Someone at uni told me that charities often pitch their fundraising and awareness campaigns as story ideas to Australian soapies. Writers on shows like Home & Away, for example, get a lot of requests to make the characters fight for a new cause. It's a bit like when the Big Brother housemates do the 40 Hour Famine to promote World Vision, except on a soapie they'd work it into the storyline.
I thought this would be a great way to bring attention to the issues surrounding body image and eating disorders. But I didn't have the credibility of an organisation behind me, and I didn't have any idea who the Home & Away writers were or how to contact them. When I asked one of my uni lecturers how to go about something like this he laughed—he looked surprised that I was thinking about giving it a go. It was all looking too hard.
So, while I was wondering how to get started, I signed up to volunteer for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. They'd put the call out for help and I love the arts and I wanted to show my support. I would also love to work in event management one day and this seemed like a good chance to get some experience. Go for Your Life (a Victorian Government campaign to increase levels of physical activity and healthy eating, promote stronger communities and address the rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes) was one of the main festival sponsors in 2005 and so the festival was working with the theme of health, fitness and positive body image. And there it was: an ideal way for me to take action.
Human Momentum was built at Federation Square, a joint project between Bambuco and the Melbourne Fringe Festival. It was a giant bamboo playground open to the public for free, everyday of the two-week festival. When there were aerial performances by trained circus performers, us volunteers would stay on the ground and show the kiddies how to use the playground equipment. There were bicycles, a see-saw, climbing ropes and swings, all connected to water pumps that channelled the kids' energy into power for a sprinkler system. Put simply, playing on the playground gave water to a bed of bean plants.
The idea behind it all was to focus on energy and sustainability but also to "confront issues surrounding childhood obesity in a preventative, pro-active approach that was non-competitive and supportive, instilling habits in positive body image, physical activity, community participation and inclusion". And, from what I saw, that's exactly what it achieved. Being there and seeing children and adults of all shapes and sizes enjoy the playground was a lot of fun. But it also got kids moving around outside and thinking about exercise and energy.
Human Momentum gave me an opportunity to be part of a performance and part of an innovative group of artists and production people. It showed me the value of teaching children through play. Taking action in this way was so worthwhile because it was something fun, something new, and something that I didn't have to come up with myself, so I could devote my time and energy to participating rather than planning.
As for the impact my action had on the community and wider society, I would say I made a few people smile and helped them experience something unique by letting them escape everyday city-life just for a moment. The Melbourne Fringe Festival relies on volunteers for everything from ticketing, to ushering, to dismantling exhibitions, so I felt like I'd contributed to something real, and watching the kids play let me see the tangible effect we'd had. I think Human Momentum was a great way to take action on body image because it dealt with the issues in a non-threatening environment—we got our point across without making too much of ourselves.
Being a part of all this made me feel proud. I used my semester break from uni to do something different and it made a great story to tell. It was fun to meet other young people volunteering with the Melbourne Fringe and I picked up some new skills from my experiences too. The best thing I learned was how to wind up a cord (or lead as all the techies call them) so that when it's all wound up in a circle on the floor it naturally unravels as you lift it up and it never gets tangled. Not bad, eh?
To find out more about body image, check out:
The Butterfly FoundationBody PositiveEating Disorders Foundation of Victoria
