Get Sunflowered 2016

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND 'Get Sunflowered' was a research project in which volunteers planted 100,000 sunflower seeds at 5 abandoned sites in the former coal-mining towns of Morewell, Moe and Traralgon ( La Trobe Valley). It was part of 'Transiting Cities'(a 5-stage community research project), one of several projects under 'Re-Activate,' instigated by Monacella and Douglas, in partnership with La Trobe City Council, Department of Business and Innovation, Department of Primary Industries and other industry and community stakeholders. The researchers explored the impact of creative practice on urban resilience, enabling communities affected by loss of primary industry to be agents of cultural, environmental and political change. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION Re-Activate is modelled on similar grassroots projects in the US, UK and Germany, engaging with the collapse of traditional manufacturing industries. 'Get Sunflowered' demonstrated that mass involvement with creative projects that tie people to their community and place fosters connection and healing during transition towards re-engagement with their towns, and employment in alternative industries. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE Funded by a Regional Development Victoria $113,000 grant, the project fostered community engagement with abandoned places when their lives had been impacted by industry collapse in their towns. 'Get Sunflowered' won the Communities Award of Excellence at the 2016 National Landscape Architecture Awards, the Community Action Leadership Award at the 2015 Victorian Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards, and is a finalist in the 2016 Victorian Premier's Awards (Architectural Design). It received media coverage in: Architecture Australia journal, Fairfax Media, Domain, Latrobe Valley Express and Planning Institute of Australia.