Short Report — HIV and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performance: A context and background to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performance work around HIV

This summary report details key ideas outlined in a larger community report (and literature review), titled "HIV and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Performance: A context and background to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performance work around HIV."

Description of the major project:

The project aims to argue the value and role of the arts—particularly theatre and performance—in HIV prevention in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It identifies the widening gaps in access to health promotion and new biomedical HIV prevention methods. Our key questions are: what performance work exists already? What can we learn from them in terms of artistic choices and organisational strategies that make them successful in a health context in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities? The project benefits from an Advisory Group whose members include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV health specialists, artists and activists, as well as non-Indigenous team members from organisations Living Positive Victoria; Positive Women and Thorne Harbour Health. We had guidance throughout from the University of Melbourne's Wilin Centre, and undertook their Marrang, cross-cultural training, as part of the project. Our hope is that the document will help provide background material and contribute to important arguments for the continuing value of performance work on HIV and AIDS in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.