BWM Dentsu Group, one year on from the launch of its Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), will continue its partnership Swinburne University to drive a bigger Indigenous Student Success Program.
Following the successful pilot program, the agency will work with Swinburne University to create more internship opportunities for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent in 2020.
Neane Carter, who is studying a double degree in arts and law at Swinburne, was the first Indigenous student to complete the program.
“For me, it was about the seeing the work involved and seeing what an internship looks like in the creative space,” Carter told AdNews.
“I’m quite familiar with Indigenous internships in health, law and politics, but I hadn’t really seen anything like the program at BWM Dentsu and Swinburne so I tried to see how beneficial such an internship could be for other students.”
Carter was given the opportunity to work on research tasks and help with creative briefs while also learning about the various roles within the industry.
Throughout the program, she was intrigued by the importance of storytelling in adland – something that is synonymous with Indigenous culture.
“For Indigenous people, storytelling is so ingrained in the culture and who we are,” she says.
“I guess I didn’t appreciate that that’s quite reflective of how it is in other cultures and Australia more broadly, so I was really exposed to the way in which we tell stories, the way we can tell better stories and bring people together through storytelling.”
Despite studying law, BWM Dentsu worked with Carter to tailor the program to the skills and areas that would be beneficial to her future.
Coming out the other end, she says she has built confidence in articulating information to people at all levels and continues to recognise storytelling’s value for law as well.
She also believes the program will give other young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people “autonomy and representation” to be able to have their own voice.
“For a really long time, in a lot of different spaces and in a lot of different ways, stories about Indigenous people were being told by non-Indigenous people,” Carter says.
“So, I think having more Indigenous people at the forefront of being able to tell their own stories and make decisions about the way we’re represented, rather than being represented in a way that others think they want to be seen, is really important.”
So, how else can the industry help nurture the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent?
Carter believes BWM Dentsu and the wider industry are already starting to break down stereotypes.
She would like to see this continue, alongside building greater awareness around contemporary Indigenous artworks and culture.
“With my Indigenous culture and my own personal interests, it was good to see that BWM Dentsu and the industry itself is raising awareness that not all Indigenous people look the same or have the same artwork,” she says.
“I’d really like to continue to see the trajectory of this expression and value in contemporary artwork and ways of expressing Indigenous culture, to try and get people to acknowledge that there are Indigenous people are everywhere, producing their own stories in their own way.”
BWM Dentsu is currently developing a similar program in partnership with Charles Sturt University which is set to roll out in the summer.
As part of its RAP, the agency has also implemented rituals to honour the original owners of the land.
These include ensuring the Acknowledgement of Country is performed at the start of all meetings, introducing cultural awareness training and having Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders and community leaders share knowledge and stories at agency gatherings.
Within its first year since launch, the agency is also on track to divert 3% of total commercial spend to Indigenous owned or run suppliers, per its RAP commitment.
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