‘Poetic Portraits’ was the winner of the Council for the Humanities Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) Distinctive Works Prize in 2024. This online event, for Social Sciences Week, will be a conversation between the project team and Frank Bongiorno, CHASS President. The project addressed belonging and disconnection by using poetry workshops to encourage self-expression and community connections and dialogue. The team developed partnerships with local councils (from City of Greater Bendigo, Pyrenees Shire , Yarra Ranges Council, Frankston City Council) to shape poetry-writing workshops that addressed specific community and demographic concerns. Supported by a Creative Australia grant, Poetic Portraits promoted poetry as a way to connect with and convey the experiences of rural and regional Victorians, and as a creative platform through which to instil a sense of sharing, belonging and catharsis. The workshops provided a space for sharing, listening, respect and positive reinforcement, giving lessons on poetry craft to enable participants to express aspects of themselves and their experiences. Limited edition publications of the edited poems were produced to have immediate impacts on a local level; they offered a reason to bring people together for a community launch celebration that could further amplify and instil confidence in local voices, and […]