Small towns, big picture: a journey in building community

Five country towns in Central Victoria - Dunolly,
Wedderburn, Carisbrook, Maldon and Talbot - have been
involved in a social experimental project called “Small Towns Big Picture” for the last two years or more with the
Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities, La Trobe
University, Bendigo under the leadership of Dr Maureen
Rogers. Concern was being expressed about the demise of small country towns and their future, economically,
socially and environmentally and the main intention of the
Project was to develop a toolkit for measuring the “health” of a community - a benchmark for sustainability. With the assistance of Judy Spokes and the Cultural Development Network seven artists were commissioned to work with the communities and the researchers. Workshops were established incorporating the community, including the Energy Footprint Project and a Community Cohesion Project. Craig Christie (playwright) has been working on creating and producing a musical play in Carisbrook capturing the issues from the Community Cohesion focus group and auditioning the local
communities to perform in the play. This documentary
provides an inside view of the workings of “Small Towns Big Picture” and includes interviews with artists, project
leaders, councillors, teachers and members of the
community.