Warracknabeal Creative Circuit

‘Warracknabeal Creative Circuit’ (WCC) is a makerspace project to pilot community-led programs at the intersection of low-cost technology and local crafts. WCC will explore, test and refine the needs of the community with the community. This will be achieved by pairing creative practice researchers, artists, designers, educators, social innovators, and contemporary makers co-designing and trialling programs with local stakeholders.
The project will concurrently conduct an evaluation of the pilot in order to document ways designing for social innovation impacts the wider community as a result of developing greater access to creative practices at the intersection of technology, craft, and Warracknabeal’s regional context.
Each maker program will trial multiple creative streams based on the expertise of the facilitators and be monitored for impact in the community. This data will be collected by both the WCC Project Manager and the research team from Monash University through cyclical assessment and reflective processes embedded throughout the pilot; participatory implementation methods (that is: co-creating, using and amending the test methodology together); and observing/documenting personal outcomes, group adaptations, and systemic change. This data will be analysed for themes around ways to develop greater access to creative practices at the intersection of technology and craft in Warracknabeal and the wider region’s context. Outcomes will be exhibited collectively at the conclusion of the pilot. Findings from the evaluation will communicate project learnings in a final report for use by the community and wider audiences (such as community arts practitioners, arts policy-makers, regional planners and the like).
Ultimately, the pilot will establish community requirements for ongoing public programming in Warracknabeal, and fill a gap in community creative practice provision with a central point needed now: a space for making, collaborating and innovating together.