Case Study
STORYBOX PARRAMATTA
STORYBOX launched in August 2020 with a unique Precinct Program developed with support from the ABC's Content Ideas Lab and City of Parramatta Council. An initial three-month program was extended into a unique two-year initiative cultivating a wide-ranging program of community engagement and storytelling with diverse members of the Parramatta community.
Centred around the newly-opened Parramatta Square, the Parramatta STORYBOX program saw the first STORYBOX Cube launched as a digital platform for local storytelling and community engagement.
An initial Pilot Program targeted Parramatta Square as a new development precinct adjacent to Parramatta train station. Designed to accommodate 23,000 workers, Parramatta Square also hosts the Western Sydney University Parramatta CBD campus, hosting more than 10,000 students annually.
Connecting the ABC with Western Sydney audiences
The STORYBOX team worked with the ABC and Western Sydney University to design a curatorial and engagement program that elevated the place themes of Parramatta Square as collaborative storytelling opportunities for community engagement.
Connecting with Country (Nura), Ways of Seeing, Waves of Migration and Creative Lives each emerged as key curatorial platforms for community, creative and educational groups to develop a range of video-based storytelling assets for the newly-launched Parramatta Square.
The ABC Content Ideas Lab worked closely with the team to co-design unique storytelling insights connecting with Western Sydney audiences.
Launching during the Covid-19 lockdowns, the STORYBOX Parramatta program began as an online-only initiative, and then extended into a long-term STORYBOX program over 2021-2022.
Partner Organisations
ESEM Projects: Project Lead & Owner
City of Parramatta: Pilot Host
ABC Content Ideas Lab: Content Anchor
Western Sydney University: Educational Partner
Story Factory: Cultural Partner
FORM Dance Projects: Cultural Partner
Curious Works: Cultural Partner
Sam I Am Photography: Creative Partner
City of Sydney creative fellowship funding also received.
AWARDS
STORYBOX PARRAMATTA was shortlisted as a national finalist in the Future of Place Awards by the ANZ Smart Cities Council (2020)
In 2021 STORYBOX was awarded a Digital Placemaking Commendation at the Asia Pacific Place Leaders Awards.
“I have been spending time recently at Parramatta Square and have been loving watching content on StoryBox – what an incredible initiative.”
Contributor, STORYBOX
The evolving place that is Parramatta
Parramatta's unique stories are what led the team behind STORYBOX to launch in this city.
STORYBOX co-founder, Dr. Sarah Barns has written about re-imagining Parramatta and its emerging cultural identity as a place shaped by what the urbanist Jan Gehl calls the 'life between buildings'.
The writer Felicity Castagna, who lives in Parramatta and grew up here, likes to call Parramatta an 'every-where people kind of place', and she describes its everyday scenes in a book titled 'The Incredible Here and Now'.
She also worries, with all the changes happening so fast, where all its stories 'will go to live'.
The stories won't go away, but we hope STORYBOX can, at least for awhile, be a place for them to linger a while.
Read: Reimagining Parramatta: A place to discover Australia’s many stories.
Connecting with Parramatta's Lebanese community
Working with the ABC Content Ideas Lab, the STORYBOX team curated a collection of unique ABC archival recordings capturing life in Parramatta during the post-war period, when many European migrants arrived to settle in suburbs in and around Parramatta.
One of these recordings featured an evening of dance at the Cedars of Lebanon Hall in 1963, where members of Australia's newly-settled Kfarsghab community were gathering. The video, featuring young people socialising and performing the Dabke, a traditional Lebanese dance, quickly went viral via an online Facebook group. Suddenly, the community was able to view their younger selves, their brothers, their wives, as they had been some 50 years ago!
The ABC and STORYBOX interviewed representatives of the community connected to the original performance, and showcased the story on STORYBOX.
Connecting with Darug storytellers
In partnership with the City of Parramatta, STORYBOX commissioned and supported Darug storytellers and artists develop new work reflecting on their place within the fast-changing landscape.
This saw new work created by Darug artist Leanne Tobin, a new dance performance by Jannawi Dance Clan and recorded by Tobias Rowles, and new portraits for Burramattagal storytellers Jules and Jayne Christian, Uncle Greg Simms and Leanne & Chris Tobin.
To discover these stories and more, visit the First Nations Stories collection on STORYBOX.
Discover
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS ON TOUR
Time Flows: Reimagining collections with the Museums of History NSW.
