Welcome to Blacktown

Welcome to Blacktown is a place-based audio project by Impact Studios, supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation. The project tells the stories of Blacktown’s many and varied communities, and the innovative and inspired social change work that is happening there. Over six months in 2022 and 2023, the Impact Studios team conducted almost 100 interviews with people connected to Blacktown, exploring and investigating the question of how communities thrive. This exercise in deep listening sought to understand the full context for what each person was doing. Its method was simple. People told us stories about their lives on their own terms: their families, their passions, their work. What motivates them to do it. Their challenges and achievements.

In the Data Arena viewers are immersed in the stories of Blacktown change-makers. Surrounded by their voices and face-to-face with larger-than-life portraits. The audience is suspended in an ethereal space, transported into other people's lives. The stories are juxtaposed with infographics which highlights data that illustrates challenges our interviewees work with.