Reconciliation Action Plan

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Reconciliation Action Plan 45 CASE STUDY: LEARNING PROGRAMS Design Tracks: Creative Pathways Design Tracks is a highlight in the QAGOMA Learning calendar. Each year, the Gallery works closely with program partners at Indigenous-owned creative agency Gilimbaa to bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students, artists, designers and leaders in the creative industries. The program provides approximately 20 students from schools across Queensland with the opportunity to be mentored through an authentic learning experience and to work collaboratively in a creative process that acknowledges cultural identity and protocols. First Australian mentors and curators, along with educators and supporting staff, guide the students through the three-day residency. The program then opens to a larger cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students for a half-day mentoring roundtable event. To date, 185 secondary students have participated in the Design Tracks: Creative Pathways program, with 60 of these students having completed the three-day Design Tracks residency. The experience was an eye-opener for me as a young Indigenous male getting to spend time at the gallery. I really enjoyed working with the mentors, looking at artworks and meeting other Indigenous students from different schools. Ishy Participant, Cherbourg The shared experiences from the three days have definitely given my students new hope, new directions to explore, new confidence and best of all a greater understanding as to who they are and what they can achieve individually and as a collective. Marty Nuku Retired teacher Participants in the Design Tracks: Creative Pathways Program, GOMA / Photograph: Chloë Callistemon Students work with mentors on collaborative projects in the Design Tracks: Creative Pathways Program, GOMA / Photographs: Joe Ruckli