Professor Adrian Hearn Wins Dean's Award for Community Partnerships
Image: Adrian Hearn and Bosede Adetifa at the Community Fellows Program celebration event in July
(photographer – Peter Casamento)
Congratulations to our colleague Professor Adrian Hearn from the School of Languages and Linguistics on winning the 2024 Faculty of Arts Dean's Award for Community Partnerships.
Melbourne Social Equity Institute began collaborating with Adrian in 2021 when he was awarded one of our inaugural Community Engagement Grants. That grant sought to support collaborations with the Yoruba Heritage and Cultural Association of Victoria to better understand youth engagement with its program and activities.
These activities included a number of successful events including a celebration of Yoruba heritage at the Forum Theatre at the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus and a Drum Voices presentation at the Gippsland Drums and Food Festival. It also led to the development of the Yoruba Heritage Virtual Tour.
From that collaboration, Bosede Adetifa, the Yoruba Heritage and Cultural Association of Victoria's Language and Outreach Coordinator, successfully applied to join the Community Fellows Program. Mentored by Adrian, Bosede has been leading her own research project exploring the role storytelling can play in bringing together elders and young people within the community.
In addition to these local activities, Adrian has two international projects funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: one supporting plant-based nutrition and medicine production in a Yoruba-descended community in Cuba and another assisting Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian farmers to revive traditional horticulture techniques.
Videos and photos from Adrian’s projects in Cuba and Brazil are available on the website of his community organisation Suns of Mercury. The organisation also co-creates musical pieces with Melbourne-based artists from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, which are available on Spotify.
Watch Adrian and Bosede discuss the Community Fellows Program