Catherine Andrews has stepped down from The Torch Board. Catherine joined The Torch in 2015 when there were only two staff members. She has been invaluable over the past eight years and has a deep love for our organisation, staff and participants. Catherine will still be working behind the scenes to support the work we do. We presented Catherine with a

Susannah Day (GM) and Chris Austin (Arts Mentor) recently attended the Reintegration Puzzle conference – a national gathering of post release service providers. They delivered one of the keynote presentations on the second day to about 250 attendees. They presented the history of The Torch, and Susannah interviewed Chris on stage about his story, how

Hari Andai is a proud Kulkalgal (TSI) artist. He started his journey with The Torch in 2021. This painting was done when I was about to complete my 5 years in prison. It represents my mother’s people from the Hella Province in PNG. The colours of the face are from traditional powder. Hari Andai creates

The Torch artist Melissa Bell (Gunditjmara/Yorta Yorta) has been offered studio space at Pentridge Studios to further develop her arts practice. Mel creates art that is deeply connected to her Country and culture. She has already shown incredible artistic growth since starting as an in-prison artist in 2016, and we can’t wait to see what’s

The Torch artist Daniel Church (Darug) has just launched his own exhibition at ArtSpace Gallery Wonthaggi, running until 5 March 2023. Daniel was born in Liverpool NSW, on Darug Country, where his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and ancestors were also born. ‘This Is My Story’ is an exhibition of Daniel’s artworks and wood carvings which

January 26 is the date the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples changed forever. January 26 marks the beginning of dispossession, of children being stolen from their families and of the countless massacres that took place on this land. The Torch artist Ranga illustrates why he thinks January 26 is not a day

Ranga is a Mutti Mutti/Latji Latji artist, usually residing on Wadawarrung Country. He comes from a creative family, but he only started painting when he joined The Torch In-Prison program in 2018. His art practice has helped him to learn patience, keep in control of his emotions and connect to culture and people. When I do

We have been crunching the 2022 numbers and we are pleased to report our team have been able to support more participants, and sell more artworks, than ever before. In 2022 we worked with over 800 First Nations participants in The Torch program and, with your support, sold or licensed over 1,500 artworks, producing $1.1M

The 10th Koorie Art Show launched on 3rd December 2022 and runs to 19th February 2023. It features work by nine artists and three staff from The Torch program. Support this milestone First Nations exhibition at Yarra Building, Fed Square or browse all works online here. The Koorie Heritage Trust at Federation Square takes Koorie

Recently we held a five-day mural training program at Siteworks in Brunswick where we trained up ten artists in the art of mural making – from design, preparation, painting, airbrushing and aerosol work. What a successful week it was – progressing this exciting branch of our organisation and in turn increasing artist opportunity. THANKS SO