Goulburn Regional Play Forum

Play is the engagement in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose. It provides a vehicle for communicating health promotion messages, particularly those related to physical activity, in a novel way. Goulburn’s play potential is apparent in the new adventure playground, in the kids’ corner of the library, in geocaches hidden across the city, at the skate park, in the recent laneway makeovers and in its most recognisable icon – the Big Merino.

A one-day play forum in Goulburn in July 2019, delivered in partnership with the University of Canberra, will explore the potential of play in Goulburn and surrounds, with three core objectives:
• To promote the benefits of play for health and wellbeing across the life-span, within individuals, community groups, businesses and institutions in diverse and positive ways.
• To explore how to make Goulburn a ‘playful’ city by identifying current sites and sources of play, and develop playful ideas, events and resources for Goulburn and region.
• To support cross-disciplinary collaboration with local government to encourage creative practice, innovation and the efficient use of available resources around play

Play is at the heart of Munch & Move program, and an emerging theme of other NSW Health health promotion programs. Play provides a mechanism for exploring change as attributes such as spontaneity, curiosity, and creative processes support of activity that is outside of the ordinary.

The forum will be delivered in partnership with the Play, Creativity and Wellbeing Project, in the Centre of Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra. The project has successfully delivered symposia in Canberra in partnership with the City Renewal Authority and Canberra Museum and Gallery. This forum will provide an opportunity to explore health promotion in a novel way, with a focus on activating rural communities through play.