Create Crew: award winning NDIS mentoring program that is part art and part adventure.

Create Crew is a mobile music and art service that that delivers creative mentoring programs and workshops to NDIS participants and the local community in Hobart, Tasmania.

The creative projects serve as a foundation to help Create Crew participants build confidence, capabilities, and community connections.

This year Create Crew was recognised for their innovative programs at the Tasmanian Disability Festival Awards. The organisation won the Excellence in Innovation award, sponsored by Leap in!

The Create Crew journey.

At the heart of Create Crew is founder and sole-operator Joel Imber. From a young age Joel was involved in his local community through a range of creative projects and events including City Of Hobart’s youth centre “Youth ARC”.

Youth ARC gave Joel the chance to work closely with people from different social economic and cultural backgrounds and differing abilities.

The experience inspired Joel to look at creative projects with a fresh perspective and laid the groundwork for Create Crew where each person’s unique strengths and interests are celebrated as an opportunity to be truly innovative with each project.

It all starts with an idea.

Joel describes the Create Crew process as fun, positive and collaborative. He brings a dynamic approach to his mentoring programs where each project is completely unique. In fact, the sessions become a creative adventure where Joel learns alongside the person he is mentoring.

“It all starts with an idea,” Joel explains. “I am led by the interest and passion of the person I am mentoring and provide support to allow each person to create their own experience.”

[Image description: Joel Imber and Adam Knowles are standing outside in a park, viewing the screen on the back of a professional digital camera.]

Projects that are innovative and creative.

An innovative mindset is essential to the Create Crew process. Each person Joel works with has a different passion, unique strengths, and other considerations that can shape the project.

The photography exhibition, Viking Elements by Adam Knowles, is a perfect example of this. Adam connected with Create Crew as part of the NDIS mentoring program. He had an idea to combine two passions – photography and Vikings.

Through his photography Adam captured the work of a blacksmith, a fire twirler and a rune reader, and showcased his work at a photography exhibition that he organised and hosted with the help of Create Crew. The event was a great success. It attracted a lot of interest from the community and helped build Adam’s confidence moving forward with his creative pursuit.

The project built on Adam’s creative passions and gave him the opportunity to learn about networking, event management, and inspired him to help other people explore their passion for photography. Adam’s project earned him a nomination for Excellence in the Arts at the Tasmanian Disability Awards.

Luke Kingston is another creator who works with Create Crew through its NDIS creative mentoring program. Luke is an avid gamer and is sharing his love for video games through his YouTube channel. Luke’s goal is to attract 2000 subscribers to his channel so if you are a fan of video games visit MrMario827 and click subscribe.

In addition to Luke’s YouTube channel goals he has built further capacity to engage with his local community through the support of Create Crew. Examples of this have been running an all-ability video game day in collaboration with Glenorchy City Council.

This was a project aimed to bring likeminded people who identity as having a disability together, play video games, have fun and make new friends.

Innovation is built into the core of the Create Crew process which was instrumental through COVID lockdowns and restrictions. Joel and his NDIS participants were able explore the world of using technology, green screen, photography and video editing to create fun and creative projects. This allowed them to be productive and feel safe in a crowd restricted environment.

The power of the Crew.

The network of people who make up the Crew are what sets the organisation apart. It is not just Joel and the people he mentors who count themselves as part of the Crew. Joel counts any of the participants, their friend and family members, art makers and art lovers, plus any person who supports the Crew.

Create Crew mentoring packages are accessible for NDIS participants who are plan managed or self manage.

For information, check out the Create Crew website or enquire via email or phone. You’ll find a collection of Create Crew creative projects on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading.

First Tasmanian Disability Festival launches in December.

Music therapy and the NDIS.

Art Therapy and the NDIS.