August 2021

As many of us head into lockdowns across Australia, or continue to be locked in or locked out, it is high time for a good news story. That is exactly what we heard on Friday 6^th August with the launch by the Hon Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigeous Australians, of the good news story of the Arts Centres: Supporting our Elders project. It has been NARI’s privelege to work with the Arts Centres, their artists, managers and directors as well as aged care providers and academics to produce an evidence base about the important role the arts centres play in their communities. This is showcased in the three videos that were launched on Friday as part of the Darwin Aboriginal Arts Fair. For more, about the project and to watch the videos, visit Arts Centres Supporting our Elders.

The Arts Centre videos are not the only artistic output from NARI staff in recent times. NARI staff were treated to an internal professional development workshop last week where we practised using poetry as a medium for presenting research data. This approach has been used in the MARC Project on Grief in Older People. We also learnt how to use qualitative data to create story boards, an approach used by the Moving Pictures team to promote dementia awareness amongst culturally and linguistically diverse groups. A NARI Workshop on "Creative ways to present research data" will be offered as part of our education program in 2022.

In this newsletter we highlight our highly respected Board Chairman, Associate Professor Michael Murray, AM. We are very fortunate to have Michael as our Board chair. He brings his extensive experience of health and aged care systems, geriatric medicine, government relations and governance to guide and support our work. Michael has also bravely shared his own story of living with incontinence post cancer surgery, making him an even more valuable leader as a person with lived experience of one of the key issues we are trying to tackle.

As we make our way out of winter and towards a level of vaccination in Australia that will make lockdowns a thing of the past, I wish you all well, encourage you to get vaccinated and to keep safe and well.