The Ownership Project is a not-for-profit visual arts social enterprise based in Fitzroy, Victoria. We provide free art training and representation for artists from refugee, newly-arrived and Indigenous Australian background as well as facilitate community cultural development projects with local and remote community groups. We currently run Artist in Residency program where we provide free studio space, materials and art training in woodblock printing, drypoint and painting under industry professionals. We launch and sell the work of our artists in our adjoining gallery. Sales of the work directly support the artist and the sustainability of the project. We work to create better access to the arts within the community and to promote culturally diverse art to the greater public.We currently work with artists from Ghanaian, Ethiopian,Iranian,Columbian, Vietnamese, Eritrean and Indigenous Australian backgrounds.

COMMUNITY CUSHION PROJECT - We would like to be able to build on the existing design work and skills of our artists, creating a range of limited edition hand printed cushion covers. We would hold an intensive three day fabric printing workshop (using lino cuts)with four artists in our studio under an industry professional print maker. Once the fabric has been printed, we will outsource the manufacturing to The Social Studio, a fashion social enterprise in Collingwood that trains and employs young people from a refugee background. The cushions would be sold in our gallery and would directly support the individual artists who took part in the workshops and also fund the following cushion cover workshops with the next round of artists (with each round of cushion sales funding the next workshops and so on). Having the cushions in our gallery and promoted through our website and media is another way we can further promote the talent and skills of artists from under represented communities in the local art and design scene.