Two leading LGBTIQA+ organisations are joining Barking Gecko Arts to shine a light on rainbow families as part of the creative international youth event AWESOME Festival.
Rainbow Families and Pride WA will be hosting The Love Makes A Family Hub at Subiaco Arts Centre from 29 September – 3 October, inviting children to create colourful artworks showing what their family looks like. The Hub will be free and open to all families.
The individual pieces the youngsters create will form part of a growing community artwork throughout AWESOME Festival, which will connect with Pride WA Fairday in November.
Rainbow Families representative Paul Hadfield-Jia said the collaboration was an important opportunity to increase the visibility of rainbow families within the wider community.
“Visibility matters because it helps people see that our families are simply part of the community,” Hadfield-Jia said.
“Our children attend the same schools, playgrounds and community events as everyone else. When they see families like their own represented in these spaces, it helps build belonging for them and greater understanding among others.”
Barking Gecko Arts CEO Ryan Taaffe said play and creativity are central to the way children learn and develop.
“Play gives children opportunities to explore ideas, build relationships, express themselves and make sense of the world around them,” Taaffe said.
“Creative experiences can also help children understand difference, identity and belonging in a way that feels natural and accessible.”
The collaboration brings together Barking Gecko’s focus on creativity and play, Pride WA’s work in building LGBTQIA+ visibility, and the lived experience of Rainbow Families.
Hadfield-Jia said the partnership showed how inclusion could be built into mainstream community activities rather than always creating separate spaces.
“We need spaces specifically for rainbow families, but we also need to be visible in the broader community,” Hadfield-Jia said.
“Acceptance grows through familiarity, shared experiences and giving children opportunities to see that families come in many different forms.”
The program will also include a special reading of Walken by Western Australian author Manuao TeAotonga on Saturday 3 October.
The children’s book follows a rainbow zebra and explores themes of identity, difference, belonging and celebrating what makes each person unique.
“Sometimes inclusion can start with something as simple as a story, a picture or an activity,” Hadfield-Jia said.
“If children grow up seeing different families represented and celebrated, that becomes part of how they understand the world.”
AWESOME Festival runs from 29 September – 3 October across multiple venues. Check out the full program here.
