Report on the first Brisbane Event

On September 4, we conducted the first Civility Outbreak Play Day in Brisbane. As a result we are developing a revamped process that is more neighbourhood focused. And we will probably rename the process to something like "Change Your Street, Change Your World". It will be aimed at people who want to make a real difference in their neighbourhood and the world but don't know where to start.

Using the same play techniques as the Play Day, the focus will be more about helping individuals discover a creative way of using their personal assets to 'make a difference'. We think that collective, street-based actions will flow naturally from this.

Brisbane Projects

We had some fantastic initiatives come out of the Brisbane Play Day.

Community Cake: One teenager recounted how his parents told him that neighbours use to visit each other to borrow a cup of sugar to bake their cake. His idea was that you would bake a community cake but that you had to borrow all the ingredients then invite everyone to eat it. A group is developing a viral way of spreading the 'Community Cake Recipe'. We will report progress here.

Adopt a Stop: Another group are working on adopting transit stops and turning them into spaces that build community - notice board, art, etc.

Bin Day is Bus Day: Another group is going to create art on wheelie bins, and get people to commit to taking alternative means to work on the day they put their bin out. Bin day becomes a celebration of community.

Slow-down Simple Sundays: Another group are going to promote slow and simple Sundays by meeting in a park once a month, drinking wine and discussing philosophy!

Other groups worked on a Sacred River Festival and on ways to create neighbourhood hubs. Another inspiring part of the day was when people wrote themselves a postcard as to what they would do in the next four weeks. (We will post them the postcard in four weeks time.)

Read the article 7 Foundational Principles for the background reasoning of the Civility Outbreak Play Day.