Off the back of last Thursday’s appearance on ABC’s 7.30 Report, we’ve received scores of enquiries on how to set up Gig Buddies elsewhere in Australia.
From Newcastle, Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Bunbury, Cairns, Canberra, Cessnock and Perth, we are witnessing a growing demand to tackle the issue of social isolation for people with disability.
For good measure, we also received an enquiry from Taree on the Thursday morning, and we had one person get in contact who saw the clip in Shanghai via ABC’s Asia network.
Gig Buddies Sydney is an initiative of ACL Disability Services, a Sydney-based organisation with over 50 years’ experience assisting adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities. As we’ve been informing people, we are looking for likeminded organisations that can run the project within their locality.
To help facilitate the rollout of the project to other parts of Australia, we offer the Gig Buddies in a Box concept: covering volunteer training and best practices for when it comes to making a successful pairing, recruitment tips, networking suggestions, ideas for marketing materials, an overview of the software and databases used by Gig Buddies Sydney, and effective website design, we’re at hand to help establish an effective way for organisations to help tackle the issue of social isolation for people with disability.
For those requiring further information we’re at the end of a line (02 9419 6951) or can be contacted via email: info@gigbuddiessydney.org
EDIT 25/02/20: Please visit our "Gig buddies in a Box" webpage to get an overview of how to set-up Gig Buddies in your area.
If you work for or know of an organisation who could run the project, please contact us. We would love more people to benefit from the Gig Buddies initiative!
One of our aims at Gig Buddies Sydney is to expand the social circles of all our participants. Whether paired up or not, we regularly hold Gig Buddies Socials - events that are open to all who have signed up.
For those not in the know, we’ve been to music gigs, sporting matches (including the ice hockey on Saturday - more photos can be viewed here), the opera, live theatre and dance ensembles.
Our organised events aside, we’re delighted that one of the stars of Thursday’s ABC clip, Stavros (above), was invited to join the Metal Meetup 8: A pub full of Metal group on Saturday.
Talking all things heavy metal, the group meet twice a year. Thank you, Tan, for sharing the photos.
Matthew Collins
Gig Buddies Sydney Community Engagement Coordinator
matt@assistcom.org
Would you like more information about Gig Buddies Sydney? You’re only a click away. Connect with us via the links below.
Fancy reveling in legendary status? If so, please support us in our cause to get more people out to live events in Sydney. Donations over $2 are tax deductible and all are gratefully received.
Gig Buddies Sydney is an initiative of ACL Disability Services