24 September 2018

LET’S MAKE CHANGE

I was recently asked by a friend “how do I make change if it is only me and the world is becoming so unmanageable. There are so many issues. I struggle to know how to make it right or to make change.”

We all know this feeling and it isn’t isolated to global issues. This can also be felt in the everyday. Closer to home.

In my role I feel very strongly about providing support to a broad range of issues and trying to find ways collectively to address these.

However over the past month there have been a number of situations where I feel I have been stepping into a role where I am having to support the issue of gender and diversity more overtly than I would like to. I have always held a very strong belief that gender and diversity issues are a shared responsibility and ultimately impact both positively and negatively all members of the human race.

When my friend asked “what can I do” I was encouraging of them to focus on their most immediate environment and work out how they could help. What could they influence? What could they contribute to that would assist with making change?

As an individual it is about chipping away to support your position for the benefit of others and seeking out a collective in order to assist with implementing change. As an individual you have the ability to influence your immediate environment. We therefore all have the responsibility to stand up and assist with making change where we can.

This month it was wonderful to have Alec Tzannes speak as part of his Gold Medal Tour sharing a layered and significant career. In preparing for Alec’s introduction at the Melbourne School of Design I was reflecting on the list of awarded Gold Medallists. Over 58 years and 65 medallists, only two have been female; Brit Anderson (2002) and Kerry Clare (2010) and only one within her own right. This is not to diminish the significance of this award to those of our past winners. It is an incredibly revered award and one that is held in very high regard within our industry.

However it did make me acutely aware that we all need to be on watch. We all need to be aware of the decisions we are making based on supporting diversity. We know that diversity will always broaden the conversation. We know that diversity plays into the notion and hand of collective strength and we know that diversity is the thing that provides richness to our understanding of place. Let’s relish this rather than deny it.

A collective push. A collective consciousness. Let’s get on with making change.

Amy Muir
Victorian Chapter President