uts shopfront annual report 2014 · 2017-08-11 · uts shopfront annual report 2014 | 5 researchers...

Annual Report 2014UTS SHOPFRONT

UTS Shopfront is a community engagement program at the University of Technology, Sydney. Its goals are to create robust, collaborative partnerships between university and community to provide capacity development to community-based organisations, produce community-engaged scholarship and facilitate students in developing skills for leadership and engagement.

In so doing, Shopfront recognises the value of sharing the different forms of knowledge that exist within community and university. This is achieved through three program areas:

- Coursework projects: academically rigorous projects are initiated by the community and undertaken by students through coursework subjects supervised by academics. Projects can range from large, multi-disciplinary undertakings involving several subjects over a number of semesters to small projects that might involve one or two students

- UTS SOUL Award leadership and volunteering program: extra-curricular award brokering community volunteering and providing skills development and active citizenship training and

- Gateways: International Journal of Community Engagement: Shopfront’s open-source refereed e-journal focused on the practice and processes of community engagement, providing a forum for academics, practitioners and community and jointly managed and edited in partnership with Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola University, Chicago.

UTS Shopfront is a non-profit program that provides services free of charge to the community. All donations are tax deductible.

Following page: Sunghee Park and Amelia Zavattaro who were awarded their certificates for completion of the SOUL Award at the Shopfront’s inaugural Showcase and SOUL graduation. The Showcase celebrated the achievements of our 2014 cohort of students, staff and community partners.

UTS Shopfront Annual Report 2014 | 1

CONTENTS2 Director’s Report 20143 Mission3 Vision3 Objectives4 Executive Summary for 2014 9 Vision to Reality: Projects completed during

201421 Management Structure24 Financial Statement

2 | UTS Shopfront Annual Report 2014

DIRECTOR’S REPORT 2014UTS Shopfront has been partnering with community based organisations since 1996, and to date have completed 800 projects and worked with 3500 students, 60 staff and 750 community organisations. It has collaborated with community organisations to scope need and shape projects to match these with UTS subjects to brief students, supervise project work and provide ongoing mentoring and training in areas of community organisations and leadership to students. It brokers ongoing relationships with organisations that can lead to research outputs. As I am retiring in May 2015 this will be my last report as Director of the Shopfront. And there are many wonderful achievements to report.

This award winning university-wide program continues its mission of community-university engagement. It aims to build strong and sustainable communities across three areas: practice based learning, leadership and volunteering and community engaged research. Shopfront provides capacity and skills development for community-based organisations and trains UTS students as community change agents.

In 2008, in Partnership with the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola University, Chicago, Shopfront launched Gateways, an international Journal for Community Research and engagement. One of the journal’s advisory board members, Budd Hall, is the UNESCO Co-Chair of Community Engagement. Gateways offers an ongoing opportunity for academics and practitioners engaged in community-based work to publish in a peer-reviewed open-sourced journal. Shopfront also publishes other research by academics and students.

In 2012 the SOUL program was added to the Shopfront’s portfolio. SOUL is a leadership and volunteer program, open to all students in the university to support volunteerism and community participation in our student body. SOUL has quickly grown from strength to strength with over 2000 students signed up.

These programs would not be possible without the ongoing support of the University and its Faculties, Centre and Units. We are indebted to numerous academics, administrative staff, students and community organisations who have individually or collectively supported the Shopfront.

I would like to acknowledge the strong support of Professor Bill Purcell, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Advancement) and Jim O’Brien Deputy Director of External Engagement and his team who have encouraged and facilitated our work.

Many thanks, finally, to the Shopfront/SOUL team: Pauline O’Loughlin, Lisa Andersen, Chris Brew, Rosie Catalano, Margaret Malone, Claire Pettigrew and Penny Stannard. They have driven this unique and exemplary community-tertiary initiative which continues to achieve national and international impacts and recognition. I would also like to acknowledge the work of Dr Jeannie Martin, Shopfront’s inaugural Director, who passed away in December 2014.

Professor Paul Ashton

Academic Director

Director Paul Ashton at Shopfront Showcase in November


CAP Award Winners (including Claire Pettigrew) pictured with Attila Brungs UTS Vice-Chancellor.Photo by Encapture Photography

MISSIONUTS Shopfront is a community engagement program. Its goals are to create robust, collaborative partnerships between university and community to provide capacity development to community-based organisations, produce community-engaged scholarship and facilitate students in developing skills for leadership and engagement. It includes the SOUL Award which develops social responsiveness and leadership skills in students through encouraging participation and volunteering.

VISIONUTS Shopfront’s vision is to maintain and further advance the principles of work-integrated learning through developing research, teaching and learning activities — in collaboration with community partners — based on a culture of equity, diversity, social responsibility and mutual respect.

UTS Shopfront consolidates partnerships with community partners to foster mutual benefit, knowledge transfer and educational programs that produce University graduates with knowledge of socially responsible professional practice.

OBJECTIVESThe objectives of the Shopfront are to:

- encourage and facilitate two-way knowledge and skills exchange between the University and community

- provide a distinctive, integrated teaching role in the University in relation to community engagement and student learning

- provide a University-wide teaching resource for a range of work-integrated and multi-disciplinary projects

- encourage socially relevant and responsible research activities and

- encourage inter-faculty teaching, research and community activity.


management, communications and research. The 2014 interns are:• Ruby Wawn who came on

board to get involved in the development of the Perfect Match speed volunteer event

• Maya Boerne Marcus who developed communications tools for SOUL and skilled up in event organising

• Adam Papadakis who looked into the legal and policy frameworks around internships in Australia, the first step in compiling a guide to better support community partners to work with student interns

• Kate Freeman who looked into the emerging field of research around ‘student volunteering’ and university volunteering practices

• Sheila Obcemia who interviewed and created profiles of engaged SOUL students, gaining experience in interviewing and article writing

- SOUL received a commendation at the 2014 UTS Human Rights Awards

- SOUL partnered with the Centre for Volunteering for ‘Perfect Match’ a volunteer speed networking event in August (above left). The event brought together community organisations and students to UTS. Over 200 volunteer placements were set up during Perfect Match. Community organisations involved included: National Parks Association, Barnados, Centre for Volunteering, Milaana, Spark, Celebral Palsy Alliance, Red Cross and Conservation Volunteers.

- SOUL students worked with 350 community organisations across the year

- 500 students completed their training through the Skill Hub workshops

- Claire Pettigrew, the Student Engagement Coordinator (pictured above with Anne Dwyer, DVC - Corporate Services), received a UTS commendation for her outstanding contribution to the development of the SOUL Award. Claire has taken a key leadership role in ensuring the delivery of a high quality program that champions the University’s commitment to social justice and inclusiveness

- SOUL partnered with UTS Library on developing a dedicated stream of social justice films screened across the semesters

- SOUL has worked with UTS Housing to develop a specially tailored program for housing participants which has been incorporated in the induction program for Residential Networkers as well as provided communication and leadership training to Student Promotional Representatives of UTS (SPROUTS) in the Faculty of Engineering and IT and worked with the Red Cross Society to provide dedicated SOUL training to its members

- SOUL introduced an internship program, where students were hosted in core internship and placement subjects, enabling them to participate in and direct the core functions of SOUL in the areas of event

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR 2014 This year 55 intensive community-initiated and student-run projects have been completed. Collaborative projects have included: visualizing stories for Amnesty International, creating an image database for ANTAR, strategic development for Camp Out, planning for Cure Cancer Australia, design of education material for Glebe Community Development Project and sustainability plan for refugee enterprise development with Settlement Services International (see full list of projects on page 9).

Other highlights for this year include:

UTS: SOUL Award SOUL stands for Social Outcomes through University Leadership and it continues to go from strength to strength. SOUL is an extra-curricular, university-wide volunteer and leadership program that was introduced to grow the scale and impact of Shopfront’s work. It responds to a community need for rigorously trained, community-aware volunteers, and student need for leadership development. Students’ leadership skills are further enhanced through Shopfront’s Skills Hub. This is a series of workshops that include training in collaborative leadership, complex social issues, active communications, cultural diversity and project management. SOUL’s record in 2014 includes:

- SOUL students have logged over 21,000 hours of volunteering in the local community

Photo by Encapture Photography


researchers and representatives from community groups who had jointly presented at the Expo. Gateways readership continues to steadily grow with 9000 visitors from 120 countries this year. There has been increased interest from Kenya, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the Philippines with these countries joining Australia, Canada, UK, USA, South Africa and India in the top ten countries for readership.

Silent Systems LaunchLast year the book Silent System: Forgotten Australians and Incarcerated Women and Children (Australian Scholarly Publishing), edited by Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Wilson, was launched by the State Member for Parramatta, Geoff Lee (pictured above left with Bonny Djuric and Paul Ashton). It is a research outcome for a long-term Shopfront partnership with the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct (PFFP) Memory Project. PFFP Memory Project is a social history and contemporary art project centred on the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct. It fosters opportunities for those with direct experience of institutional confinement to represent and articulate their own history.

Cultural Asset Mapping in Regional Australia (CAMRA)CAMRA was a five-year ARC linkage grant with Paul Ashton as a Chief Investigator and Lisa Andersen as the Senior Researcher which came to a close in December. This research produced significant outcomes including a toolkit

of teaching and learning pursues an innovative, work-integrated learning approach to developing postgraduate business students’ management consulting skills – and social responsibility – through working with industry and the not-for-profit community sector. Over the last eight years, 70 community projects have been successfully completed through the subject with a conservative estimated pro bono value of $1.2 million, making a significant contribution to the ongoing sustainability of scores of community organisations.

Industry CoachesIndustry Coaches are UTS alumni and industry supporters, experienced professionals in their field, who give their time to guide students and mentor community partners. Coaches are briefed on the background of the students and the projects, and then matched to projects based on their strengths and interests. The emerging relationship with Advisian is an exemplar of how Alumni can reconnect to the University to support university-community outreach. Instigated by UTS Alumni Derek Burrows, this partnership has supported projects with organisations such as Domestic Violence NSW, Settlement Services International and Camp Out (see page 9).

Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and EngagementVolume 7 Gateways went ‘live’ in June. It was a Community University Expo 2013 themed edition. Many of the articles included were co-authored by academic

Shopfront Showcase On 19 November the inaugural Shopfront Showcase and SOUL Awards Graduation Night was held. It was a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements and impact of UTS students working and volunteering in community engagement in 2014. The event featured a showcase of the outcomes across our three core areas of community projects, research and student volunteering and training, with thirty-five SOUL students receiving their SOUL Award on the night. Speakers included Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Bill Purcell, Shopfront staff and academics, and four SOUL students. Claudia Vickers, a SOUL student who volunteered with Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre and spoke at the Showcase event, said of the program: ‘It was really a mutually beneficial experience because, being a not- for-profit obviously they want all the volunteers they can get… and I feel like I came out the winner at the end of it all and I’ve got for myself a foreseeable future in the industry that I’m studying in and its just been the most rewarding and memorable experience of my entire degree.’

Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) CitationLisa Andersen and Natalia Nikolova (pictured in group shot above) received the OLT Citation from the National Office of Learning and Teaching as recognition of their excellent co-teaching of the Management Consulting subject in the UTS Business School. This model


Thai VisitorsIn July the Shopfront hosted a delegation of senior academics from Thailand universities (above). The delegation was keen to learn more about Australian university-engagement related issues such as engagement with students, community, industry, alumni and staff as well to discuss cultural environmental and international engagement. There was a strong interest in incorporating the Shopfront model in the establishment of their own community engagement strategies. The delegation also shared their experience on issues of community engagement and the growing interest in social enterprise in Thailand.

for good practice in cultural mapping and the book By-Roads and Hidden Treasures published in December (University of Western Australia Press). The book brings together the project’s researchers, cultural critics and arts and creative industry figures to discuss culture and its connection to community and the economy, particularly in remote and regional areas.

On the FringesThe long-term collaboration with Memory Bank and Therese Sweeney (pictured above) was completed last year. The work has now moved to a new phase and will continue through a partnership with the UTS Library. Therese has worked with the Library to develop and launch the archive, On the Fringes: South West Sydney 1994-2014. This significant archival collection explores social history and cultural life on the outskirts of metropolitan Sydney.


membership management and governance structure were two key project areas identified by DVNSW for Shopfront’s support.

The project has also involved one of our corporate partners, Advisian. It was linked with Advisian’s recent Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. Shopfront was able to connect Lisa Maclean and Tristan Frost to the DVNSW project to provide coaching and mentoring to the students (pictured above left with Derek Burrows from Advisian).

The MBA governance planning team assisted DVNSW to review its structure, constitution, board make-up and to better position the organisation to manage current sectoral changes, diversify income sources and to continue providing peak level support, partnerships and policy inputs around domestic and family violence in NSW.

At a time of sector change that could impact on members and may see a number of smaller, local services close due to new funding arrangements, business students helped DVNSW to review its membership structure and consider options to open the organisation to new membership and stakeholder relationships while maintaining the long-term, close relationships with existing members and stakeholders. The student MBA team recommended implementation of membership management tools and procedures ranging from new, low cost membership management software to communication and conflict resolution processes.

- National Parks Association - Nepean Food Services (Meals On

Wheels) - OUTRUN CANCER - People with Disability (PWD) - Red Cross - R U OK Day - Self Help for Hard of Hearing People - Settlement Services International - Shopfront Youth Arts Cooperative - Spark - Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre - Synergy & TaikOz - Tenants’ Union of NSW - The Scarlet Alliance - WEFTshop - Woollahra Artisan Market

VISION TO REALITY: PROJECTS COMPLETED DURING 2014Several projects undertaken during 2014 are highlighted below. (A full list of projects starts on page 9)

Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW) DVNSW is the peak membership body for specialist domestic and family violence service in NSW. It works to improve the spectrum of policy, legislative and program responses to women and children escaping domestic and family violence.

Recent significant reforms in NSW around domestic and family violence (DFV) and its service sector have major implications on the strategic direction and development of Domestic Violence NSW as a peak membership, advocacy and policy organisation. Improving

PROJECTSDuring 2014 fifty-five coursework projects and 20,000 volunteer hours were completed with a broad range of community groups. Partners for this work included:

- Accessible Arts - Afghan Fajar Association Incorporated - Amnesty International - ANTaR (Australians for Native Title and

Reconciliation) - Australian Philanthropic Services (APS) - Barnados - BEAMS Festival - Camp Out Inc - Cana Communities - Centre for Volunteering NSW - Celebral Palsy Alliance - CIRCLE - Conservation Volunteers - Cure Cancer Australia Foundation - Domestic Violence NSW - Drug & Alcohol Multicultural Education

Centre - Ethical Consumers Australia - Foodswell Limited - Glebe Community Development

Project - Glebe Justice Centre - Information and Cultural Exchange - Keep NSW Beautiful - Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway - Marrickville Youth Resource Centre - Meals on Wheels NSW - Multicultural Youth Affairs Network

(MYAN) NSW - Museums and Galleries NSW


This project also had two students who were in both the Shopfront and SOUL programs Carlos and Lily. We also saw the return of one of our Shopfront Alumni, Kate Johnstone. Kate, who now works at Ascender Design, worked as a mentor with the design team across the semester.

‘Foodswell was extremely privileged to work with four UTS student teams this semester. Individually and collectively, these projects have delivered substantial material and intellectual contributions to skills exchange, development and enrichment.’ Anthea Fawcett, Managing Director, Foodswell

SnapshotCommunity Partner: Foodswell Student Teams: SI: Lily Brouwer-French, Alex Nickoll MBA: Annie Kim, Neha Vedre, Carlos Reyes Torres, Umair Aziz DAB: Stephanie Lee, Marsha Levina, and Tom Stoddard Faculty Partners: Heidi Norman (FASS), Natalia Nikolova (Business), Mitra Gusheh (DAB) Subjects: Management Consulting, Social Inquiry Placement, Socially Responsible Design

Surry Hills Festival 2014Over the course of last year a group of students provided high quality and ongoing support to the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre (SHNC) to deliver engagement and communication strategies for the 2014 Surry Hills Festival. This project represents another instance of a project involving Shopfront coursework and volunteers from SOUL.

across three different faculties: Design Architecture and Building, Business and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Foodswell is a social enterprise that works with both Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians enabling access to sustainable, regular and healthy food, and ensuring this access can continue into the future. It has a number of projects, including the Remote Indigenous Gardens Network; EduGrow, focusing on learning about food in schools; and their mentoring program, Hearts Minds and Means.

The four projects all contributed to the development of the organization. Alex Nickoll and Lily Brouwer-French, two Social Inquiry students, produced separate and rigorous research reports. Their reports provided detailed mapping of existing food literacy and Indigenous education services across NSW, which was integral for the organisation to develop projects and partnerships.

MBA students Annie Kim, Neha Vedre, Carlos Reyes Torres and Umair Aziz (above left with Foodswell’s Anthea Fawcett) developed a fundraising plan that was customised to support a small social enterprise. Alongside this business plan, a talented team of designers –Stephanie Lee, Marsha Levina and Tom Stoddard – refined the Foodswell branding, creating a beautiful design suite that aimed to visually communicate Foodswell’s organisational narrative. The suite included stationery, a sponsorship kit, and a website.

‘It’s genuinely exciting for DVNSW to have been able to work so closely with two excellent groups being supported by Lisa and Tristan… I have no doubt that the work of both groups will positively shape the development and growth of our organisation in a way that we couldn’t have envisaged prior to commencing this partnership’, said Moo Baulch, the CEO of DVNSW.

The students’ feedback on their coaches was overwhelmingly positive as demonstrated by the quotes below.

‘Lisa was Fantastic. She brought a lot of insight into what we are expected to accomplish. She helped me gain experience and clarity in my work.’

‘Our coach [Tristan] was great, always made time, talked through ideas and provided us with direction.’

SnapshotCommunity Partner: DVNSW Student Teams: Maren Petry, Asha Madaswamy, Merin Bineesh, Raquel Robson and Lucas Minte, James Wu, Neda, Andrea Rabe, John Shaheed and Victoria Lee Advisian Industry Coaches: Lisa MacLean and Tristan Frost Faculty Partner: Natalia Nikolova (Business) Subject: Management Consulting

Foodswell Over the course of 2014, Shopfront partnered on a number of projects with Foodswell, an organisation focussed on improving community health through education programs across Australia. The partnership has involved the development of four separate projects


Nina Bretnall, Karan Gopalani, Shokoufeh Karbasian, Jun Zhao Lim, Xiaodan Yu, Mahmoud Alazzam, Neil Blackwell, Adam Fiala, Federico Guzzo, Joseph Varacalli, Azadeh Hosseini and Melanie-Ann Williams

Afghan Fajar Association Incorporated (AFAIC)AFAIC is a start-up non-profit that works to help community members have a productive settlement through: providing language classes for the newly arrived migrants; sport and recreational programs for children and youth; facilitating the settlement experience of new arrivals and immigrants in the their communities; and providing leadership training for young people.

A team of five design students (pictured above with AFAIC’s Sayed Hussainizada) worked with AFAIC to re-design and redevelop branding and to ensure the organisation’s collateral is consistent and engaging. The talented team developed a new logo that was applied to a series of collateral – including stationery, T-shirts, brochures and badges. The students also produced a one-minute promotion video that outlines the services AFAIC delivers to the community both here and overseas. Overall the design team created a fresh and new look together with a set of tools that will enhance the organisation’s ability to market itself, develop and grow.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Kate DilanchianStudents: Shadi Berenjie, Yao Chen, Ethan Hsu, Stephanie Ricciuti, Natalie Shue

‘Victoria managed to balance our workload, and she was very good at letting us work at a reasonable pace… I think we have been critical in opening lines of communication between the community (businesses and residents) and Victoria, and our work culminated in the first community meeting held at the SHNC on Monday 19th May’ Pam Kalyvas.

SnapshotProject: Surry Hills Festival 2014 Community Partner: Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre Students: Pamela Kalyvas, Grace Prael, Melanie Ung Faculty Partners: Vicki Bamford, Subjects: Professional Internship Placement/UTS SOUL Award

VISION TO REALITY: PROJECTS COMPLETED DURING 2014

Accessible ArtsAccessible Arts promotes full inclusion, access, opportunities and leadership in the arts for people with disability through advocacy, education and information.

Postgraduate Business students worked with Accessible Arts to develop a financial model for running a biennial expo on arts and disability in Sydney. An expo is planned to be part of Accessible Arts’ response to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: John BurkeStudents: Amy Girling-Butler, Nicholas Crean, Marguerite (Maggie) Daras, Nikita Kazmin, Consuelo Lesino, Daniel Strazdins, Samantha Trudgett, Ahmed Mahmood, Pamella Brum,

The Surry Hills festival has been running since 2000. This one-day festival builds social cohesion among the diverse inner-city community of Surry Hills. It is delivered in partnership with organisations in Surry Hills, with the 2014 Festival focussing on telling the stories, heritage, talents, businesses, creative industries and social diversity that make Surry Hills special.

In such an initiative, there is a strong need for positive stakeholder engagement to ensure community ownership and involvement. In first semester, the SHNC brought on board three students to develop a stakeholder engagement strategy for community partners. Pamela Kalyvas and Grace Prael, from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Melanie Ung volunteering through SOUL, worked to strategise the most appropriate ways of engaging and consulting with SHNC partners in the Festival.

This work was continued in second semester, with Melanie staying on to develop and deliver elements of the Stakeholder Engagement strategy through an effective communications campaign. As part of this, Melanie planned and established a wide range of social media initiatives, consulted with the local community, wrote letters and media releases and wrote website copy.

Victoria Johnstone, Director of the Surry Hills Festival, was delighted with the work produced and the way in which it was completed. ‘absolute collective brilliance!’ she said of Pamela, Grace and Melanie’s work.


MBA students developed a sustainability report for Camp Out. The students undertook a range of methods such as workshops, interviews and qualitative surveys with other organisations to scope out and develop a series of actions for the collective to take over a 1 to 3 year period to build their organisational resourcing and grow their capacity. This will ensure that Camp Out members can continue to deliver and sustain the camp program and support young people into the future.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Baptise Bachellerie, Surayya Burhan, Lauren Davies, Thinakaran Saminathen and Yan Yvonne Zhang

Cana CommunitiesCana communities is a crisis care organisation working with people who are experiencing loneliness, mental illness, addiction and homelessness. Cana, which has been running since 1975, operates out of several locations, including crisis accommodation in inner city Sydney and the expansive Cana Farm at Orchard Hill.

Cana approached the Shopfront for support in the development of a book that would represent a special commemoration for the organisation’s 40th anniversary and tell the Cana story. The main aim of the book is to raise awareness of Cana activities, celebrate life and share the experience of its members, volunteers and supporters on the theme of difference. Cana had collected some incredible stories, anecdotes and images for the book.

from ANTAR advised they ‘loved having the images on Flickr’ and even when working remotely they are now able to log in, find and use an image quickly.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Hilary YerburyStudent: Angie Baho

Australian Philanthropic Services (APS)APS is a not-for-profit organisation that inspires and supports effective philanthropy and provides education for individuals and advisers.

Les Goldman is working with the APS team to research and write articles on the topic of philanthropy. The main aim was to inspire and educate individuals and their financial advisers about philanthropy and the options available to them. By raising awareness of the most common philanthropic structures and encouraging more people to become involved in giving enables more charitable funding to be directed to the community.

Faculty: Arts and Social ScienceStudents: Leslie GoldmanVolunteering through UTS: SOUL Award

Camp Out IncCamp Out is a non-profit incorporated association that hosts an annual five night camp for LGBTIQ young people and their allies. The camp aims to build resilience, capacity and community between 13-17 year old LGBTIQ young people from across NSW, often from regional backgrounds.

Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is a worldwide movement of people campaigning to protect human rights. Amnesty has a vision of a world in which every person enjoys all of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

A team of design students worked on strategies to visual strategies stories that underpin Amnesty’s campaigns and the data informing their work for the purpose of using the material as part of Human Rights events taking place at the end of the year.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Mitra GushehStudents: Ada Chen, Nora Lim, Daniel White

ANTaR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation)ANTaR is an advocacy and campaign organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights. Its key objectives are to advocate and campaign for a policy environment that ensures justice, rights and respect for Australia’s First Peoples and to educate and engage the broader community to build a movement of Australian’s in support of justice, rights and respect for Australia’s First Peoples.

Angie Baho worked with ANTAR to develop a user-friendly and accessible photo library of images together with a protocol for use of the images. The team


CIRCLE postcard design

global justice for women. Circle strives to break down complex issues about structural injustice and present them in a creative and easily understandable format to open people’s hearts and minds.

The Circle of Women worked with a design team to develop new and innovative visual strategies to better communicate their ideas and projects, and to engage a broader audience. The students developed an innovative and flexible visual identity to suit the dynamic and fluid nature of the organisation and developed associated collateral including website, social media and print deliverables.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Nicola HardcastleStudents: Rachel Khoong, Emma Sprouster, Evelyn Tran, Tili Wu, Hao Liu, Joanna Tran

Cure Cancer Australia Foundation (CCAF)CCAF has provided funds nationally to close to 500 ground breaking cancer research projects. CCAF supports innovative early career researchers (from 1-7 years post-doc) who conduct research into all types of cancers and whose projects span the continuum from prevention, diagnosis to treatment. It is uniquely positioned in the cancer charity market as an organisation that provides vital seed funding to kick-start Australian cancer researchers careers.

A team of five MBA students worked with CCAF to develop new approaches for directing more funds to cancer research. A well-established organisation that is a leader in its field, CCAF recognized the

Centre for Volunteering NSWThe Centre for Volunteering is the peak body in NSW promoting and supporting volunteering and community participation. It connects people and organisations in order to enrich the community. It achieves this through referral, training, resource development, information and education services to help people get involved in their communities. It also enhances the capacity and skills of not-for-profit organisations, corporations and government.

Design students helped The Centre for Volunteering NSW to rebrand the organisation using the Red ‘V’ that is currently in use by its other volunteer organisations nationally and internationally. A new logo and banners were developed for use across all digital media, print media and other brand promotion. Through this rebranding the organisation aims to heighten brand awareness and gain instant recognition associated with imagery.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Siobhan CostiganStudents: Hanan Altorkestani, Lia Ferraro, Regina San Juan, Yibin Sun, Xunwu Xiao, Madeleine Soden

CIRCLECircle is a community-based network of women that raises awareness around social justice issues facing women worldwide. They provide opportunities for women within the community, stay-at-home mothers, school girls and business women alike to take action and participate in the struggle to secure

During the first stage of the project a team of student interns and SOUL volunteers worked together to further develop content for a book. The initial step was developing a spreadsheet of all the existing materials which helped the organisation identify the kinds of stories that were missing. Volunteer journalism students were recruited to help fill the gaps. Soon there was a great team working to develop the book’s content. These students made field trips to Cana sites to record stories from participants and volunteers about belonging, personal journeys, challenges and the role Cana has played in community members’ personal triumphs.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Vicki BamfordIntern: Tess GibneyVolunteers through UTS: SOUL Award: Larissa Bricis, Sarina Hajje, Anastasia Koninina and Karren Vergara

For the second stage a group of Visual Communications students closely engaged with the Cana team to craft a simple and beautiful book design that incorporated Cana’s images. The student designers also developed marketing collateral (including postcards) for the launch (pictured above left with Cana’s Anne Jordan). As an added extra the design students created a blog to allow Cana to continue to collect and share its stories.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Ellinor NussStudents: Mishlene Khouri, Yan Lin, Aharon Rossano, Linda Te, Shuwen Zhang


Research on Family Violence Reforms The NSW Government is in the process of reforming the domestic and family violence service and response sector. The proposed model is likely to be based on elements of the UK MARAC model and the South Australian Women’s Safety Strategy. It includes automatic referral and sharing of personal information about victims from Police to support services via a Central Referral System, Safety Action Meetings where high-risk victim cases are discussed in a multi-agency forum, a common risk assessment tool for services and agencies and new pathways to referral for victims. NGOs working in the sector have raised concerns about the improved safety for victims, confidential information management, funding for the changes, and the lack of co-ordination between the proposed reforms as well as other legislation impacting on family violence responses.

Two students undertook a research project that included a literature search, a review of common issues raised in public submissions made to government during the lengthy DFV reform process and interviews with key stakeholders in NSW, as well as analysis of the South Australian, Victorian and UK models to explore strengths and weaknesses of the proposed new approach to assessing safety and the lack of integrated approach to the proposed multiple and concurrent reforms.

Faculty: LawAcademic: Penny CroftsStudents: Ruby Munsie and Jenny Wen

Three projects were undertaken in collaboration with DVNSW. They included Membership Structure, Governance Planning and research on family violence reforms. The three projects are described in more details below.

Membership StructureAt a time of sector change that could impact on members and see a number of smaller, local services close due to new funding arrangements, business students (above left) helped DVNSW to review its membership structure and consider options to open the organisation to new membership and stakeholder relationships while maintaining the long-term, close relationships with existing members and stakeholders.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: Natalia NikolovaIndustry Coach: Tristan Frost, Evans & PeckStudents: Maren Petry, Asha Madaswamy, Merin Bineesh, Raquel Robson and Lucas Minte

Governance PlanningA group of students (above right)assisted DVNSW to review its structure, constitution, board make-up etc, to better position the organisation to manage current sectoral changes, diversify income sources and to continue providing peak level support, partnerships and policy inputs around domestic and family violence in NSW.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: Natalia NikolovaIndustry Coach: Lisa Maclean, Evans & PeckStudents: James Wu, Neda, Andrea Rabe, John Shaheed and Victoria Lee

need for it and other similar organisations to improve how they operate to ensure that a greater proportion of funds raised can go directly towards core programs and activities. Students identified strategic partners for CCAF to work with in order to generate what has the potential to be a significant outcome for the cancer charity sector.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Rosary Coloma, Madeleine McCartney, Surriya Prasath, Nick Reid and Nicolas Schwager

Domestic Violence NSWThe peak membership body for specialist domestic and family violence service in NSW, Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW), works to improve the spectrum of policy, legislative and program responses to women and children escaping domestic and family violence. Committed to providing leadership in developing a community of practice around violence prevention, DVNSW works in close partnership with government and non-government organisations and partners with exemplar project covering the areas of early intervention for children, education and behaviour change across community and business.

Recent significant reforms in NSW around domestic and family violence (DFV) and its service sector have major implications on the strategic direction and development of Domestic Violence NSW as a peak membership, advocacy and policy organisation.


to develop a brand hierarchy with Foodswell the parent brand and RIGNetwork, Edugrow, Tucker Talks and Foodswell Friends being the sub-brands. For the rebranding the team developed a stamp design for the logo, a colour palette that reflected the Australian landscape and incorporated Foodswell’s beautiful photos to creating a suite of visual materials that include a sponsorship kit, stationery, social media, Enewsletter and re-skin of the website (pictured above).

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Mitra GushehStudents: Stephanie Lee, Marsha Levina and Thomas StoddardIndustry Coach: Kate JohnstoneResearch on Food Security

This project seeks to involve social research students critically identify, research and document key information about contributors to good security and food sovereignty social and other action in Australia. The research will contribute to Foodswell’s strategic development and social impact. ‘Food’ is never just about food - it is also about the social, justice, conviviality, sustainability and the environment. This project will enable action-based research about the intersections of these concerns.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Heidi NormanStudent: Alex Nickoll

Research on Indigenous Youth LeadershipThis project involves research to identify and critically describe the range of Indigenous youth leadership

one main project which is a fortnightly newsletter called Otter, informing people on actions that they can take towards improved ethical consumption.

Cindy Dang is working with Ethical Consumers Australia to develop and implement a marketing/PR strategy. The organisation is particularly interested in optimizing its search results and boosting its social media. The target is to double the number of newsletter subscribers to Otter and increase by a large extent the number of followers on social media.

Faculty: LawVolunteering through UTS: SOUL Award: Cindy Dang

Foodswell LimitedFoodswell promotes food production in and by remote communities for better health, wealth and wellbeing. It supports and empowers individuals and communities to develop and pursue pathways to good health and to realise their rights to food security and food sovereignty.

Four projects were undertaken with Foodswell this year. The projects are outlined below.

Refine Current Branding/Develop New CollateralA team of visual communications students worked with Foodswell to develop an imaginative, engaging visual identity that included logos and other design collateral to effectively communicate the organisation’s healthy food, people and environmental messages. This project involved the student team undertaking research

Drug & Alcohol Multicultural Education Centre (DAMEC)DAMEC provides an AOD counselling service with a culturally diverse staff who offer counselling in Arabic, Cantonese, English, Khmer, Mandarin, Sinhala and Vietnamese. DAMEC also runs specific casework programs, community development, health promotion programs and research projects. Key populations DAMEC works with are refugees, people who have recently left prison and young people from culturally diverse backgrounds. DAMEC’s overall focus is to understand, report on, and address access and equity issues experienced by culturally and linguistically diverse populations seeking alcohol and other drug treatment.

A team of visual communication students worked with DAMEC to on a brand makeover to refine its current logo, develop a colour scheme and pattern for template, presentations, publications and other resources. The students also created iconography, took a series of photos to incorporate into collateral and developed a two-minute promotion video.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Kate DilanchianStudents: Supriya Bhonsle, Chi Pang Chan, Roslyn Coutinho, Annabel Ockenden, Tsz Man (Jenny) Wong, Thi Thanh Thuy Le

Ethical Consumers AustraliaEthical Consumers Australia is an independent not-for-profit organisation. Its goal is to make it easier for people to make consumer choices that match their values. The organisation currently has


and associated collateral for each of the groups including banners, logos, letterheads and tshirt designs.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Nicola HardcastleStudents: Eva Kiss, Marsha Levina, Mikaelee Miller, Nadia Raicevich, Jessica Stor, Linhao Xue

Glebe Justice CentreThe Glebe Justice Centre is a newly established non-government organisation with a rights-based approach to community development. It aims to increase access to justice through advocacy; strengthen pathways to existing legal services while providing additional services as needed; and facilitate community leadership programs to enable all citizens to respond more effectively to local issues and concerns. The Glebe Justice Centre will be a place of learning and innovation and will make available its research for government, non-government and other community-based organisations.

The Glebe Justice Centre was assisted by design students to develop a package that outlined services and resources that are available to residents of Glebe that are impacted by injustice. Incorporated in the package is a printed and digital map of services, a range of cards outlining the location and service available, a series of posters that incorporates images and stories about community members and a proposal for a public mural (above right). The students created a handmade feel for their design by using handwriting fonts and illustration to make the outcomes accessible and friendly for the broader community.

initiatives within the public housing communities of these areas as well as generate knowledge about the opportunities, constraints and effective strategies to build strong communities in rapidly changing urban contexts.

Students worked with GCDP on design of promotional and education material for two of its community partners:

GCDP are in the process of establishing a ‘cultural space’ that it would like promote as somewhere the community can access for meetings, workshops, exhibitions, forums as well as utilising the resources the space has to offer. The student team (above left) worked closely with GCDP, Aboriginal Reference Group and other members of the Aboriginal Community to explore possible visual identities for the space, and devised a unique design system that is multilayered and adaptive. This included the development of web, social media, and print collateral.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Nicola HardcastleStudents: Tal Chodos, Carmen Famularo, Mitchell Hockey, Hyo-Yun (Joanne) Ryoo, Ruoyu (Gloria) Yuan, Wai Ko

The GCDP has worked with resident groups in Camperdown for the past five years. These residents are all public housing tenants. There are two separate groups: JAAG, a social housing advocacy group and the Booler Centre Drop-In, which provides social activities and manages an OzHarvest food drop. The design students worked closely with engaged residents to develop design materials and communication channels, and produced distinct visual identities

development, mentoring, healthy lifestyle and health promotion programs and projects in NSW that involve Indigenous youth as leaders and/or as target audiences. The research will address youth programs that are developed by grassroots organisations, NGOs, corporations and government agencies. An ethical, culturally competent research methodology will be essential.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Heidi NormanStudent: Lily Brouwer-French

Fundraising PlanThe team of MBA students worked closely with Foodswell to develop a report that assesses the current status of the organisation and evaluates opportunities for fundraising and marketing. It also entailed research pertinent to corporate and philanthropic groups relevant to Foodswell objectives and programs. The results are based on a best practice analysis conducted to evaluate the gaps and opportunities for the Foodswell to gain prospective corporate sponsorship and partnership.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Annie Kim, Carlos Rayes-Torres, Umair Aziz, Neha Vedre

Glebe Community Development Project (GCDP)GCDP works in partnership with local residents and organisations to build community capacity and increase social cohesion in the Glebe and Camperdown communities. GCDP also aims to identify, develop and evaluate strategies to enhance community development


celebrate the 40th anniversary of KCS (pictured above). The rebranding was an opportunity to showcase this dynamic organisation, help it connect with existing clients across all its services and use the rebranded and new collateral as promotional tools to send to potential funding bodies, government agencies and business partners.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Kate DilanchianStudents: Sara Marti Guerrero, Rachel McEwen, Alyssa-Maree O’Brien, Ana-Clarise Rueda, Andriana Stocko

Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway (KTMW)KTMW is an organisation that serves the community of veterans, the families of veterans and the general public through the public commemoration of Australian service. While it operates its services through an expansive and interactive memorial to the WW11 New Guinea Kokoda campaign, the KTMW produces events and activities that are focussed on linking all generations and communities within greater Sydney and beyond with the experiences of Australian veterans – both past and present. The KTMW’s major project for 2015 is ‘Anzac Notes’, a contemporary music program that explores concepts of youth, sacrifice and remembrance.

Students worked with KTMW to design a community resource for the Anzac Notes project. The result was a digital and hard copy resource that provided information about Anzac Notes through a range of media including visual, textual and sound-based material. The community

Keep NSW Beautiful (KNSWB)KNSWB is a not-for-profit organisation focused on sustainability and litter reduction. KNSWB delivers a range of awards and education programs that foster long-term community efforts to protect and enhance the NSW environment.

Nathan Taylor worked with KNSWB to update and develop a directory/database of sustainability education programs run by local councils. The directory/database included an overview of the programs, descriptions of the education programs content as well as contact details.

Faculty: BusinessStudent: Nathan TaylorVolunteering through UTS: SOUL Award

Kogarah Community Services (KCS)KCS is a not for profit community organisation in South Sydney. Its aim is to help build strong communities through community workshops, referral, fund raising events, childcare services and aged care services. It develops sustainable partnerships with other government agencies, non-government services and the business sector to facilitate its community work.

A team of visual communications students worked with KCS on developing consistency of design across all the organisation’s collateral by refining its logo and related materials, creating an e-magazine for different segments of the community, designing templates for workshops and event flyers and developing a logo and magazine to

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Mitra GushehStudents: Claire Chapman, Aimee Gordon, Brittney Griffiths, Peita Keilar, Melanie Kim, Thai Ha Nguyen

Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE)Servicing Western Sydney, ICE is involved in a wide range of arts based projects, in local community development work and in projects relating to information technology literacy. Their mission is to address inequality, with particular attention to the needs of NESB communities.

Postgraduate marketing students worked with ICE to research and develop a pricing strategy for their planned bespoke ‘cultural tours’ of Western Sydney that examine art, architecture and social history and cuisine whilst uncovering untold stories and the beauty of the suburbs. The contemporary artwork created and the tours themselves are inspired by the sites and steeped in community engagement. It is planned to employ community members and artists to share their stories and artistic perspectives of the places traversed.

UTS Business SchoolAcademic Supervisor: John BurkeStudents: Musaed Abdulhakim Alotaishan, Ningyu Mo, Samia Rahman, Dorin Picu, Xiaodi Wang, Yapeng Wang, Tianyi Yan, Christina Theodore, Divyalina Bhuyan, Jiayuan Ma, Mingrui Wang, Yike Wang, Yi Xie, Cheng Pan, Wenyan Jiang, Michael Lee, Zhan Yang, Linzhu Zhou and Yue Zuo


up of community workers from the youth and multicultural sectors and government employees who currently support multicultural young people and their families.

Following the branding of the national MYAN network, MYAN NSW engaged Shopfront and the student team to develop a NSW specific cohesive visual identity for the network. This included the development of promotional materials aimed at different stakeholders and audiences and included the design of factsheets, a brochure, poster, new logo and new quality stock imagery. The students worked consultatively with young people involved in MYAN NSW to ensure that the visual identity developed would be useful and effective in their advocacy with the organsiation (the team of students are pictured above with the Hon. Victor Dominelli MP).

Faculty: Design Architecture and BuildingSupervisor: Siobhan CostiganStudents: Sanchala Bulathsinghala, Tom Ewart, Grace Mathis, Jingling (Sissi) Mo and Lauren Terry

Museums and Galleries NSW (M&G NSW)M&G NSW is the key support agency for the small to medium museum and gallery sector of NSW. It delivers a range of programs and services including professional development opportunities, funding programs, touring exhibitions, organizational development programs and research for and on the sector.

Postgraduate Business students worked with M&G NSW to examine pricing of their professional development events

Meals on Wheels NSWMeals on Wheels is a peak, non-profit body representing more than 250 local, volunteer-driven services across NSW delivering meals and other support to frail older people and younger people with disability to help them stay in their homes.

With an ageing cohort of volunteers, Meals on Wheels were being assisted by business students in developing a volunteer succession management plan for services throughout the state. The plan focused on engaging younger volunteers and included modeling how services might change their internal processes to ensure that they are a more attractive proposition to potential younger volunteers.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: Natalia NikolovaIndustry Coach: Steve Pratley, PricewaterhouseCoopersStudents: Azrin Majeed, Pepjin Meijboom, Philipp Krueger and Lina Tran

Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN) NSWMYAN NSW is a network of services committed to improving the opportunities and outcomes for multicultural young people in NSW. The MYAN NSW works to develop appropriate policies, strategies and resources that address multicultural youth issues at the local, regional and state-wide levels. It does this through consultation with youth and family services, the multicultural sector, state and local government and multicultural young people. The Network is made

resource will raise awareness of the Anzac Notes project and engage communities in the ideas that it explores and the cultural material it has produced. The fresh perspectives and design skills of students will enable cultural material to be interpreted and distributed to new audiences.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Siobhan CostiganStudents: Fiona (Fanzhi) Li, Vanessa Jin Liu, Georgia Martin, Astrid Milne, Jessica Wang, Melissa Yang

Marrickville Youth Resource Centre (MYRC)MYRC is committed to improving skills and opportunities for young people and the development of positive community participation and action.

MYRC worked with a team of five design students to develop a fresh and professional update with increased functionality for its wordpress website (myrc.org.au) as well as other collateral to help promote the service. The students also refined and modernized the logo following extensive community consultation. The professional and up-to-date collateral will assist the organisation when applying for funding and by providing information about MYRC’s projects and services.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Nicola HardcastleStudents: Elloise Burkett, Tianren (Roy) Fu, Daniel Gunn, Yvonne Lenzenhofer, Sa Vu


OUTRUN CANCEROUTRUN CANCER is a not for profit company which organises marathon running events and other running challenges to raise awareness and funds for Cancer Prevention.

OUTRUN CANCER is a not for profit enterprise that raises funds for cancer research while promoting fitness and healthy living. In just four years it has grown rapidly. Four MBA students worked with founder Luca Turrini to support the expansion of OUTRUN CANCER’s activities nationally and to ensure that it can be sustainable as it transitions into a new phase. The students’ work will assist OUTRUN CANCER to reach its long-term aspirations and goals for supporting cancer research.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Rebecca Coughlin, Krisztina Fazalas Horvati, Juan Felipe Rios, Vishaal Sharma

People with Disability (PWD)PWD is a national, peak disability rights and advocacy organisation that is independent and not for profit. PWD represent the interests of people with all types of disability.

Kate Cullen worked closely with Craig Andrews, PWD’s Communications Manager, on the development of a disability rights educational campaign. Kate undertook secondary research into various aspects of disability rights and identified the most effective strategies in advocating for structural and individual change for people with disability.

community and become the preferred provider for case management organisations, making best use of the team/time, especially in light of the changing environment in the sector. A major recommendation was to work with a student design team on the development of new and consistent branding.

UTS Business SchoolAcademic Supervisor: Natalia NikolovaIndustry Coach: Ephraim Spehrer-Patrick, MercerStudents: Michael (Mike) Meehan, Rosalyn Kwan, Ji Hyun (Gloria) Lee, Ka Yan Ng and Vishruth Ravinda

Nepean Food Services (NFS) sought to reinvigorate the promotion of its service by modernising and energising its overall marketing and promotional material. This involved a redesign of logos, brochures and all other means by which the general public perceive its service. A team of six students (pictured above) worked with NFS to develop a design solution to ensure that prospective clients feel that the organisation can offer support in a reliable, knowledgeable and culturally sensitive way and that NFS can meet changing needs primarily through the provision of good nutrition and social support.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Ellinor NussStudents: Isabella Ali-Khan, Christiana Boutros, Neha Shivathaya, Hung Yiu Lam, Susan Le, Darcy Green

for volunteers around NSW. The work will confirm if the current prices are appropriate for the service delivered and the needs of customers. The recommendations will also inform M&G NSW’s strategic planning phase.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: John BurkeStudents: Chao Li, Zichao Gao, Natkarita Jeasitthinon, Syed Shakir, Xiwang Tan, Santosh Varaganti, Simon Reynolds, Guangyu Wen, Pengjun Lin, Wanki Chan, Yang Gao, Jianchang Su, Si Yang, Xiaoshuang Yuan, Scott Emerton, Bruce Da Silva, Ellen English, Giuseppe Gagliardi, Daniel Godsk, Callie Leahy, Mohit Dureja, Gavin Broll, Oi Tung (Zoe) Chan, Chao-An Chang, Pei-Hua Chiang, Maria Katsiotis and Guillaume Latreille

Nepean Food Services (Meals On Wheels)The Nepean Food Services provide meals to consumers who are frail aged as well as younger people with a disability and their carers. Its key objective is to provide a professional, flexible, nutritious meal service delivered by volunteers.

Teams of students worked on two projects with Nepean Food Services this year.

MBA students worked with Nepean Food Services on the development of a Communications Plan based on their organisational goals as laid out in their strategic plan.

The final plan encouraged the development of the program and increased outputs, made recommendations to assist the organisation to raise its profile in the


Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Vicki BamfordStudent: Kate Cullen

REELise IncREELise empowers youth, through a range of programs including mobile phone filmmaking, to speak out about issues affecting them.

The REELise Film Festival offers cyberbullying awareness campaigns in primary and secondary schools and a film festival competition for 12-18 year olds with associated mentoring in filmmaking. Jacqui Wise worked with REELise prepare a plan for the evaluation to ascertain the effect of the mentoring program and film festival in raising awareness of cyberbullying amongst participants. Jacqui is now volunteering with REELise to help support the organisation’s marketing and fundraising.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Bronwen DaltonStudent/Volunteer: Jacqueline Wise

Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH)SHHH Australia Inc is a voluntary, non-profit educational organisation dedicated to helping Australians with a hearing loss and whose primary method of communication is through speech. It was founded in 1983 in NSW by Mary Sparke, a hearing impaired person who felt strongly that hearing impaired people needed more than lip reading and hearing aids. SHHH has since grown and expanded, and now gives information and advice to hearing impaired people and their

families, while promoting community understanding about hearing loss. SHHH believes that knowledge is essential to becoming a successful consumer. As its name suggests, its aim is to assist each hearing impaired person to make informed decisions about their own best alternatives for their hearing management.

Hearing aids are one means of improving the quality of life for people who have become hard of hearing, particularly in later age. There are a number of devices available on the commercial market which improve hard of hearing people’s engagement with the broader community and make their living environment safer. Ashleigh McAliece worked with the team from SHHH to create database of information about existing, new and emerging technologies available to assist its members. She provided this information was in a format that best suits the SHHH members across a range of age groups and proficiency with using online information portals.

Faculty: Arts and Social ScienceAcademic: Heidi NormanStudent: Ashleigh McAliece

Settlement Services International (SSI)SSI is the peak state wide representative body for the eleven Migrant Resource and Multicultural Services organisations across NSW. SSI coordinates and maximises the range of settlement services that are provided to new arrival communities, as well as meeting the longer term settlement needs for communities who have migrated in

earlier periods. SSI is committed to ensuring that refugees, humanitarian entrants and other migrants in NSW are supported and resourced to fulfil their potential as members of the Australian community.

SSI’s Enterprise Facilitation program, !gnite, is a initiative that facilitates enterprise incubation for refugee clients wanting to start or sustain a small business. It supports refugees with business backgrounds who have been in Australia for less than 12 months and are unfamiliar with local business opportunities and start-up processes. As it approaches the next stage of its development !gnite needs to establish new partnerships and support mechanisms that can ensure its sustainability into the future. A team of four MBA students undertook research and developed a plan that maps out the most suitable organisations for !gnite to partner with (pictured above with academic Natalia Nikolova, community client Honey Muir, and UTS Shopfront’s Penny Stannard and Claire Pettigrew). The students’ findings spanned global corporate giants to local councils and their finely honed recommendations provide clear directions for !gnite to take in securing future funding and support.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Stephen Strawbridge, Sergej Kramer, Evgeny Kulikov, Mariana Zamoner Pereira


Shopfront Youth Arts CooperativeShopfront is an arts co-operative owned by young people. It has a 37-year history of creating original work made by young people 8-25 years of age in partnership with leading and promising Australian artists.

Claudia Vickers, a Media Arts and Production student from FASS, worked in collaboration with project creators to document the Citadel project. Citadel culminated in an interactive ‘walking tour’ through the neighbourhood of Hurstville. Claudia closely documented and tracked the creative development through photography and film to create a package that will form a central document used for future fundraising, reporting and evaluation.

Faculty: FASSStudent: Claudia VickersVolunteering through UTS: SOUL Award

Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre (SHNC)The Centre works alongside the community in developing programs and services that reflect the needs and wants that are specific to the Surry Hills Community such as a drop-in centre, children’s services and community classes and hosts cultural events the Surry Hills Festival and the Surry Hills Markets.

Three projects were undertaken with SHNC during 2014

The first was the development of a membership strategy. The governance committee of SHNC worked with four MBA students in response to the

organisation’s strategic planning goal to assess the feasibility of re-modeling and growing its membership base. Students undertook benchmarking with similar member driven organisations and worked closely with SHNC representatives to carefully examine the rationales for embarking on a membership strategy and offered insights into various approaches for its implementation.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic: Natalia NikolovaStudents: Divashni Sharma (Diva), Caroline Tvorup Friis, Ali Trad, Steven HayterThe second and third projects were focused on the Surry Hills Festival.

Running since 2000 and presented by SHNC, the Surry Hills Festival has grown to be an important event on the City’s events and cultural calendar. Scheduled for late September the Festival (Stories, Love and Tales) will be a one day and evening event and will be symbolic of the role of the SHNC plays in connecting, fostering, seeding, nurturing and growing with Surry Hills. It will provide a unique showcase and celebration of Surry Hills – its heritage, stories, talents, businesses, creative industries, social diversity and all that Surry Hills has to offer. SHNC are aiming to create a new benchmark for the Festival through local consultation and community engagement. The overall aim of the Festival is to deliver bold and innovative outcomes resulting in long-term social cohesion and benefits beyond the event.

Pam Kalyvas and Grace Prael worked with SHNC to create the first steps in

the development of a stakeholders’ engagement strategy to inform the broader community about the Festival and encourage wider involvement. The aim of the strategy is to ensure a connection with the community, provide an understanding of the outcomes of the Festival and be consistent with the values in which the SHNC operates. Melanie Ung joined the team as a volunteer.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Vicki BamfordStudents: Pamela Kalyvas and Grace Prael

In the third project Melanie Ung continued the work she started with Pam and Grace in first half of the year. The team has been working on a strategy to better engage the local community in this event. A small part of the work includes setting up internet and twitter accounts, consulting with local community, writing letters and media releases, developing website information, mapping local businesses and officially announcing the event via Facebook. Melanie also encouraged several friends to volunteer for the Festival.

Faculty: BusinessVolunteering through UTS: SOUL Award: Melanie Ung

Synergy & TaikOzSynergy & TaikOz is the organisation that supports the activities of two of Australia’s most exciting, innovative and well-established contemporary music ensembles: Synergy Percussion and TaikOz. The company has a rich history of over 35 years collaboration with some of the worlds leading contemporary composers and performers.


Student James Duffy took initial steps to assist Synergy & TaikOz gain a better understanding of its audience. Several of his suggestions are to be adopted by the organisation such as utilising YouTube and surveying a broad cross-section of supporters.

Faculty: Arts and Social SciencesAcademic: Hilary YerburyStudent: James Duffy

The Scarlet AllianceThe Scarlet Alliance aims to achieve equality, social, legal, political, cultural and economic justice for past and present workers in the sex industry, in order for sex workers to be self-determining agents, building their own alliances and choosing where and how they work. They towards sex worker rights (legal, health, industrial, civil) and uses health promotion approaches to achieve this. The tools Scarlet Aliance recognises as best practices include peer education, community development, community engagement, advocacy etc.

Students worked with Scarlet Alliance to re-design and cohere all of the organisation’s collateral by refining and utilising the existing logo.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Siobhan CostiganStudents: Mark Van Poeteren, Pakob Siphakdy, Isabelle Turnbull-Finnegan, Hanan Altorkestani, Nicola Minus, Iris Somera

WEFTshopWEFTshop collaborates with refugee women artisans living on the Thai-Burma border, fostering traditional skills to create designs in fashion accessories

and homewares for the Australian marketplace. Refugee artisans from Burma have fled persecution by the Burmese military regime. Handicrafts are one of the few accessible means to earn money safely. WEFTshop is volunteer-led and is part of a Fair Trade movement tackling poverty and empowering producers, mainly women, through trade.

Postgraduate Business students worked with WEFTshop on a pricing formula for wholesale customers that will assist them to build the business in support of artisans to earn a fair living wage from their production of well-designed, high-quality, handmade products.

The work included consumer research and market analysis to better understand what customers want and what the market will bear and position WEFTshop in the Australian market to sell more products.

Faculty: BusinessAcademic Supervisor: John BurkeStudents: Chao Li, Zichao Gao, Natkarita Jeasitthinon, Syed Shakir, Xiwang Tan, Santosh Varaganti, Guangyu Wen, Pengjun Lin, Wanki Chan, Yang Gao, Jianchang Su, Si Yang, Xiaoshuang Yuan, Scott Emerton, Bruce Da Silva, Ellen English, Giuseppe Gagliardi, Daniel Godsk, Callie Leahy, Mohit Dureja, Gavin Broll, Oi Tung (Zoe) Chan, Chao-An Chang, Pei-Hua Chiang, Maria Katsiotis, Yen Ong and Guillaume Latreille

Woollahra Artisan Market (WAM)This new market will be curated and styled on the Raspaill Markets in Paris, France. The markets operate to meet the aims of increasing opportunities for young people; building community

partnerships, networks and activities; supporting social and cultural diversity; promoting active and healthy lifestyles; and celebrating local people, places and cultural heritage.

A team of design students (pictured above with community clients: Lucinda Regan and Luise Elsing) worked closely with WAM to developing branding and collateral for the new market. The students developed a logo and stationery, signage, banners, map, website and social media pages. The organisation not only seeks to promote the market but also to encourage other strategies such as organic and healthy lifestyles, youth skill development and French culture.

Faculty: Design, Architecture and BuildingAcademic: Kate DilanchianStudents: Luke Barnes, Stephanie Hamelin, Hilce Larsen Ruiz, Jessica Le, Robert Migliorino


MANAGEMENT STRUCTUREUTS Shopfront is a university-wide program which is in the portfolio of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (International and Advancement).

The staff are:

Program ManagerPauline O’Loughlin is responsible for the overall direction, management, activities and administration of UTS Shopfront and SOUL Award. She identifies and selects appropriate partners, establishes strategic relationships and formalises and monitors dealings between UTS staff, students and community organisations. Pauline conceptualises and implements new programs in engagement for the University, drawing upon global best practice to identify opportunities for academic and external audiences. Pauline also manages the e-journal, Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement.

Community Engagement CoordinatorLisa Andersen is responsible for the strategic development, implementation and management of communication plans that raise the profile and resources of the Shopfront with both external and internal stakeholders. Lisa also supervises and manages a range of research and community-based projects. Lisa was also the Senior Researcher for the Australian Research Council funded CAMRA Project — Cultural Asset Mapping for Planning and Development in Regional Australia — Manager of the NSW Empty Spaces Project and a PhD Candidate in the University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Academic DirectorProfessor Paul Ashton is a founding member of the Shopfront. He is responsible for the academic and strategic direction of the Program. Paul is a Professor of Public History at the University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Co-director of the Research Centre for Creative Practice and Cultural Economy. He has been involved in community engagement since his appointment at UTS in the mid 1990s and has been Shopfront’s Academic Director since 2004.

Alternate Academic DirectorStephen Wearing is Associate Professor with the School of Leisure and Tourism at the Faculty of Business. Stephen was Chair of Youth Challenge Australia for a decade and directed a number of leisure and tourism community-based projects in Costa Rica, the Solomon Islands, Guyana, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Stephen is also working with local communities along the Kokoda Trail.

Research AssistantRosie Catalano — while maintaining many of the Shopfront’s mission critical administrative, communications and technology tools — supports a broad range of projects, undertakes research, participates in information days and assists with special projects such as Empty Spaces and the Parramatta Female Factory Memory Project. This is a part-time position that supports Rosie in her other professional life as a singer songwriter.


Student Engagement CoordinatorClaire Pettigrew is responsible for the ongoing development and strategic direction of the UTS SOUL Award. Claire is developing collaborative, cooperative and strategic partnerships with a broad range of community organisations, non-government organisations, government departments and corporations to assist in the development SOUL. She also consolidates University networks to ensure there are strong foundations across faculties and administrative areas to support projects and the development of SOUL.

Student Engagement OfficerChristopher Brew is a new member of the team and is responsible for supporting the development and delivery of the UTS SOUL Award. Chris brings his considerable experience as a facilitator in community and tertiary education, as well as work in campaigning and research to the team. This is a part-time position that integrates well with his other professional commitments as a tutor in the BA (Communication).

Projects ManagerPenelope Stannard currently coordinates the MBA Management Consulting subject. Penny has over twenty years experience working in the not-for-profit sector with a range of government and non-government organisations. Her area of expertise is in developing and delivering community engagement initiatives through generating multi-tiered, strategic partnerships between diverse stakeholders to produce new research and cultural material.

Managing Editor — GatewaysMargaret Malone is responsible for every aspect of the Gateway’s editorial process, from commissioning articles, overseeing the peer review process, through to design and publication and ensuring excellence in each volume. Margaret also works with the Editorial Committee to develop strategic development for the journal.


REFERENCE GROUPThe Reference Group advises on both the long-term management and broad policy directions of the Shopfront as well as continuous quality improvement. The Reference Group assists in identifying suitable opportunities for the Shopfront to further develop its program and resources and it is also utilised as a skills bank to draw on expertise for specifically targeted projects or research.

Peter Alexander: Faculty of Law

Mal Booth: University Librarian

Robert Crawford: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Penny Crofts: Faculty of Law

Tanja Dreher: University of Wollongong

Jenny Edwards: Faculty of Business

Katherine Gordon: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Victoria Keighery: SKOAP: Special Kinds of Artists Projects

Jude Stoddart: Equity and Diversity

Tracy Taylor: UTS Business School

Darrall Thompson: Faculty of Design Architecture and Building

Chris Wong: Faculty of Engineering and IT


FINANCIAL STATEMENTUTS provides financial support for salaries and operating costs for the Shopfront as well as accommodation, technological support, email and internet, training and development, building repairs and maintenance, insurance, financial services, advice on recruitment and public relations services.

ANNUAL ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2014

SHOPFRONT OPERATING ACCOUNT $ $

Income Consulting/Research Fees 16,146

University Budget Allocation 383,892

TOTAL INCOME 400,038

ExpenditureSalaries (including on-costs) 344,871

Collaborative Projects/Consultancies 28,460

Travel (Domestic and Overseas) 1,442

Entertainment 17,225

Office and Teaching Supplies 1,950

Computer hardware/software 1,173

Postage and Freight 2,054

Telecommunications 8,856

SLA Agreement 2,493

Web Agreement 1,585

Printing and Photocopying 6,812

TOTAL EXPENDITURE 416,921

CLOSING BALANCE -16,883

uts shopfront annual report 2014 · 2017-08-11 · uts shopfront annual report 2014 | 5 researchers...

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