DEAR CJ.

HEY CJ.

I'm Rob, the founder of Two Good Co, which is an Aussie social enterprise that support and employs women with lived experience of domestic violence and homelessness. We're a big fan of your work here and we'd absolutely love to connect with you on an art installation concept we're working on for the 16 Days of Activism this year.

With 13 women hospitalised from DV every single day, and 1 woman killed every 9 days, this is a big issue getting bigger; and people are finally ready for change. We want to stage something, we love your work and we think you’re the best to do this.

Especially given the current climate, we feel there's an increased appetite for our work and our purpose, and we'd love to channel that energy and keep those conversations going in the right direction. We believe that employment leads to empowerment, and ultimately freedom; freedom from domestic and family violence, freedom from homelessness, freedom from a lack of choices in an unsafe environment. Through our Work Work program, we’ve seen how supportive employment can help heal self worth, rebuild independence and help create safety plans for women at risk…and we’ve also seen how financial abuse and instability can perpetuate cycles of abuse.

We're incredibly lucky and have some major partners in our community that help us amplify our voice. We're actually currently in conversation with The Opera House around bringing a big moment to life, and it's all early stages, but we'd love to bring you into the fold early and see if it's something you're interested in ideating and creating with us.

We want to create a significant community moment that leverages our network of influential decision-makers and major partners, by bringing them together and inspiring them to use their influence for good. In the recent address by the PM, he said, “Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve.” This is exactly what we believe we achieve through our work and our partner network…and is exactly what we want to harness in this community moment.

We've worked on large public installation moments in the past that have gotten conversations going, as well as creating big social impact for DV and homelessness survivors - and personally, I’ve seen the impact of experiential art installations and the lasting effects it can create (like the cBRAILLE, A Lighting Exhibition for the Blind that I helped create and that toured Aus), and love bringing that into Two Good’s world (like our FELICITY installation by Brode Compton that took over a building on George St, Sydney, which involved a jar lid mural celebrating the funding of 20,000 meals to women’s refuges).

SO…WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE AS YOUR CANVAS, IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE HUNGRY FOR CHANGE?