By Lach Howarth

Over the last few weeks we’ve been putting together a short documentary on the benefits on working in partnership with schools, in particular conducting outreach sessions in to schools and having schools come out to the Clubhouse during school hours. The documentary looks at the benefits that the Clubhouse brings to the local schools both through the regular after school sessions and the outreach sessions. This documentary is part of a workshop on school outreach and working in partnership with schools that we’re hoping to deliver at the 2016 Clubhouse Network Annual Conference this April in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

The documentary showcases some general statistics on the region for those less familiar with Canberra and it’s suburbs, looks at what outreach is and how we run sessions and features some testimonials from YWCA Canberra Executive Director, Frances Crimmins, Richardson Primary School principal, Jason Borton, Calwell High School deputy principal, Paul Van Campenhout, Y-Aspire facilitator, Annie-Lea Paterson as well as myself and Ciāra Duggan from the Clubhouse.

It has been fantastic to see the members popping their heads around the corner to see what we’re doing while we’ve been editing. Seeing the documentary come together piece by piece has generated some new interest in the process that goes in to creating a video and how to create the outcomes you have in your mind. Since finishing the documentary we’ve had increased interest in creating video projects and we currently have one group of members putting together a video showcasing some music one member has created with images created by another member. So keep an eye out for that popping up on our YouTube channel.