4/4 Pacific Music + Arts Volume 2:1 Oct 2016

19 The young people tell Mal and Deahne that they feel like they have to do everything for free, to get good at what we’re doing. Deahne says, “what I say is, the only time you ever do anything for free, is if it is an experience you cannot realistically get anywhere else again. Otherwise it is ‘no’.” Deahne also conﬁrms that saying no to free work or charging an appropriate fee is hard. “It is especially hard in our community and even Malcolm and I have trouble with that.” Mal and Deahne see that each project or live gig they do is an opportunity for the young people to learn on the job – and to also get paid for that experience. Providing them with a chance to “they get their foot in the door and learn the business side too.” They stress to their artists about being paid for their work and being valued for what they do. It is clear that Mal and Deahne contribute creatively with their own expertise, but the most valuable commitment they give, is their own time. Their actual work hours for the various proejcts, will go uncounted and they will do whatever is needed to complete what is required. They also laughed as they conﬁrmed another part of their support comes through food, “we feed a lot of kids, regularly”. They said that this can be in lieu of payment or just because they are hungry. Mal continues “we feed them lots. But they’re so giving, they see what we’re doing and the honesty of what we’re doing and they will show up when we need them.” THE FUTURE I asked Mal about an aspiration for The Creative Souls Project and he shared “I hope that it will bring more people into the arts. Making the world realise that the arts is equally as important as English and Maths in high school. What I really would love is for music to become a more mainstream subject in schools. And what I would love to see is the kids who are gifted and talented in music, to be doing music in high school, because there are credits there for their natural gifted abilities.” vo vol oll2 2 :11 Mal and Deahne both conﬁrm that young people ﬁnd it hard to ﬁnd business information and advice, so they have added these elements to their work with young people. They have learnt over time, that for their artists “their enterprising skills need to be as good as their creative skills” and it seems they are naturally becoming creative business mentors. Mal says that they also hope to be able to run The Creative Souls Project full time in the future, hiring more staﬀ and to eventually have a building of their own. He says that their main hope is to “make it a social enterprise that is aﬀordable for our families and communities, where our young people are treated as resources. Our young people are the resource, they are the ones with the energy and we use that energy as part of the enthusiasm, bringing people into whatever it is….music…dance…art.” Through The Creative Souls Project Mal and Deahne are nurturing our next generation of creative artists, which is one of the most invaluable jobs there is. They are extremely modest about the work they do and how hard they both work. It is very clear that they are dedicated to their work and are genuine with everything they undertake. Together they have established great working relationships in their local community and have an excellent reputation for their work, which has seen The Creative Souls Project grow and develop to what it is today. Their work ethic is passed on to all the artists they work with and I know The Creative Souls Project will continue to grow and become an even strong entity in the future 44 4/4

4/4 Pacific Music + Arts Volume 2:1 Oct 2016 | Page 19