31 Oct Urapunga Arts Market Stall

Enterprise Report : October  2020

Over the past 10 weeks, Circulanation CEO and facilitator Tanya Egerton have been working with the community of Urapunga on the delivery of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Program. The program is designed to be experiential and experimental, supporting risk-taking within a safe environment, and allowing participants to be co-learners and facilitators. It focuses on not only skills development, but the knowledge, attitudes and values required to build a sustainable enterprise.

The Ignite Program is implemented through a design thinking process, providing an opportunity for divergent (number of possible ideas are created) and convergent thinking (defining and narrowing down to the best idea). This is demonstrated as a double diamond shape in the visual map to the right.

In October we reached a key milestone at the Urapunga Arts market stall. The market represented an opportunity to practice and reinforce concepts learned throughout the program.

Urapunga Arts Market Stall

Urapunga Arts held their first market stall at the Katherine Hot Springs on Saturday 17 October from 8 am-10 am. The market represented a chance for the team to develop their enterprise and interpersonal skills and capabilities, including teamwork, communication and collaboration, problem-solving, and leadership. 

Annamarie, Dora, Stacey and Jessie managed the stall with mentorship from Annie and Tanya. The girls answered questions from the public about the products and the creative process and managed both cash and card payments. The group worked together to gather real-world feedback from customers, validate products in the market and test pricing. 

A range of products was created in preparation for the day, including bush soaps, resin jewellery incorporating earth pigments, hand-dyed and ochre painted scarfs, screen printed t-shirts and painted earrings. We received a lot of very positive feedback from customers, selling out of almost all products in just two hours.

“It was great to see how much our people can offer. From the young smiling girls selling their beautiful products to the old girls welcoming and having one on one conversations with the public. It was a lovely setting and I can’t wait for more. Congratulations to the Urapunga ladies for a beautiful morning and please come back again. ” – Deirdre Campbell,

Workforce Training Coordinator, Big Rivers Region. Northern Territory Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade

“I personally would like to say how inviting the stall felt, customer service was with big smiles from the girls and I was full of goosebumps to see the ladies on the grass weaving with the little kids sitting, watching and engaging!” – Alysha Fisher, Small Business Champion, Big Rivers Region. Northern Territory Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade

Screen Printing Workshop and Digital Design

Annie and Dora continued to develop their technical skills in screen-printing attending a two-day workshop with master printer Tim Growcott at Katherine Regional Arts. During the workshop Annie and Dora were stepped through the entire screen-printing process and took their drawn concepts from design, to screen, to print, creating a series of prints on tea-towels and t-shirts in various colours. 

Tanya began working with Annie in Photoshop and Illustrator to convert her hand-drawn designs to digital files and to explore the process of creating repeat seamless patterns for digital printing. Annie applied her design to a range of products and ordered samples of garments using print-on-demand services. With additional investment in training and support, there is potential to produce products that can sustain a viable arts enterprise.

Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture

Urapunga Arts visited the Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre (GRYACC) to meet with board members Jessica Powter, Jake Quinlivan and Toni Tapp-Coutts. The group discussed the opportunity to stock products from Urapunga Arts in the retail space at the centre. Plus, opportunities to display a showcase of work in the future. 

Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre will be Urapunga Arts first retail partnership, stock will be available for sale through GRYACC in early November.