Recent News

Coinciding with the Geelong Gallery’s presentation of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ 2018 Archibald Prize, this student prize encouraged young artists to celebrate local identities, their personal histories and achievements—through portraiture.
In September, the five 2018 Who’s who portrait prize winners were announced, selected from over 1,500 entries by local students.
The Who Are You program was supported by Gandel Foundation and a number of local partners.

William Cooper (1860 – 1941) was a Yorta Yorta man, an Aboriginal activist and a human rights advocate. At the unveiling of the bronze statue of Uncle William at the Queens Gardens in Shepparton the Executive Chair of the Kaiela Institute, fellow Yorta Yorta Elder Paul Briggs said, “This is a symbolic testament to Uncle William’s character, values, and enormous contribution to humanity and to the survival of the Yorta Yorta people.”

Multicultural Arts Victoria and Gandel Foundation recently acknowledged the 2018 Emerge Cultural Ambassadors at the 2018 Emerge Big Gathering. The Emerge Ambassadors are an integral part of the Emerge Cultural Leadership Program, supported by Gandel Foundation. Since its inception, Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Emerge Program has cultivated strong relationships with community members, artists and cultural leaders, many of whom have contributed significantly to the success of the program.

A pioneering program inviting public high school alumni back to their old schools to inspire students is having a positive impact on pupils, according to survey data. Gandel Foundation is one of the funders that has provided seed granting to pilot the program, called Ourschool, the first such initiative of its kind in Australia. (Photo: An Ourschool alumni session at Keysborough College, Melbourne)

In December 2017 over 1,300 children with disability, parents, siblings and carers experienced the magic of Victoria’s inaugural Dream Night at the Zoo. The event was organised by The Association for Children with Disability with support from Zoos Victoria and Gandel Foundation, and it was a huge success.

A VICSEG New Futures education program that was seed-funded by Gandel Foundation and then supported through a multi-year grant won the 2017 Victorian Multicultural Commission’s Award for Excellence in Education. This award recognises outstanding educational practice which enhances intercultural understanding and meets the needs of students from diverse communities.

Phoenix Edge is an open access workshop program for young people aged 16 to 25, who live in the Maribyrnong region. The program supports young people to step into leadership roles, share in the decision-making, find their place and tackle the big issues in their community throuogh theatre. Particiapnts do this through a fun and structured creative process of weekly workshops with other emerging artists and mentors.

The YMCA ReBuild program is a social enterprise that provides quality facility maintenance services in Melbourne. Their distinct point of difference is that they employ young people who have been involved in, or who are at risk of being involved in, the criminal justice system, and who are looking to turn their lives around.

The annual Access pop-up Café this year was the centrepiece of the Glen Eira City Council Social Inclusion week and received a huge amount of community support.