Puppets for Cultural Diversity

We are launching a pilot programme of 'Puppets for Cultural Diversity' in Australia, to look at multiculturalism and to nurture a better understanding and acceptance of all cultures within a diverse Australian population.

Our programme is designed within the framework of the Third World Conference against Racism, taken by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 52/111 in December 1997, which recognised the need to take more effective and sustained measures at the national, regional and international levels for the elimination of all forms of racism and racial discrimination.

Aims of the Program

1. To work throughout Australia promoting cultural harmony and an understanding of different communities and their contribution to our culturally rich society.

2. To discuss the issues surrounding racism, dispel the myths and false beliefs that exist about different communities and challenge the notion that societies have to be composed of a single-cultural uniformity.

3. To empower communities to perform their own educational theatre programmes to their peers, which contain all the necessary information and effectively and make use of this, to change thought patterns and behaviour.

4. All the above steps in the implementation of the programme will be done in conjunction with both government and local community-based organisations.