Experience Sri Lankan culture and support our work!

It's a big next 8 weeks for us here at Ferment Collaborate. Not only are we working on some great projects here in Australia, we're also in full fundraising mode for our second Venesa Matram Symposium in Sri Lanka. As a result, if you live in Brisbane, you're in for a treat of Sri Lankan cultural activities, events, foods, craft items and more!

Of course, you can find out more about what we do and our current happenings by going to our website. While we're updating the site over the next month you'll still be able to access information and links to our project work there.

Thanks for taking the time to read about us and please get involved in our cultural activities, events and fundraising happening right now.

Steph Vajda, Director

Our main project in Sri Lanka is the Venesa Matram Symposium, happening this year from 4 to 8 December in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

Ferment Collaborate is developing a cultural program in Sri Lanka. Our main objective is to support building an effective, networked and resourced cultural development sector in Sri Lanka. As Australian practitioners, we at FC believe our role is primarily about supporting Sri Lankan change agents to drive and facilitate this outcome.

The Venesa Matram Symposium aims to create space for social, cultural and professional exchange by community workers, cultural facilitators and artists in Sri Lanka with a specific focus on involving and supporting young people to engage with the event and with those attending from around the island. The Symposium directly responds to the reality of post war Sri Lanka by supporting grass roots facilitators to network, break down social, cultural, religious and geographic barriers, learn and share skills, promote their work and by creating a space for imagining cross cultural, collaborative and creative approaches to community development.

Now we embark on our second delivery of this important event, creating a space over 5 days for Sri Lankan facilitators to network, train, learn and share skills, hosted by the Kaveri Kala Manram Cultural Organisation in Jaffna. The theme for this year's Symposium is: Cultural engagement and social change - building inclusive, enterprising and innovative communities in Sri Lanka.

You can support the Symposium happening be being involved in our cultural events and activities happening throughout October and November 2013 in Brisbane Australia. Keep reading below for more information, or go to our website for details of each activity, the Changemakers Festival to buy tickets to our cultural night in Brisbane, or Start Some Good for our crowd funding campaign.

Tickets for the raffle and cultural night are available from Pear Cafe (Highgate Hill), Blackstar Coffee (West End), Bam Espresso (Fortitude Valley) or though us at our market stalls. For more information about all of these exciting activities, contact Steph on 0413 057138 or steph@fermentcollaborate.org our website.

As part of the Australian national Changemakers Festival, FC is organising Venesa Matram Sri Lanka, a cultural night in Brisbane on 6 November from 6 to 9pm. Tickets are $60.

You can purchase tickets in Brisbane at Pear Cafe, Bam Espresso or Blackstar Coffee, or online through the festival. Come along to enjoy a night of organic Sri Lankan food, traditional and contemporary Sri Lankan entertainment, short films, information about our work and a discussion facilitated by Serge Loode from Community Cafe and the Peace and Conflict Studies Institute of Australia.

Go to our website for more details
Buy a ticket online

As someone who supports our work, we're asking you to make a donation to help us ensure the Venesa Matram Symposium happens this year. Every bit counts.

We currently have a fundraising campaign happening through our friends at Start Some Good. The campaign finishes on 13 November 2013.

Our first goal is $5,000. When we reach that goal, we then aim to raise a further $3,000. You can donate any amount over $1 to the campaign and donations over $10 receive rewards, such as postcards, tshirts, a Symposium handbook and thank you films for organisational donors. It's easy to donate - you just need a Paypal account. If you don't have one (and don't want one) you can also donate cash - contact us to find out how.

While the Australian team who will be traveling to Sri Lanka for the event are busy fundraising their costs separately, this crowdfunding campaign aims to directly cover the overall costs of holding the Symposium, and providing free access for up to 50 people to attend the event.

The additional $3,000 beyond this initial goal will be used as a project seeding fund that can be accessed by participants for community project and networking ideas that emerge through the Symposium and which represent opportunities to collaborate, try new community development approaches and which bring specific benefits to the communities that participants work with. The Management Committee organising the Symposium will act as a decision making forum for allocating this funding to projects.

Watch our short film and find out more

Donate now!

Come along to our market stalls happening in October and November.

We're holding stalls in Brisbane to sell tickets to our cultural night and raffle, and also to sell craft products made through Shoba Life To Hands Womens Foundation, based in Galle, Sri Lanka.

Our next stalls are:
Northey Street City Farm - Sunday 20 October from 6.30 to 10.30am
Northey Street City Farm - Sunday 27 October from 6.30 to 10.30am
Northey Street City Farm - Sunday 3 November from 6.30 to 10.30am

If you would like to help out, please get in touch - Steph 0413 057138

Want to learn about Sri Lankan cooking and enjoy an organic feast in your own home?

First prize is an organic Sri Lankan feast cooked in your home. Second prize is $100 of organic fruit and vegetables from City Farm, and third prize is a basket of craft items from Shoba Gallery in Sri Lanka, a social enterprise working with women.

You can purchase tickets in Brisbane at Pear Cafe, Bam Espresso or Blackstar Coffee, or contact Steph for other options - steph@fermentcollaborate.org or 0413 057138.

Go to our website for more information

Contact us if you'd like a cooking workshop organised for you and between 10 and 20 of your friends - Steph 0413 057138 or steph@fermentcollaborate.org

We're working on a new social enterprise and community cultural development program with our partners the Acacia Ridge Community Support Incorporated (incorporating the Acacia Ridge Community Centre).

The Nest uses art and craft making as a tool for creating spaces for intercultural exchange, skill building, showcasing and enterprise creating. We're working with the local Chamber of Commerce, the Brisbane Enterprise Centre, PCYC, Men's Shed, Biddy Bags, Good Funny Smart, Reverse Garbage, Wandering Cooks, Champion Sound and a range of artists and community members.

It's an exciting project that aims to help community members develop skills and conceptualise micro businesses they can develop as a result. Participants can access accredited small business training, be part of regular enterprise and product development seminars and contribute to local creative industry round table discussions.

We're currently accessing funding and developing our partnerships. Stay tuned for more over the coming months.

Thanks to the many volunteers and organisations who are supporting our projects in Australia and Sri Lanka.

In Chulipuram, Jaffna, we're working with Kaveri Kala Manram Cultural Organisation, who are this year's hosts of the Venesa Matram Symposium. Father Joshua Sivanganam is the Director of this organisation and works tirelessly on community-building, infrastructure-generating, conflict-healing, arts and interfaith projects around Jaffna and Killinochi. We at Ferment Collaborate feel honoured to collaborate with Fr Joshua and to help build a movement in Sri Lanka of collaborative, supportive, resourced and networked community cultural development practitioners and organisations.

We also want to thank some of the organisations who are supporting our fundraising and in general the development of the Venesa Matram Symposium this year. We've included some of their logos below. For more information, check out their websites.

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