When: Saturdays 4th of May until the 22nd June 2024 (8 sessions)
Time: 10am-12pm 
Where: Goulburn Regional Art Gallery 
Who: Children aged 9-12 who experience mild anxiety and their parent/carer are eligible. Children and parents/carers must be available to attend all 8 sessions.
Cost: Free 
To Apply: Complete your application form here and email completed form to artgallery@goulburn.nsw.gov.au

Culture Dose for Kids is an arts engagement program for young people, aged 9-12, with mild anxiety. Parents/caregivers will also participate in this calming and engaging program in separate and parallel sessions.

Engagement with the arts can help young people connect to their feelings, thoughts, and imagination. It can build self-confidence and resilience, foster social connections and improve mental health and wellbeing.

In this study, we’re inviting children (aged 9-12) who are experiencing mild anxiety to take part in an 8-week art program in a small group setting at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery.  Parents/carers of the children will participate in Culture Dose for Kids at the same time in a different space.

The program will provide a safe, structured space for young people and their parents/carers to engage with and respond creatively to three curated artworks led by an experienced team. The program was developed by the Art Gallery of NSW and the Black Dog Institute with the support of the Jibb Foundation.

More information please visit the links below:

CDK Information sheet
CDK application form
Black Dog Institute website

What's involved? 

Questionnaires

Complete a questionnaire about anxiety at the first and last sessions, and three months later. Also, evaluate your experience of the program through a survey at the last session.

Enjoy the arts

Travel to attend the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery each week for a 2-hour workshop for 8 weeks. This starts on Saturday 4 May and finishes on Saturday 29 June 2024.

Observation

If you provide consent, our research team would also like the opportunity to:

• Observe some of the arts activities you take part in to understand the process and your response to it.
• Photograph any artworks produced (with no identifiable links to participants)

Who can participate?

Young people (with their parent/carer) will be eligible to participate if they:

• Are between the ages of 9 to 12 in primary school
• Are able to travel to the gallery
• You (the parent or caregiver) believe your child experiences mild anxiety*

*Anxiety itself is a normal emotion. However, some young people worry more than others, either through a greater number of worries or more frequent or intense worries. For research purposes in this project, mild anxiety refers to children who worry a little more than their peers but have not been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.