Sharing Stories’ programs support Indigenous communities to hold, share and transmit languages, stories and culture for present and future generations.

Of the 145 Aboriginal languages still spoken in Australia today, 110 are Critically Endangered with only grandparents or great grandparents still able to speak, or partially speak, the language.

Sharing Stories Foundation has worked extensively with communities in Arnhem Land, the Northern Territory, West Australia, Northern Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, to record Ancestor stories and other significant material identified by the community.

The Sharing Stories Foundation’s programs bring together children, Elders and teachers in On Country excursions to visit their community’s significant landmarks, so that young people can learn the stories of their ancestors in the traditional way.

The students then take these stories back to the classroom, where they reinterpret them using art, dance, animation, projections and digital video.

Each community has control over the finished product and the stories they choose to share within their community, with other Indigenous communities, and online with a broader audience.

Students participating in the program have won awards at the Remote National Indigenous Film Festival, secured internships with media outlets and continue to develop their digital media skills, finding employment in media, film and tourism.

An Innovation Grant of $299,000 over two years will enable the Sharing Stories Foundation to develop learning materials with Victorian Aboriginal communities, and in partnership with Education Services Australia, embed them within the Victorian and National curriculum.

The Victorian Digital Storytelling Program addresses significant concern from local Aboriginal leaders and educators that representations of Aboriginal people in the media are predominantly from the Northern end of Australia, and that Victorian Aboriginal children find it distressing to be continuously presented with representations of Indigenous people from remote communities who do not look like them.

This program addresses the urgent need for the inclusion of faces and stories of Victorian Aboriginal people in both school learning materials and the media, by providing young Victorian Aboriginal students the opportunity to write, record and share their stories.

The program will operate in Shepparton, Thornbury, Swan Hill, Mildura and Heywood. These five areas have been identified as being significant hubs of Aboriginal language and culture in Victoria.