Reforestation Project, Docklands

Community garden a step closer
(article from Docklands Community News)

Docklands has come a step closer to achieving a community garden with the establishment of a demonstration urban agriculture project in Victoria Harbour.

A project of the Future Canvas organisation, the garden is a six-month experiment playfully called “reforestation” and is the brain-child of 25-year-old environmentalist Emily Ballantyne-Brodie.

Ms Ballantyne-Brodie said Docklanders could expect to see food grown in raised beds in a small plot on Victoria Harbour in front of Dock 5.

“It’s a demonstration in the art of being sustainable every day,” she said. “Sustainable living is about well being and it’s about being active. And gardening is part of that.”

“We aim to use this garden as both a wonderful source of organic food, to find out about the Docklands community opinion for a longer term garden and a community art project,” she said.

“We hope that it will become a hub for the community to gather, get to know each other, and learn a bit about how they can garden and recycle organic waste from inner-city homes.”

She said the site would be used to run programs such as composting, worm-farming, wise water use and to encourage people to think about how they acquire food.

Reforestation hopes to run environmental education programs with local businesses, primary schools and youth drop-in centres in the City of Melbourne, and work alongside existing sustainable lifestyle events such as Ride To Work Day on October 14.

“We have had amazing support from the City of Melbourne, Lend Lease and VicUrban, and we hope that we can really get to know the community while we’re here and find out what they would really love to see in a community garden,” Ms Ballantyne-Brodie said.



http://issuu.com/ellieschroeder/docs/reforestationproposal/6?zoomed=&zoomPercent=&zoomX=&zoomY=¬eText=¬eX=¬eY=&viewMode=magazine

Blitz Day Map

Blitz Day Schedule

Blitz Day and Party Rundown...

Get down and Dirty! Docklands need some love...
Hot of the heels of the Future Canvas space opening launch, this week we begin the countdown to the first blitz day this Sunday, 17th May. The first in a series of co-design garden workshops, this one promises to present some fantastic demonstrations of sustainability in home, fashion, food and community.

We encourage future canvas volunteers and community to get down to the docklands and get dirty with us! From 10am onwards we have lots of interesting things on the programme.

Bring some amazing home cooked treats to sell to fellow blitzers, bring some of your disused green shopping bags. we’ll show you how to make a mini food garden that you can take home with you. Join gardeners who will work together to come up with creative ways of making planter boxes. Watch how easy it can be to create fashion all from your own creative hands!

For more information about the days agenda click on the link here.. http://www.futurecanvas.org/news-events/0045-future-canvas-blitz-day

Painting the Town Green! The space launch down at Shed 4.
For those of you that didn’t make it down last Friday night. You missed a spectacular night! For those of you that did, thanks so much for being part of such a momentus occasion. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Pictures and FOCasts will be uploaded to the website this week!

Volunteers
A message to of the you out there that have volunteered to help out with Future Canvas. We know a lot of you have not yet been contacted by us. We wish to apologise, as we have been inundated by volunteer requests!! If you have received this email and are still keen to help out we have some areas that need filling. If you could email us at this address (volunteers@futurecanvas.org) with one of the following areas in the subject title. (Communications/PR/Media/Marketing/Project Management/Gardening/Landscaping/....)

Cate Blanchett Wants a Future Canvas Too!!

Painting Canvas of the Future

By Cate Blanchett
April 15, 2008 12:00am
ANY review of a period or an era will be framed in cultural outcomes. Think back to the '50s and inevitably your mind goes to Elvis Presley, your grandmother's furniture and the rise of television. Back a little further to the Renaissance and it's Leonardo, Michaelangelo and the other artists characteristic of that time.

The lasting value and evidence of a civilisation are artistic products and ingenuity. In fact, history makes little time for the other human endeavours. That is not because they are unimportant or irrelevant it is because the arts and creativity - the makings of culture - are in fact the central endeavour of our species.

Scientific enquiry flows out of and is inspired by them, wars are fought in their defence, cities, trade and complex economies are enabled and facilitated by them.

The 2020 summit is an opportunity to dream of a co-ordination between the many important strands of our densely packed society. I believe cultural vitality and real engagement are central to many of them.

For example, education - how do we teach our children to think creatively and innovatively? Economics, how do we create an innovative and competitive economy with cities that can attract and stimulate the world? Governance, how can we maintain a population that is engaged, educated and able to formulate its own opinions?

Generally, how can we encourage lateral, creative and fresh thinking? On the day, the creative stream will grapple with issues like evolutions in practice, our role in Asia, the relationship between access to the arts and pursuit of excellence, examination of youth arts, broadcasting and media reform and the ever-present issue of Australian content.

As this is a collaborative process, the participants' ideas will form the specific agenda which is still taking shape. This summit demands we imagine and then create the future. Creativity and the arts are as elemental to that future as they are to the past. They are a link between us all and an expression of our differences.

My driving question will always be how do we consolidate and deepen all Australians' cultural engagement so that regardless and in fact because of personal preferences we are contributing socially and rewardingly to a broad and sustainable future?

See article at: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23538544-5016510,00.html

Future Canvas Thread!

Tally ho!

Welcome to the Thread, a weekly newsflash on our plan to make melbourne a 'sustainable everyday' metropolis.

Breaking news...Future Canvas received confirmation last week that it has received a very substantial grant from the EPA to support the Reforestation project. Thank you to all of those who have worked with us so capably over the last few months and continue to believe in our vision of a city abloom.

Upcoming events

Website Meeting: Wednesday April 21st, 6:00-7:00 at Em's house, a discussion of how best to move the Future Canvas website to the next stage of ease of use and content management. Please e-mail Em and Steve if you are interested in helping out steven.mckinnon@futurecanvas.org, Emily.B.Brodie@futurecanvas.org.

Reforestation Meeting: Thursday April 24, 6:30 at the Shed.

Future Canvas Meeting: Friday April 21, 5:30-7:30 at the Shed to discuss key outcomes of Michael and Mel's review of Future Canvas and get views/consensus on these changes. There will also be an update on the FC Space Launch.

Future Canvas Space Launch: Friday 8 May: Join us for a night of celebration as we toast the opening of the FC space at the Docklands.

FC Space Blitz: Sunday May 17: Join us for an adventurous day fusing art, fashion, gardening, composting and sculpture creation at Shed 4.

How you can help out

We have a superb Reforestation sponsorship proposal which we are keen to circulate. If you have any contacts who may be interested in supporting Reforestation through financial or in-kind donation please contact Ash at Ashley.Chaleyer@futurecanvas.org.

Future Canvas Space Launch: 8 May 2009: We need door people, bar people, people interested in co-ordinating a fashion show/art show, catering people, sound technicians, artists, event organisers, publicity/promotions helpers, muscle power for set up and pack up...and of course we welcome any form of sponsorship for the event! Contact joel.carnegie@futurecanvas.org

FC Space Blitz: 17 May 2009: We need marketing people, events management people, promotion people, postering people, letter drop, furniture makers, carpenters, artists, gardeners, Bolsheviks or just about anyone, Contact melissa.schellekens@futurecanvas.org

Future Canvas: If you are a grant-writing guru, finance person, film person, artist, it or web person, marketing person or just about anyone contact melissa.schellekens@futurecanvas.org

Future Canvas

The last week has been bustling for Future Canvas. Some of the highlights include:
Future Canvas had a very successful presence at the Melbourne Social Forum: April 17, 18 and 19. The Melbourne Social Forum is "a movement, a process, an event and an organization that helps to facilitate social change and the exploration of social alternatives that are socially just and ecologically sustainable." (http://www.melbournesocialforum.org). Mel, Michael, Em, Steve and Ash spoke to a range of people and developed a considerable lisf of potential volunteers/supporters.
Future Canvas is developing a range of sub-Google Groups to streamline project management and target action and e-mail traffic.The groups will come on-line early next week.These sub-groups will be the nucleus for certain activities/projects and each group will have a moderators/leaders as set out below:
Future Canvas: (the main group that we already have)
Future Canvas Reforestation: (the garden, cafe, etc)
Future Canvas Media: (inc. video production, the website, 3D media)
Future Canvas Enterprise: (the Showcase can be a project of that group)
Future Canvas Arts: (the Shed 4 art space)
Future Canvas Events: (inc. the launch party, markets, fora)
Future Canvas Partners: (aka, the committee)
Stay tuned for these groups!

Melissa Shellkens and Michael Chew have been working with Ash, Em and Steve to further develop Future Canvas' processes, strategy and general efficiency. Michael and Melissa have spent the last few weeks developing a more streamlined governance model and review of FC's development since 2007. Michael's spreadsheet will be available on the FC google group very soon, please let us know what you think.

Joel Carnegie has been working extremely hard to organise the Future Canvas Space Launch in May. Stay tuned for this event, it promises to be golden.

Over the next month Steve is running a review of FC's accounting processes to ensure this aspect of FC is being run using best practice.

Future Canvas is now on Twitter...keep an eye on our 'tweets'

Reforestation

The last week has been busy for Future Canvas’ Reforestation Project. Some of the highlights include:

Serious planning and organisation has begun for Future Canvas' Blitz. Meg and Emily are working on a plan for the event. Stay posted for further developments.

Melissa, Dan and Ash have begun the process of forming the Docklands Reforestation Steering Committee, a key panel of stakeholders from the Docklands area who will help to guide the Reforestation Project. This is a key initiative which will further advance the Reforestation project.

The National Australia Bank's Tanya Watkins has kindly offered to prepare a communications strategy for the Reforestation Project. This will add great effectiveness to the Reforestation project and will enable us to convey our key messages clearly and strategically. Stay tuned for for more updates.

Finalisation of the Reforestation sponsorship proposal. This has been circulated to some key potential sponsors for the project. We will keep you posted on any further developments which flow from this.
Yours,

Future Canvas.

Future Canvas HQ - Artists Impression