Wyndham Learning Festival 2017Sponsorship Prospectus

BUILDING A LEARNING COMMUNITY

Background2016 marked the inaugural Wyndham Learning Festival, a festival of learning for people of all ages throughout the City of Wyndham for the week of September 1- 8. This learning festival came out of Wyndham City Council’s Learning Community Strategy 2014-2017. This Strategy envisions opportunities for everyone through all forms of informal and formal learning wherever they are located and whatever age they may be. The implementation of the learning strategy involves the collaboration of stakeholders from across the municipality, including community centres, neighbourhood houses, libraries, schools, tertiary and vocational education providers, community groups, council and local industry. A key action of the Strategy and the Festival was to celebrate and recognise learning. Inspiration was drawn from the highly successful Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, now in its 14th year and winner of UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities award. The festival plays a significant role in bringing together all people to create a focus on learning and to seek better outcomes for the Wyndham community.

The City of Wyndham is one of the fastest growing areas in Melbourne. An average of 88 babies are born each week and recorded unemployment is higher than the national average. 34% of the population were born overseas. Over a quarter (25.9%) of Wyndham residents speak English as a second language. Hence Wyndham as a community faces many challenges for its successful future. Wyndham’s vision is to be a socially inclusive city with high levels of employment. Learning is a key for realising this vision.

Tina Neylon (centre) from Cork’s LIfelong Learning Festival visiting Wyndham in July

Launch Event 2016The first ever Wyndham Learning Festival was launched on 31 August 2016 at the Wyndham Cultural Centre. The evening brought together event holders, sponsors and other key stakeholders in Wyndham’s learning future. The evening showcased some local musical talent of Wyndham’s W-Factor winner, singer-guitarist, Niall Dunsmore and Burmese-Karen Harpist, Mai Mai .

‘Charlie’ a humanoid robot from the Gordon TAFE introduced the Master of Ceremonies, Jennie Barrera, to the delight of the audience. The keynote speaker was Maxine McKew, a former news journalist, TV current affairs presenter and Federal MP and now Vice Chancellor’s fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education. She provided a thoughtful and passionate insight into learning for the future and stories of success and challenge in Australian education. The CEO of Avalon Airport and major sponsor of the Festival, Justin Giddings also spoke to the audience of his own personal learning journey from cleaner to CEO. This story provided context for the evening and reinforced the importance of accessible learning opportunities for people when they are ready to engage. The Stringendo Ensemble ended the evening with beautiful string sounds and then provided much hilarity with audience participation in singing and percussion on stage.

Wyndham Learning Festival 2016 EventsThe Wyndham Learning Festival 2016, supported by the Wyndham City Council, was the first ever learning festival in the City of Wyndham. The response from the community was fantastic with 100 plus free events offered from across Wyndham for all life stages. The festival’s aim was to promote life-long learning for all age groups: early years, school years, young adults, adults and seniors. Events included talks, practical workshops, exhibitions, displays, open days, walking tours, films and information sessions in an array of locations and environments.

Sponsoring Wyndham Learning Festival 2017

One of the Festival’s signature events featured high profile Shadowfax head chef Ben D’Arcy. He provided an exciting epicurean safari through Asia and the Mediterranean at the historic Werribee Park Mansion Homestead. There was enthusiastic feedback from participants.

Other highlights included Story Time at Werribee Zoo for youngsters and their carers with two sessions of 70 people, and John Marsden, best-selling author, discussing his novels and writing process.

One of the key objectives of the festival was to enable people to experience something new and make new connections. It is satisfying to know that out of the festival events that Community groups such as Wyndham Vale Men’s Shed and Nature West now have new volunteers participating in their weekly activities as a result of the Learning Festival events they held. New members bring energy and skills to community run groups that share their learnings in their endeavours.

Good News Story Cross-cultural learning has lasting results During the Learning Festival adult learners from Wyndham Community & Education Centre visited Wyndham Park Primary School for a day of inter-cultural learning as part of their Multicultural Day. Primary school students enjoyed learning games, songs and languages from people from a range of countries. Adult learners also really enjoyed the experience of sharing their games and culture. One student said, ‘I was very happy because this was the first time I have played with little children at an Australian school.’

A surprising discovery was the participation of a former player and national hockey coach of Afghanistan in the group. Coincidentally, the PE teacher at Wyndham Park primary school had been looking for help in coaching hockey to his students and now he has found an expert. Ramatullah said he has always wanted to coach hockey in Australia so was extremely excited at the prospect. He has now got his Working with Children Check and has started coaching at the school. A mutually beneficial discovery through learning.

Who Participated and AttendedA few thousand people participated in events over the weeklong learning festival in the City of Wyndham. From young people to old and from all backgrounds, the festival included events for everyone. Event holders included; AMES Australia, Bunnings Werribee, Craig Castree-Very Edible Gardens, Deakin University, DHS-Centrelink, Federation University of Australia, The Gordon TAFE, Wyndham Libraries, NatureWest, Neighbourhood Hubs, Shoestring Gardening, Victoria Polytechnic, Werribee Zoo, The Werribee Homestead, The Youth Resource Team, Wyndham Park Precinct, Wyndham Park Primary School, Wyndham Community & Education Centre, The Wyndham Vale Men’s Shed, The Yarning Circle Moondani Balluk Academic Unit Victoria University and Wyndham Aboriginal Community Centre Committee.

The 2017 Wyndham Learning Festival will build on the success of 2016’s inaugural learning festival. Two community forums will be held in February 2017 to further engage with community members on ideas and planning for the 2017 festival. You can support these events and learning in Wyndham by adding your support to the Wyndham Learning Festival 2017.

OUR SPONSORS IN 2016The Wyndham Learning Festival 2016 was made possible by the following sponsors:

Platinum Sponsor: Avalon Airport

Gold Sponsor: Victoria Polytechnic

Silver Sponsor: Wyndham Community & Education Centre

Bronze Sponsors: AMES Australia, Bendigo Bank, Deakin University, The Huddle-North Melbourne Football Club, Myriad Consulting, Your Tutor and WynBay LLEN

Supported by the Wyndham City Council

Sponsoring Wyndham Learning Festival 2017

Sponsorship Package Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

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Logo on program guide (online and 4,000 hard copies)

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2 full page advertisements in program guide (online and 4,000 hard copies)

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Editorial in guide l l

For more information or to sign up as a sponsor for the Wyndham Learning Festival, please contact Meg Cotter on 9742 4013 or email megco@wyndhamcec.org.au

The selected package will feature your organisation in Wyndham Learning Festival material as described below:

Our Proposal Your organisation can be part of the 2017 Wyndham Learning Festival and support building a Learning Community, by promoting and celebrating lifelong learning for all.

Sponsorship packages range from comprehensive to entry level packages. You can elect to sponsor for one or two years.

Sponsorship optionsPlatinum Sponsor: $10,000 (plus GST)

Gold Sponsor: $5000 (plus GST)

Silver Sponsor: $2,500 (plus GST)

Bronze Sponsor: $1000 (plus GST)

BUILDING A LEARNING COMMUNITY