PAW Language and Culture Space Officially Opened

04 May 2018

PAW Media staff officially opened our refurbished PAW Language & Culture Space, as the final event in WYDAC’s Year of Life Long Learning Celebrations on 3rd May 2018.

Jennifer Baarda, our Warlpiri Media Worker and inDigiMOB Mentor, recorded video and audio of the day’s activities. The Space was opened by Simon Japangardi Fisher, PAW Media’s Senior Warlpiri Cultural Officer and Archivist. “This is an important day for us.” He said, “Now we have a place to show our children their heritage.” Guests included Yuendumu School students and teachers, Northern Territory and Federal politicians, senior officials from NT Education Department and representatives from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The official launch of the Language and Culture Space opens the way for increased community access to the Warlpiri Media Archives, which are attached to the L&C Space. The Archives house over a thousand hours of audio-visual cultural and community recordings made by PAW since 1984, and which are recognised for their national significance. The Archives themselves were recently revitalised with support from an ABA Grant administered by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Space’s opening is the culmination of several years’ work to improve accessibility of those historic cultural resources. The Australian Government’s Department for the Arts supported development of the Space with wages for Warlpiri Language Workers during 2016-17, and Charles Darwin University funded parts of the refurbishment through the same period.