Freedom Centre Blog

STOP sexuality and gender based DISCRIMINATION!

2010-11-24T17:44:00.003+08:00

The Human Rights Commission wants to know why we need federal laws that protect us from discrimination based on our sexuality, sex and/or gender. Make a comment on their website (go to www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/lgbti/lgbticonsult/index.html for details first) before Friday night to TELL THEM YOUR EXPERIENCES OF DISCRIMINATION because of your sexuality, sex and/or gender and answer the other questions they're asking in the consultation.

Some of the questions you can answer in your comment are;
1. What benefit would there be in federal anti-discrimination laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexuality, sex and/or gender?
2. What benefit would there be in federal law prohibiting vilification and harassment on the basis of sexuality, sex and/or gender?
3. Can you provide examples of situations where federal protections from discrimination on the basis of sexuality, sex and/or gender are needed because state and territory laws don't provide adequate protections?
4. Have you experienced discrimination because of your sexuality, sex and/or gender for which there is no legal protection?
5. Have you experienced vilification or harassment because of your sexuality, sex and/or gender for which there is no legal protection?

This is YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE and help stop discrimination in Australia!

Click here for full details and here to make a comment NOW

FC Open day

2010-10-24T12:14:00.006+08:00

Yesterday was FC's annual Open Day for the Pride WA's 2010 Festival! We opened the FC's NEW exSight Youth Art Space!! exSight featured photos by FC visitors, the Queer map of Perth, FC's Yarn-Bombed mannequin, Postsecrets by FCers, and pics of this year's FC retreats and the Zine: Ama-gi #5!

Here's a few pics of the day and your FIRST look at the exSight logo!

Have YOUR SAY about Mental Health of Young People

2010-10-16T11:07:00.002+08:00

Have YOUR SAY about Mental Health of Young People by telling us so we can tell the WA Commissioner for Children & Young People!

You can tell us in several ways;

1. TAKE the online SURVEY NOW! It could take you as little as 5 mins - depending on how much you have to tell us! PLUS you could win a $20 iTunes voucher for doing it!

2. Come and TELL US at the focus group at Freespace THIS WEDNESDAY

3. CREATE a postcard at FC that tells us about your views on the Mental Health of Children & Young people!

4. Work together to CREATE a PSA film and/or a promotional Tshirt to get our message about the mental health of Children and Young people across to the Commissioner at FC drop-in sessions NEXT WEEK (Wed 20th 5-8pm, Thurs 21st 5-8pm for ATSI Qspace, Fri 22nd 22nd 4-8pm, Sat 23rd 12-5pm for FC Open Day)

We want to hear what you've got to say so we can tell the Commissioner!

The online survey closes 9am Tues 26th Oct so tell us NOW for your chance to win the iTunes voucher! :)

See you all at FC soon!!

Fairday was AWESOME

2010-10-09T22:42:00.005+08:00

With a more community oriented Fairday stalls layout, and Freedom Centre getting everyone busy with our Queer stories Map and mannequin yarn bombing, we had the BEST City of Perth Pride Fairday!!

Check out the map below, or if you missed it, come to the FC Open Day on October 23rd 12-5pm to see it and add YOUR Queer Stories to the FC Map :)

PRIDE is coming!!

2010-09-14T12:50:00.001+08:00

October is nearly upon us – and for the Perth GLBTI community that can mean only one thing: PRIDE!

Yes indeed – break out the glitter and lace up your favourite cons, because this year is Pride’s 21st birthday and all of Perth will be dressing up and coming out in style to support the festival and all the wonderful events and activities that come with it.

This year the Freedom Centre will have several things to offer during Pride month – first and foremost being the FC stall at Fairday, which is the first big event of the Pride festival, on Saturday 9th October. There will be a shady chill-out space and cool fundraising goodies for sale. We’ll also be giving out free condoms, and there will be heaps of info available about mental health and safe-sex (because protection is sexy!). We’ll also be asking you guys to contribute to the Queer Map of Perth with your stories and experiences.

A little later on the calendar we have the new Skills Sharing sessions at the Freedom Centre. We’re looking for clever and creative young folks that have cool skills and talents they want to share. So if you’ve got a flair for drawing, music, language, cooking, costume design – or anything else for that matter, you’re more than welcome to come on down and show us how it’s done!

The SkillShare session starts on Thursday 14th October, at 5pm and will go until 8pm. This session will continue as a monthly affair on the 2nd Thursday of every month 5-8pm
Following on from the skills sharing workshop will be another new venture for us – The ATSIQ sessions will be hosted on the third Thursday of every month beginning on the 21st of October and are especially for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of diverse sexuality and gender. Again, this session will start at 5pm and will finish at 8 and will continue as a monthly drop-in session on the 3rd Thursday of every month.

Those of you with impressive memories will remember the success of our Emerge art project that was run in 2006. This year, we will be rejuvenating the program with a series of facilitated workshops for young GLBTIQQ people hosted by local community artists to improve YOUR creative and artistic skills. The workshops will begin following the launch of the new exhibition/artspace at the Freedom Centre Open Day on the 23rd of October. More news on this to follow!

Finally, the festivities will conclude (as all good things must) with the Pride Parade on the 30th October. We’re still working on ideas for this year’s Freedom Centre entry into the parade (email us if you have any suggestions!) and we’re hoping for a big turn out of young, passionate and fabulously attired people to represent us this year.

So, it looks like we’ve got a busy month ahead of us – and we’re looking forward to seeing you and watching your ideas and contributions become a part of our ongoing and thriving community project.
Check out the calendar at www.freedom.org.au for more details on the Skills Sharing and ATSIQ sessions, or email info@freedom.org.au for more information.

Happy Pride!

The Freedom Centre Team

Jan '10 Retreat @ FC

2010-01-28T11:46:00.001+08:00

At this retreat we made our own food by going down to the local shops to buy our own ingredients. We managed to make a lot of different meals ranging from Vegetarian skewers, non-Vegetarian skewers, h'dourves, Turkish bread, multiple salads, and a stir-fry.

Here are a few pics from the first ever FC Retreat @ 93 Brisbane St in January 2010!

FC Moves premises on October 26th!

2009-10-13T17:34:00.004+08:00

In case you haven't heard, Freedom Centre is moving premises on Monday 26th October 2009!!

The new premises will be just around the corner from the old one at
93 Brisbane St.
Northbridge, PERTH 6000
It's right next door to the Perth Centre for Photography and across the road from the oval. The new Centre is going to have the front painted purple so it will be easily recognisable!

Come see the new Freedom Centre at the FC Open Day on Saturday 31st October 1-4pm!

Here's a couple of maps to show you where the new premises are :)

Stars of the Future!

2009-10-10T13:26:00.005+08:00

So we've been failing at keeping up with the FC blog because we've bee SOOOOO busy doing a few phases of Faces for Freedom, FC Retreats, Fairday and STARS OF THE FUTURE!!

Last Wednesday we were privileged to see the performances of many of the AWESOME FC visitors at Stars of the Future!!
Here are a few of the photos

Faces for Freedom is OUT!!

2009-05-01T23:39:00.010+08:00

And we want YOUR photos for the project!!

'Faces for Freedom' is a way of making a statement against homophobia, and for human rights in Australia!

Faces for Freedom is a project of the Freedom Centre in support of IDAHo (International Day Against Homophobia, May 17). The project is based on the US project called Faces of Us.

To find out more about the Faces for Freedom project and how to submit a photo, go to www.facesforfreedom.blogspot.com or check out the FC Forum

FC Sleepover Retreat April 09

2009-03-24T07:42:00.004+08:00

That's right!! Another FC Sleepover Retreat is already on it's way!!!

The next retreat will be on Sat 18th April 12noon - Sun 19th April 10am

It will be full of the usual fun times with good food, good people, Wii games, Singstar, fun games, dvds, not enough sleep, and activities and workshops (TBC). The cost will be $10 each to cover catering costs (all meals provided).

Registrations are essential in advance, so drop-in to FC, check out the FC Forum, or email Dani on info@freedom.org.au to find out how!!

FC Retreat #2

2009-01-27T09:34:00.006+08:00

So on the weekend we held the 2nd FC Sleepover Retreat!!! It was a great success, with everyone having a great time :D
We did a digital storytelling workshop where we used multimedia mediums to tell a story! Here's one of the digital stories that was done

We also played games, Wii, Singstar, made our own great food like sushi and fresh rice paper rolls, did warm fuzzies and postsecrets and had HEAPS of fun :D
Here are some of the photos from the Sleepover Retreat of everyone playing the dress-ups, relay, chocolate game!!!

Coming Saturday Events

2008-11-24T17:26:00.008+08:00

So we have a number of interesting, creative and fun events and workshops coming up in the next few months with FC!

-Sat 13th Dec 08 11am-5pm Gender Diversity & Trans workshop
Come and learn, discuss and ask questions about being trans, intersex and gender diverse

-Sat 10th Jan 09 11am-5pm Digital Storytelling session
Come do song/sound recording and filming to tell your stories and get them posted in the FC website's FreeXpress section!!!

-Sat 24th Jan 12noon - Sun 25th Jan 09 10am FC Sleepover Retreat
Come and do digital storytelling, cook up a storm, play singstar, watch movies and hang out with FC

-Sat 14th Feb 09 11am-5pm Sexual Health and Safer Sex Workshop
Come on National Condom Day and Valentines Day and learn all about sexual health and how to keep yourself safer in all kinds of sexual activities!

Check out the FC Calendar or email Dani at info@freedom.org.au for more info

FC Closing Times

2008-11-21T12:30:00.004+08:00

FC will be closed from Sat 20th December (no Outspace that day!) until Fri 9th January for Freespace 4-8pm that day! It will be a bit of a welcome back bash with food and a theme - come dressed as your new year's resolution - or your goal for the year.
So you could come dressed in some kind of work or school uniform, as an artist, as a character you hope to play in a drama or dance piece, as a uni student, or anything that represents a goal you have for the year to come!
BE CREATIVE - and your outfits can be created AT FC as well if you want!

We also have some new Outspace sessions coming up!

Check The Calender for more details!!

FC in the PRIDE PARADE!

2008-10-26T20:36:00.003+08:00

So last night was the Pride WA Parade!! And as usual, FC was in it! This year we all dressed in one of the pride flag colours and walked together as a HUMAN PRIDE FLAG!!
Thanks to everyone who joined us in the parade to support FC, TC and GLCS and also to everyone who watched and cheered us on!
Here are a few photos from the night!

FC Sleepover Retreat

2008-10-15T18:06:00.002+08:00

On the weekend we had the Freedom Centre sleepover retreat. It featured up and coming talent on Singstar, displays of flexibility and strength on the Not so Straight board and various team and esteem building activities. A highlight of the night was home made pizzas and a beetroot chocolate cake in honour of the vegan in a ranks.

PRIDE MONTH EVENTS!

2008-10-08T10:52:00.003+08:00

So the last couple of weeks have been busy busy busy at FC with our Fairday stall and the FC Open Day on the last two Sundays! Here are some photos of FC at Fairday and the FC Open Day

FC SONG Recording!!

2008-09-25T23:16:00.003+08:00

So last Saturday we went and recorded the FC SONG!!! It's turned out great, and will be played as the soundtrack to the stills movies (using our photography from the Drag Workshops) which will be played at Pride Fairday this Sunday and the FC Open Day on Sunday 5th Oct 1-4pm. Come along to hear the FC SONG!

meanwhile, here are some photos from the day

FC Sleepover Retreat!

2008-09-05T14:39:00.001+08:00

Ever wanted to retreat to FC for a whole day and night??
Now you can! And it’s FREE!!

2pm Sat 11th October – 11am Sun 12th October
@ Earthwise, 315 Bagot Rd. Subiaco

There’ll be great people, music, singstar, movies, food and a range of short workshops about healthy cooking, personal safety, self esteem, and dance. So come along and be FREE at the FC Sleepover Retreat!!

But you MUST REGISTER in advance so talk to Dani on 9228 0354/ 9482 0000/ info@freedom.org.au to register and get more info!

FC FORUM is now live! & we got DRAGGED with Strykermeyer!!

2008-08-17T19:49:00.006+08:00

Stryker came and taught us all the secrets of doing drag makeup at Outspace yesterday!!

Come join us at Strykermeyer workshops #2 & #3! go to the FC website Dropin sessions page for more info.

AND the FC FORUM went live on Friday night, so click here to register and join the FC Online community!!

Night OUT with STRYKER

2008-08-13T00:18:00.005+08:00

STRYKERMEYER WAS AWESOME!

On Saturday we had our night out at Clubwest's 18th Birthday Show featuring Strykermeyer! A HUGE THANKYOU to Stryker and Clubwest for donating tickets so the FC visitors and volunteers could see the show!! Here are a few of the photos (we had learnt about low-light photography earlier that day in Outspace!)

Book out the 5th Oct 1-4pm to come see these photos and many more at the FC Open Day for the PrideWA Festival. AND visit the FC stall at PrideWA Fairday on the 28th Sept for a sneak peak at our photography :D

OUT @ FC

2008-07-27T22:50:00.009+08:00

At OUTspace yesterday we spent the day doing photography - check out our photos

These photos and more from other OUTspace sessions will be exhibited at the FC Open Day on the 5th Oct
For the FC Open Day we need to make some music for a soundtrack to this! Come to Freespace sessions in August to help make the soundtrack!!

Get DRAGGED with Strykermeyer!

2008-07-25T22:45:00.004+08:00

Ever wanted to find your inner drag queen? or your inner drag king?? or have the opportunity play with gender expression??? Now's your chance with FC and Strykermeyer!

Strykermeyer was the makeup artist and drag queen consultant of Australian film 'The Adventures of Pricilla Queen of the Desert'. In fact the story of Pricilla was loosely based on his friend and fellow drag queen Cindy Pastel and he won a BAFTA for the makeup art on Pricilla!

Strykermeyer will be joining FC's Outspace sessions to teach us the ins and outs of Drag!
The times for the 'Get Dragged at Outspace' sessions are;
Sat 16th August 12-4pm
Sat 30th August 12-4pm
Sat 13th September 11am-5pm

You can come to as many or few of the sessions as you like and you can get involved however you like - we will be taking photos and filming the workshops, and you can get drag king-ed, drag queen-ed or both!

Strkermeyer will be helping us get ready for the Pride Parade too!

The 2008 Pride Parade is on Saturday 25th October. FC will be open from 11am that day so we can get all made up for the parade. Freedom Centre, Strykermeyer, Gay & Lesbian Community Services and True Colours will all be marching together! For more info about FC in the Pride Parade go to the FC events page

So come to FC and GET DRAGGED! But make sure you email Dani on info@freedom.org.au to find out what you should bring, wear etc. See you there!!

FC WEBSITE

2008-07-15T00:02:00.003+08:00

...is SO great already, but soon it will be even better! We're currently changing the site to a content management system which will let us have a whole lot more, like;
-an FC FORUM
-a search function
-three new sub-sites for family, for professionals and students, and for friends or straight ally young people of LGBTIQQ young people
-even MORE info
-the second edition of Ama-gi - the FC Zine

All this will be live within the next couple of months so stay tuned to www.freedom.org.au :D

Freespace @ FC

2008-07-04T23:09:00.006+08:00

Tonight we were running a muck @ Freespace @ FC and got the camera out for the FC Blog! :P

Don't forget about OUTSPACE sessions starting on Sat 12th July 12-4pm. go to the FC Drop In sessions page for more info :D

Hear what the FC crew think!

2008-06-11T16:02:00.004+08:00

We're writing 2 articles for the StyleAID 2008 magazine, so we thought we'd do 1 about the people at FC! We got the visitors, volunteers and staff to answer a few questions and here's what some of us had to say;

~Tell us about yourself;
I am a 16 year old homosexual who is only ‘out'; to 3 people outside of Freedom Centre. Extremely looking forward to next year when I’m no longer in school and can come out.
~Why is Freedom Centre important to you?
Because it’s pretty much the only social life I have. It allows me to be myself, meet new people and gives me something to look forward to each week.
~What does ‘freedom’ mean to you?
To not feel pressurized by others to be someone who I’m not.
~What would you spend funds for FC on?
Bigger kitchen and a more practical location.

~Tell us about yourself;
I consider myself a liberated gay man. I’m a regular visitor to FC. Much of my enthusiasm for the centre comes from its composition of people: who I love completely!
~Why is Freedom Centre important to you?
It’s a very large, marginalising world that we live in. FC allows for us to come together to just be ourselves, without fearing judgement or prejudice.
~What does ‘freedom’ mean to you?
Liberation, breaking from the norm, being myself, allowing others to be themselves, and ultimately being at the Freedom Centre.
~What would you spend funds for FC on?
A more accessible location, to encourage attendance from closeted people… and a kitchen

~Tell us about yourself;
I am a young gay man and I have been visiting Freedom Centre for a few years, and now volunteering and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I wouldn’t be here without FC.
~Why is Freedom Centre important to you?
It’s important for young people on their emotional journey to have a guide throughout adolescence and if they have feelings that require help that schools can’t provide it’s good to know that Freedom Centre is available.
~What does ‘freedom’ mean to you?
Freedom means to me, that you don’t need/have someone shouting at you telling you how to live your life.
~What would you spend funds for FC on?
Resources and stuff to advertise FC a bit more.

Stay tuned for more of what the FC Crew said in coming weeks!

Freedom Centre at the StyleAID Photography Exhibition Launch!

2008-06-06T23:37:00.006+08:00

Tonight was the night that the Freedom Centre Documentary was screened at the StyleAID Photography Exhibition Launch!

We started the evening at Turner Galleries where we saw the Exhibition and FC Documentary, then we moved on to see the Freedom Centre (conveniently across the road!) in all its glory with the new furniture, freshly hung art works from FC's 2006 Emerge Art Project, and shiny new pride curtains, hanging in front of the new storage shelving area!

Here are some pics from the event!!

Nadine Toussaint, Dani Wright, Meredith Turnbull & Chloe Britton - 4 generations of Freedom Centre Coordinators!

Freedom Centre gets a facelift!!

2008-05-27T21:19:00.004+08:00

That's right! FC got all new furniture just in time for IDAHo (International Day Against Homophobia, May 17th)!!!

So after a couple of days of filling skip bins and constructing Ikea furniture, we can now relax on new orange & 'maro-bergine' couches, play Uno and put our cuppas on new coffee tables, use the computer on a sparkling new desk, sit on new chairs, and browse the library on its spacious new book-shelving!! And thanks to the new storage shelving, we don't trip over stacks of art supplies anymore either! What a wonderful world it is @ FC!!

A massive thankyou to WA AIDS Council (WAAC) for funding the new furnishings and an even bigger thank you to all the WAAC staff and FC volunteers who helped put it all together!

BEFORE

AFTER

Freedom Centre and StyleAID!

2008-04-29T14:42:00.004+08:00

This year StyleAID are going to donate the proceeds from the StyleAID Photography Exhibition to Freedom Centre. At some of our sessions during May we will be filming at Freedom Centre. The footage will be used to make a (very) short film about Freedom Centre (about 5 minutes). This short film will be shown at ;

StyleAID Photography Exhibition
StyleAID Sponsors Night and
StyleAID Renaissance! (the biggest and best W.A. fashion show)

What we are hoping to capture in our short film are peoples experiences at Freedom Centre, what Freedom Centre means to you, coming out stories, staying in stories and anything else you can think about Freedom Centre that you would like to share. We are making it to show the wider community why Freedom Centre is so important, what we do, what we're about and to hopefully open peoples hearts (and their wallets) to our cause.

You can be involved as much as you would like to (which hopefully is heaps wink wink nudge nudge) and for you camera shy lovies you don't have to be on film or identified if you aren't comfortable. You can do a voice over if you like or write something that someone else could read out for you. Whatever you want to contribute you can!

Ciao!

P.S. For more information on StyleAID checkout their website www.styleaid.com.au

What Does Freedom Centre Mean To You?

2008-04-06T20:15:00.015+08:00

The Glamfest film festival starts this week, showcasing a whole lot of queer films at Astor Cimemas (go to www.gayinwa.com.au for more info). GayInWA sought sponsors - Dr Christopher Kendall & Jeremy Curthoys - so we could run this ad at Glamfest. The photos are from FC's Emerge Art Project 2006. Check out our ad below, and if you'd like to tell us what Freedom Centre means to you, or what other things are important to you, we'd love to hear from you at FC blog.