Much of BE’s work has been with young people and families who have experienced neglect or violence, often perpertrated by men. The arts based projects delivered by BE influenced change for these men. The impact on their families and the general community was significant. The men in this target group were living in or around public housing estates, in which there is a high rate of recidivism and men in and out of the criminal justice system and incarceration.

HIStory ran in partnership with the Wollongong City Council and the Warrawong Community Centre in April 2006 and ran for 150 weeks.

HIStory is also focusing on the development of some community resources, including DVDs. These will be made by participants as they explore themselves and the relevant issues (e.g. representations in the media, conflict resolution). The understanding, knowledge and skills they have learnt have been captured in a resource which has wide reaching relevance for other people sharing similar experiences. The media DVD focused on developing understanding about how media stories are produced and how people in public housing can make their own voice heard in media stories that are produced by others or in stories they want to see generated themselves. Tahir Bilgic (Habib in SBS’ Fat Pizza) has worked with the men from HIStory, lending his expertise and knowledge in dealing with the media and its representations in developing the DVD resource.