Acknowledgment of country

Polyglot acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and create, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. For more than 65,000 years, children and families have created and played here, and we are grateful to make our art on this country too.


Kids Collaborations

These projects centralise children and their world view as the drivers of new, specific works of art.

This means entering into a relationship with a community – whether an Aboriginal sports club, a school or a village in Indonesia – and working from the ground up to co-create a project with the children.

A school residency photo. Five students wearing boiler suits pose for the camera on rocks next to a body of water. There are trees and grey sky in the background.
  • … we brought children’s play back into focus, reconnecting displaced residents in the community with children to explore family relationships and how they play out… It’s enriching for Polyglot, with our artistic practice, to share in rebuilding community spirit through an active, creative experience.

    Sue Giles, Minami Sanriku (Japan), 2015

A Mahogany Rise residency photo. A group of children wearing handmade paper costumes standing in the bush with an artist. Other students and artists are visible in the background.

Polyglot Theatre has recognised expertise in using the arts as a powerful tool for enabling social change and supporting community cultural resilience and empowerment. With our Kids Collaboration projects, we engage with communities who have limited access to the arts and are seeking authentic creative engagement for their young people.

This engagement pulls us into areas of new directorial and aesthetic exploration. We use a wide range of artistic modes – including visual art, music, film, animation, construction and design, storytelling and dance, as well as our central focus on play. We focus on the usefulness of art in community settings – how it can build bridges between generations and illustrate the energy and engagement of children through a wide variety of artistic tools.

Investment in independent academic evaluation of our Kids Collaboration projects demonstrates their impact and validates Polyglot’s best-practice approach.

See our impact

Community

At the centre of these projects is the mechanism of children’s play to connect individuals with their wider community through accessible, equitable practice.

International

Our cultural exchange projects expand our horizons by giving us the opportunity to explore different art forms, stories and traditions, and connect us with new artists.

School Residencies

These projects offer students room within an ever-increasingly full curriculum to stretch their ideas and develop the confidence to forge their own creative paths.