Artwe-ken­he ilthe, a new men’s out­door space, will be launched on Fri­day on the out­skirts of Alice Springs. It has been built by Abo­rig­i­nal men for use by Abo­rig­i­nal men and will serve as a ded­i­cat­ed area for meet­ings, gath­er­ings, and cul­tur­al per­for­mances, pro­vid­ing a safe envi­ron­ment for cul­tur­al shar­ing. It includes a new­ly con­struct­ed bough shade struc­ture, a tra­di­tion­al dance ground, and a pub­lic area wel­com­ing, women, chil­dren, and families.

The space has been designed and coor­di­nat­ed by Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia, who have been deliv­er­ing the Codes 4 Life pro­gram for the past eight years, which helps Abo­rig­i­nal men recon­nect with their cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty, steer­ing them away from unhealthy behav­iours such as sub­stance abuse and domes­tic vio­lence. The new Men’s Space will be used to con­tin­ue ther­a­peu­tic work of this kind. The planned devel­op­ment has already attract­ed the inter­est of exist­ing men’s groups such as CASSE, NPY Coun­cil, Kings Nar­ra­tive, who have pre­vi­ous­ly made use of the site and plan to con­tin­ue using it for their activities. 

The space will be launched this Fri­day at 5pm to coin­cide with the Apmerenge-ntyele Fes­ti­val: From the Land two-day cul­tur­al fes­ti­val, organ­ised by Children’s Ground and tak­ing place at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct.

The Desert Knowl­edge Precinct is an office and events space just south of Alice Springs, where like-mind­ed social impact organ­i­sa­tions and Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties come togeth­er to meet and find solu­tions for local prob­lems. It’s sit­u­at­ed on his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant Arrernte land, where Indige­nous groups used to gath­er and share cul­ture before pass­ing through The Gap.

The kir­da (Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers) have played a cru­cial role in estab­lish­ing the cul­tur­al gov­er­nance and deci­sion-mak­ing process­es for the Men’s Space, ensur­ing that it is acces­si­ble to all men from var­i­ous trib­al groups, includ­ing Anmaty­erre, NPY, Warlpiri, and inter­state Abo­rig­i­nal men’ vis­i­tors groups. 

Hardy Fenc­ing and the Cen­tre for Appro­pri­ate Tech­nol­o­gy helped with the clear­ing of the space and con­struc­tion, and stu­dents from Yirara Col­lege also helped clear the space.