If you have appreciated knowing that you have a neighbourhood house (eg. us … or another of course because we’re all a big team ) here in the community for you over the last couple of crazy years, have enjoyed our newsletter, participated in our programs, appreciated knowing food relief is available, have engaged with our community art activities on the street in lockdown (such as the History Walks, the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery art on the fence, our Honestly letters, the Community Building Blocks, the Make Your Own Adventure map of Darebin Parklands etc. etc.) or if you have used our outdoor tables or played in our garden or come to our Christmas Market … you might like to talk us up in this survey … or even document a particular story or event (you can do this at the end).

The State Government is currently asking for feedback from Victorians on ‘living more locally and experiencing our neighbourhoods and communities in new and different ways’.

It is a great opportunity to share your lived experience of the community value of having neighbourhood houses in your local area, so that hopefully we can get more recognition (and perhaps even money to run more local programs tailored to specific neighbourhood needs into the future …).

Here’s the link. Thanks in advance!

Only one more week of holidays here at ACC and then we’ll be back on deck (and in the office).

In the meantime you can check out our full program for term 1 and 2 here. There are lots of great things coming up to book in to (wink, wink).

And … here’s a holiday snap from me (Leanne) … the always beautiful Aireys Inlet on the Great Ocean Road is where I’ve been for the month (along with half of Alphington/Fairfield it seemed - haha).

Anyway, see you next Monday 31st January!

Collage is such an accessible art form and can be so very witty and clever, or poignant, or edgy and interesting …

We’ll be starting up collage classes here at ACC on Tuesday evenings this year. Kristian Glynn who has been part of our community for a couple of years now will run the classes.

His art practise often involves collaging his own small art works together … and he’ll be an amazing inspiration and will bring heaps of creativity to the the table.

If you are interested in starting collage or keen to extend your practise this class will be able to accomodate you. Note that basic materials will be provided.

6 weeks per term $150. Book here.

Summer festivals, also known as matsuri, are held all over Japan from July through August.

At ACC just before Christmas our Japanese playgroup families held their own summer festival. It was pretty gorgeous to see the kids all singing to their parents and parading along the street chanting and carrying their float. And it is lovely to think that we are helping Japanese families in Australia continue their cultural traditions and witness them passing them on from one generation to the next.

This festival was delayed by our last lockdown, but we were thrilled that they were able to squeeze it in before the holidays. Maimi and the other playgroup leaders put a lot of work into decorating our centre and setting up a whole lot of fun activities for the children in the garden. And we’ll be looking forward to them celebrating it again next year!

In 2022 we will have Japanese playgroups running on Monday and Thursday mornings from 10am-1pm here at ACC.

A lovely photo of local Federal MP Ged Kearney with Maimi who runs our Japanese playgroups, enjoying the festival.

In partnership with Yarra Council we are hosting a visible mending workshop at the end of February to explore ways to encourage our community (us!) to reuse and recycle and keep items out of hard rubbish.

If you have jeans 👖 with a hole or a favourite shirt 👚 with a tear, or a dress 👗 or shorts 🩳 that need a stitch or two don’t throw them out … just come along and learn a range of techniques to fix them (and even embellish them at the same time) instead.

Local textile artist Serene who will be running the workshop has been making some samples over summer of stitches and techniques (you can follow her on Instagram at The Craft Report.)

To book into this workshop just click here. Visible mending costs $15 and runs from 10am-1pm on Saturday 26 February.