Beyond clickbait and commerce

3 The Rosebank Art Walk was an Auckland Arts
Festival installation at Rosebank Road, an industrial
precinct in suburban Avondale. The temporary ‘art
walk’ event was a platform for a design and art
collective, members of which had researched and
made artwork on location here. Artists collaborated
with community groups to respond to what they
found in this place, known more for its industry
and commerce and yet of significant ecological
worth as well as geological and historical interest.
‘This project … has a presence. It was temporary
but it has a continued presence in articles and
websites and in people’s consciousness … a small
contribution to a big shift that’s never going to
happen in any other way except a whole multitude
of small contributions’ (Marcus Williams, Art Walk
Curator, personal communication, 9 September
2014).
Comment: For the documentary, the art walk event was recreated as a lighthearted pilgrimage along
the Rosebank Road route, narrated by the art walk curator who stopped along the way to interview
other key participants.
4 High Tech Youth Network is a digital media
learning centre for local youth in a low-income
neighbourhood in suburban Henderson. Part of the
global Computer Clubhouse network (Computer
Clubhouse 2013; Resnick, Rusk and Cooke 1998)
with a Pacific regional and Auckland city focus,
HTYN gives 10 to 18-year-old youth after-school
access to a wide range of digital technologies to
work on activities such as short film production
and computer game construction.
‘In [our] community there is a lot of transience
… [it’s] a place where they can explore creativity
and feel safe doing that. And also really learn and
engage in positive relationships in a supportive
community … learning as they do it’ (Jonathan
Hickman, Studio MPHS Supervisor, personal
communication, 22 August 2014).
Comment: Filmed location and interview content was insufficient for a full half-hour piece so in postproduction
it was combined with the story below.
5 Avondale Community Action (ACA) is a
suburban ‘place building’ arts collective funded by
Auckland Council, committed to improvement of
the local area so that it is more vibrant and inclusive
of residents. Initiatives such as art installations and
a creative hub in the main shopping street have
emerged from a detailed ACA-run community
research/consultation process.
‘…we needed to instigate some urban
interventions that will actually let people go: “Oh,
some things are actually changing up in the town
centre” ... We thought the best way to do that
is through creativity. … So we obtained funding
from the council … and had inexpensive public
artwork [and] some installations. … What that did
is that it created visible change’ (Michelle Ardern,
ACA Collective, personal communication, 15
September 2014).
Comment: Helping ACA tell their story on film was a challenge because they are a tight collective with
no one individual identifying as leader or spokesperson.
6 More Than A War, an oral history project
involving Auckland Libraries, generated a series of
oral narratives recording experiences, reflections
and remembrances of World War One for a digital
archive of stories and accompanying memorabilia;
and searchable, interactive online content.
‘It was really to surface narratives and stories
that were particularly more on the margin …
we weren’t that interested in the stories of the
campaigns or the soldiers … we’re really interested
in the home front. … What were the women
doing? What was a child’s perspective of the time?
The stories that lie behind. An opportunity for
young people to engage with the subject. It’s a
contemporary picture of how, in 2014, people are
remembering’ (Sue Berman, Auckland Libraries,
Sara Donaghey, Unitec, personal communication,
21 August 2014).
Comment: The project was not so much a community story in the way the others were, but its objective
of building community between young and old through the fabric of storytelling in a range of creative
genres was seen as a fit for The living community series. However, its multiple goals and broad sweep
of content were challenging to capture.
54 Copyright 2016-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 13, No 2/3 2016