Blak Pearl studio is a creative drop-in space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

About

Blak Pearl studio is a creative drop-in space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples located at the Florence Peel Centre at 190 Young St, Fitzroy - within the City of Yarra. Historically, Yarra is a significant area for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and is currently home to around 320 Aboriginal people and several Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focussed support services.

The Studio is a response to requests from Elders within the local Aboriginal community and Aboriginal focussed support services, Council strategic plans, and Health and Wellbeing Research findings. All highlight the critical need for recreational provisions and culturally safe gathering space for Aboriginal peoples in the area who are experiencing hardship and disconnection. After 18 months of engagement with an advisory group of Aboriginal Elders from the community in Yarra it became clear that a creative studio where community can pursue cultural and artistic practice was the most adequate response to the lack of community connection and engagement resources.

WHAT WE DO

Provide a culturally safe space in Fitzroy for Mob to come in, access high quality art materials, a space to work (and store their works), get a feed, talk about any advocacy needs, and link up with the local community.
The studio has a particular focus on Mob in the region who are unable to access mainstream services due to hardship, stigma, and a mistrust in bureaucratic settings and services. Community comes first no matter how they show up!

Blak Pearl is a place for the community to gather and connect in a culturally safe environment, develop and expand on artistic and cultural creative skills, share knowledge, and showcase their artistic outcomes.

WHO ARE WE

The Blak Pearl Studio was conceived by creative sector consultancy Future Tense and Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Frank Wandin (Dootrl)., with governance support from Uncle Ronald (Ringo) Terrick

The pilot program was delivered between 2022 to 2024 by Future Tense and the Elders Advisory Committee in partnership with BAHN Inc, North Richmond Community Health, City of Yarra, Neighbourhood Justice Centre, Connecting Home, Wurundjeri Woi- Wurrung Corporation, DHHS Collingwood Housing and MAYSAR.
And was supported by Pay the Rent, Lord Mayor Charitable Fund, and Yarra Arts

From 2025 onwards Blak Pearl is operating the Drop-In Studio service at the Fitzroy Studio, and the outreach program at MSIR

Future Tense Projects is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of so called Australia’s creative and cultural sectors. Current initiatives include Creative Ecologies research initiative, and the +Concepts lecture series.

OUR VISION

The Studio will be open and staffed Monday to Friday.

The Drop-in Studio Service will run 3 days a week from 12pm to 5pm

In the additional 2 days we will deliver targetted programming in collaboration with service partners

The Studio :

  • Is a safe space for cultural creative practices

  • Develops artistic skills and is a space where community can share cultural and artistic knowledge

  • Connects participants to opportunities in the creative sector, and

  • Creates another point of contact for engaging with support services

The Studio also creates pathways into the formal arts sector,

We aspire to expand our artistic outreach programs and create an adaptable structure for other zones in Victoria where Aboriginal peoples experiencing hardship reside and lack access to creative cultural resources.