First Nations art centre in Umoona, near Coober Pedy, opens its doors to local artists
A new community art centre has opened up near a remote opal mining town in South Australia’s north. Locals hope the new Umoona art centre will be a place to foster the next generation of First Nation artists in this remote part of Australia.
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00:00The first artists are through the door and setting up for success.
00:07Former opal miner George Cooley is one of 18 artists working at the recently built Ulmina
00:12Arts Centre.
00:13We have ownership of it, we have access to it, we've got pride out of it.
00:19Ulmina's an Aboriginal community located on the edge of the Outback SA mining town
00:24Cooberpedie.
00:25For decades community members and aspiring artists have wanted to establish an arts centre
00:30here.
00:31We had a feeling that we may be not far enough north to get noticed and not far enough south
00:36to get noticed.
00:37The $865,000 arts centre was funded by the federal and state governments.
00:43Locals will use the space to hone their craft and collaborate.
00:49Previously Pearl Austin would paint alone in her house and sell to tourists in Cooberpedie.
00:54Now she hopes her work will make it onto the global market.
00:58It's opened up a whole new space for us, it's opened up more doors for us.
01:04The state government says remote arts centres can play a crucial role in Aboriginal communities.
01:09An ability to earn money, an economic role, but also an ability to record and capture
01:16those thousands of years of culture, of stories.
01:19Artists hope the Ulmina Arts Centre will be a place to bolster local talent, for elders
01:23to connect with young people and for community members to generate their own income in this
01:28outback opal mining town.
01:29For me it's keeping my language strong because you know you sit and communicate with the
01:33elders in language most of the time.
01:36The aim was to target a lot of the young, the single mums and especially women who's
01:44got children, women who are single that don't have an opportunity to get a full time job
01:49or earn income.
01:50A brighter future for this small community.
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