The Relationship is the Project out soon!

It is less than one month now until a vital new resource for emerging practitioners, artists and cultural workers looking to better engage with community-based projects is out on bookshelves.

Brow Books will publish The Relationship Is The Project on February 3rd in partnership with creative producer Jade Lillie as part of her 2018/19 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship.

“We at Brow Books are so thrilled and honoured to be able to play a part in this whole undertaking,” the publisher says. “We are currently making a book that will match the quality and importance of the work on its pages.”

To celebrate the release of The Relationship Is The Project, we will be holding a launch party in Melbourne on February 3rd, where you can nab yourself a copy while sipping a tasty beverage and listening to some of the extraordinary contributors read excerpts from their pieces. Read on for more details!

About the book

Co-edited by Jade Lillie, Kate Larsen, Cara Kirkwood and Jax Jacki Brown, the breadth of the advice shared in this non-academic, practitioner-led book includes insights into the ethics and logistics of working in community contexts from thought-leaders across the arts, cultural and community sectors.

Contributors and their pieces

  • Genevieve Grieves – First Peoples First

  • Alia Gabres – Intersectionality

  • Eleanor Jackson – The Art of Collaboration

  • Tania Cañas – Ethics and Self-Determination

  • Caroline Bowditch – Access and Inclusion

  • Samuel Kanaan-Oringo and Rosie Dennis – Creating Communities

  • Lia Pa’apa’a – Creatively and Culturally Safe Spaces

  • Adolfo Aranjuez – Platforming for Community: Going beyond surface representation

  • Ruth De Souza and Robyn Higgins – Cultural Safety

  • Dianne Jones, Odette Kelada and Lilly Brown – Racial Literacy: what is ‘race’ and why is it so important to understand?

  • Esther Anatolitis – The Role of the Institution

  • Anna Reece – The Role of Festival Making

  • Daniel Santangeli – Working with Queer Communities and Artists

  • Lenine Bourke – Age, Autonomy and Radical Flexibility: Collaborating with Children and Young People

  • Fotis Kapetopoulos – Audiences and Cultural Diversity

  • Kate Larsen – Duty of Care

  • Jade Lillie – Introduction to community engaged practice; #EpicFail; The Relationship is the Project

  • Paschal Berry – No End Date: timeframes and expectations

Launch event

Jade Lillie, Brow Books, and the Abbotsford Convent all warmly invite you to the Melbourne launch of The Relationship is the Project.

Come celebrate and hear reflections from the editors, as well as some readings from contributors.

Drinks at bar prices, and some food available.

Monday 3rd February from 6pm
Abbotsford Convent, Community Room
1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford

RSVP@browbooks.com or pre-order now on the Brow Books website.

About the editors

Jade Lillie is an experienced community cultural development practitioner, arts executive, educator and facilitator. For over a decade, she has been developing her practice and philosophy around the belief that arts and cultural development, underpinned by sound engagement and social justice frameworks, are tools for social and systemic change.

Kate Larsen is a non-profit/cultural consultant, arts manager and writer with more than twenty years’ experience in the non-profit, government and arts sectors in Australia, Asia and the UK. Recent roles include Director of Writers Victoria, Co-convenor of the Arts Industry Council of Victoria and CEO of Arts Access Australia.

Cara Kirkwood is a Mandandanji, Bidjara and Mithaka woman from Queensland. She has over fourteen years’ working across community, cultural development roles with a particular focus on arts and culture.

Jax Jacki Brown is a disability and LGBTQI rights activist, writer and educator.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

This project is also supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.


This project is an outcome from Jade Lillie’s time as a 2018/19 Sidney Myer Creative Fellow. Thank you to Sidney Myer Fund for supporting artists and practitioners through the Creative Fellowship and associated initiatives.

#TheRelationshipIsTheProject