Council and Red Dust join forces to deliver dynamic holiday program

West Arnhem Regional Council’s Youth, Sport and Recreation team partnered with Red Dust to deliver a dynamic School Holiday Program that brought the community together through sport, creativity, and culture. The program reached a total of 442 participants, marking a significant increase in engagement and demonstrating the growing community interest in inclusive and meaningful activities during the school break.
Weekly sessions focused on promoting social connection, physical activity, and cultural engagement, with a creative mix of activities including basketball, dodgeball, music workshops, cultural trips, and wellbeing beach walks. Despite working with limited and previously overused resources, the team effectively improvised to provide quality programs that were fun, accessible, and inclusive.
The collaboration with Red Dust added tremendous value, bringing in culturally rich and health-focused events such as:

• Community cooking and barbecue days

• Strong Young Women self-care day

• Community engagement band night

• Welcome to Country and cultural storytelling

• Music and film-making workshops

Each event aimed to create safe, supportive spaces for young people to connect, express themselves, and build confidence, all while strengthening community ties.
“The kids are loving it, there’s something new each week, and it’s great to see them connecting, learning, and having fun,” said one community member.
“Creating awareness for strong young women within the community,” said another community member.
This program has shown that with collaboration, creativity, and community spirit, impactful outcomes are possible. Council and Red Dust look forward to building on this momentum for future programs that continue to support youth wellbeing and cultural connection in our region.