Launceston's RANT Arts honoured with two state resilience awards, shortlisted for national

The Resilient Australia Award presented RANT with two awards for their work on November 16.

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One was the 2022 Tasmanian Resilient Australia Health and Well-being Award for their Launceston Connect project, and the other was the 2022 Resilient Australia Community Award for Connect 2 Create.

Now the RANT Arts team will head to Hobart as shortlist nominations for the national awards.

The Australian Institute of Disaster created the awards.

Program manager Karen Revie said it was only the second year for the Resilient Australia Health and Well-being Award in recognition of the impacts of COVID on mental health.

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"Mental health is an important thing for building resilience in Australia," she said.

Connect was a four-week program where men came together for half-day art workshops held at the Men's Biz Shed attached to the North Suburbs Community Centre in Rocherlea.

Launceston Connect was also awarded the 2022 City of Launceston Community Event Award.

"[Launceston Connect] was a series of workshops for older men. Older men were isolated and needed to form friendships," Ms Revie said.

The City of Launceston, through the state primary health department, funds the Launceston Connect program.

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The program saw 20 older men come together through workshops, lunches and barbecues to do some art for a couple of hours and create bonds. "We had a combination of men from the broader community and from the Migrant Resource Centre," Ms Revie said.

Members of the Bhutanese community joined the program to form friendships in the community and to strengthen their language skills.

Connect 2 Create was a mental health program that held workshops in Hobart, Devonport and Launceston.

"The workshops created artwork that fed into Minds Do Matter exhibition," Ms Revie said.

"The participants in those workshops state-wide came to us from organisations like Wellways, Headspace and other mental health organisations."

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The annual Minds Do Matter exhibition was opened in October and celebrates Mental Health week.

Ms Revie said art and mental health were important avenues for people.

"It gives people a safe platform to explore, to talk about not necessarily your mental health directly but creativity which enables you to express yourself," she said.

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