Project
Meet Our Makers is a Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) photography project celebrating and supporting the creative heart of Harden-Murrumburrah, a rural township on Wiradjuri Land. The project honours the arts, crafts, and artisan groups that have long shaped the quiet cultural foundation of the district.

Developed through co-creation and immersive engagement, the project aimed to
a. Highlight how local makers and creative groups contribute to individual and community wellbeing – through the creation of artefacts, building connections, offering belonging, raising funds, representing local culture, and establishing vital community ‘third places’.
b. Strengthen relationships across creative groups and between makers and the broader community. Through shared documentation, storytelling, and public presentation, the project fostered recognition of the creative networks that underpin Harden-Murrumburrah, cultivating local pride, cultural identity, and cohesion, while laying the groundwork for future Third Place Studio initiatives.
c. Acknowledge and honour the enduring influence of small, rural creative organisations on my own wellbeing, identity, and artistic practice. By foregrounding their creative labour, the project gave visibility and value to a collective cultural legacy that sustains community life.

This project was supported by the Country Arts Support Program, a devolved funding program administered by Southern Tablelands Arts on behalf of the NSW Government.

Process
Meet Our Makers was realised through a CACD-informed, participatory process, centred on community creativity and co-creation. HMCC members co-designed the process and visual narrative, capturing over 80 portraits of local creatives across multiple sites. Each photograph was developed in dialogue with participants, ensuring the work reflected mutual respect, collaboration, and creative agency.

Immense thanks to Harden-Murrumburrah Camera Club (HMCC) photographers:
Keith Ward, Martin Carter, Les Caple, Pam Heys, Martin Lang, Jacqui Carter.

Participating community-based creative groups: HMCC, Harden-Murrumburrah Arts Council, Country Women’s Association, Murrumburrah-Harden Rotary Garden, Men’s Shed Harden, Which Craft, Country Music Club, Archie’s Army, Yarn to Yarn, Bill the Bastard Studio, Courthouse Quilters.

Outcomes
The resulting images were exhibited at the Harden-Murrumburrah Community Markets on 20 October 2024, coinciding with the Rural Women’s Gathering 2024, activating a familiar public space and community event as a site of cultural exchange and conversation. Photographs were also shared online and are available to Hilltops Tourism to promote local creatives, with full credit given to photographers, participants, and community groups. The project was featured in the Work of Art showcase with Regional Arts NSW, further extending its reach and visibility.

The collaborative exhibition model provided participants with skill-building opportunities in visual storytelling, public presentation, and community engagement, while creating a lasting record of Harden-Murrumburrah’s cultural life.

Ongoing
Building on its success, Meet Our Makers is designed to be an ongoing CACD initiative that will continue to deepen creative connections, mentorship, and skill-sharing within the community. Future phases aim to support participants in taking creative leadership, sustaining visual storytelling within their networks, and strengthening the cultural infrastructure of Harden-Murrumburrah through ongoing collaborative and placemaking projects.

Photograph #1 Keith Ward – The Men’s Shed Harden

Photograph #2 Jacqui Carter – Courthouse Quilters

Photograph #3 Martin Carter – Yarn to Yarn

Photograph #4 Keith Ward – Carl Valerius at Bill the Bastard Studio