New opportunities for multicultural creatives

FUNDING from the State Government has helped established a new program for culturally diverse digital content producers in regional Victoria.

Multicultural Arts Victoria received $1 million from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing for the Duniya Behter project in Shepparton and Bendigo, and Ahead of the Curve in Melbourne.

Minister for multicultural affairs Ros Spence said the programs are designed to create employment opportunities for women, young people and creatives from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

“We know Victorians from multicultural backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, so we are supporting communities across the state to come together and rebuild connections,” she said.

“We are proud to support these exciting projects and look forward to working with MAV in future.”

Duniya Behter comes from the Arabic and Hindi word duniya meaning ‘the world’ and the Urdu word behter meaning ‘better”’.

The program involves mentorship supporting participants through their project and business development, as well as workshops focusing on idea development and developing practical skills in areas such as film, digital art, social media, podcasting and sound.

Point of Different Studio in Shepparton will help deliver Duniya Behter and director Mellisa Silaga said the program will help creatives impacted by COVID-19.

“Duniya Behter has created a spark of hope and an opportunity to shift our focus to a brighter and more empowered future, especially for our women and young people of colour who’ve been among the hardest hit by the pandemic, but who’ve also rallied together to keep our communities strong and safe,” she said.

“The project is creating exciting opportunities for our women to transform their inherent creative and entrepreneurial skills into new self-sustaining enterprises, and it will grow a new digitally sophisticated workforce of young people who can keep our communities connected locally and globally.”