project [The Marruk Project] is its ability to bring the whole town together. It’s what we should be seeing across the world. We need things like this to co-exist — to build understanding.” — Mick Dodson

For many young people, in today’s achievement focused school culture, the opportunity to take the stage — is often framed around the higher purpose of performing and being successful. For example, many school based music programs set the measure of success as getting a high mark and winning the end of year music competition.

However, after participating in this performance, it highlighted the value of framing the higher purpose around our capacity to co-create something meaningful with our audience. That being on stage can be a place for leadership — where young people play a valuable role in their community’s cultural development. For me, this experience was a beautiful glimpse into what was possible when working with young people.

Many thanks to the Marruk Project and the Commonground Festival for so beautifully interweaving celebration with social change.


The Marruk Project is a company of Aboriginal young people and Elders from Swan Hill, Victoria who use theatre as a way to celebrate, share, and maintain Aboriginal culture.

This workshop has been specially designed for Commonground Festival and we invite you to join us, learn our stories, our culture and embody one of our dances yourself. Facilitated by Marruk’s young leaders and local Taungurung woman Hannah Morphy-Walsh.


Benefit Mindset

Creating cultures of everyday leadership

Ash Buchanan

Written by

Social Innovation | Benefit Mindset I Wellbeing Design I Regenerative Development

Benefit Mindset

Creating cultures of everyday leadership

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