Day 4 in Brisbane - the bus, an image of a facilitation process

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The final day of the Gathering was an opportunity to reflect on the activities over the four days, reaffirm some of the Gathering’s aims, and look towards the future.

The morning began with a deconstruction of the facilitation process introduced at the start of the Gathering, in which participants were separated into two smaller groups to reflect on the way the process had worked. There was a sense of agreement that the facilitation process had created a feeling of safety, and allowed artists to safely show their work in a caring environment.

Scotia Monkivitch then invited participants to create a sketch of a Magdalena bus, capitalising on an image that had come up during the weekend to create a metaphor for what is needed to support work in development. People came forward to add parachutes, brakes, passengers, lights, some chickens and even a library, each addition representing elements necessary in supporting artists in the process of developing new work. There was a clear focus on being prepared with a spare tire, a repair kit, a first aid kit, and so on.