The MULLUMBIMBY BIG PICTURE SHOW
For a summary of the May 2014 Mullumbimby Big Picture Show click here
A half-day forum devoted to bringing the Mullumbimby community together to talk about what is special about our town and what would we like to see happen here in the next twenty years, it will be held on Saturday May 31st at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall.
The first Mullumbimby Big Picture Show, hopefully the first of many, will be a grass roots melting pot of the community's ideas and plans for the future. There are three aims:
1. To reflect on what we value about our town now;
2. Consider and imagine what we want for the future; and
3. Begin to create partnerships with wider stakeholders, particularly Byron Shire Council.
The Big Picture Show will include: Community Expo; The 3 Minute Community Project Soapbox; Community Forum and Workshops. It is an open event for the whole community and all Mullumbimby community organisations.
Background
A lot has changed in the town in past ten years and unfortunately there has been minimal planning to respond to this change. The rail line is now inactive; car traffic through town has increased dramatically; Mallams, a large, local, established business has disappeared; Woolworths a significant external corporation has appeared. There has been a high turnover and vacancy rate of shops in the town centre and a large new residential development, Tallowood Ridge Estate, has begun. Housing affordability has become a significant problem and young people, either can't afford to or aren't interested to stay, meanwhile the population is aging, yet there is a mismatch with the available housing and many of our oldest residents are forced to leave.
In the mid 1990's a group of local people created a forum called the Byron Shire Big Picture Show, in response to the perceived needs of the shire at that time. There were five forums held over three years, the last one occurring at the Bangalow A&I Hall in 1998. The forum became a partnership with Byron Shire Council and was used to consult on a range of council projects and policies.
The strength of The Big Picture Show was its combination of education and community engagement. It educated local people about the real constraints facing Byron Shire and good practices and ideas from elsewhere. Now, The Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce has proposed that a new master plan be developed for Mullumbimby and Byron Shire Council is seeking to commence work on a new growth management plan for Mullumbimby in the second half of this year, so the time is ripe for a new Big Picture Show.
For more information about Creative Mullumbimby initiatives, click here