Category: Art in the Community

Stories Without Borders: Multicultural Storytime Videos Bring Languages and Communities Together

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At Space2B, we believe that stories have the power to connect people across cultures, generations and languages.

As part of the Multicultural Storytimes initiative with the City of Port Phillip, we are proud to share a special videography project that celebrates this belief in action.

We have successfully created a series of four storytelling videos — each presenting the same story in four different languages: Arabic, Tigrinya, Hindi and Mandarin.

This project was designed to ensure that children and families from diverse cultural backgrounds can experience the joy of storytelling in their home languages, while also discovering new sounds, rhythms and traditions from around the world.

Through an expressive narration in their mother tongues the storytellers bring the story to life in a way that is engaging for young audiences and welcoming for families who may be new to community programs or library spaces.

Why This Project Matters

Multicultural storytelling does more than entertain. It helps:

  1. Strengthen children’s language development
  2. Build confidence and cultural pride
  3. Foster empathy and understanding across communities
  4. Create safe and joyful shared experiences for families

By offering the same story in multiple languages, the videos highlight both our beautiful differences and our shared human experiences.

A Collaborative Community Effort

This project brought together dedicated storytellers, community members and the Space2B team to create professional video resources that can be accessed beyond live sessions.

Families can now revisit these stories anytime — at home, in early learning settings or in libraries — helping storytelling reach even more children.

We warmly invite you to watch and share the videos on the City of Port Phillip YouTube channel, and help spread the magic of multilingual storytelling.

Arabic Story: https://youtu.be/-FTO0ons17U

Tigrinya Story: https://youtu.be/fa4OLR8XXfo

Hindi Story: https://youtu.be/rG57NUpCwHI

Mandarin Story: https://youtu.be/4tEx07iwUFc

Together, through stories, we continue to build connection, belonging and community.

The Affordable Art Show: A Big, Bold, Colourful Win for Everyone!

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Art you can afford. Artists you can support. Stories that stay with you.

Returning for its sixth year, the Affordable Art Show is a true community win – for artists, buyers, and Space2b.

Art has a beautiful way of levelling us all  Karen Hopkins

Here, and through Space2b, I found freedom Leila Ashtiani

The Affordable Art Show runs 2 December – 31 January 2026 at Space2b.

Festive Shopping Night and Show Opening Friday 5 December 6pm-9pm

There are so many things to celebrate about the forthcoming Affordable Art Show that it’s hard to know where to start.

Returning next month for its fifth year, it really is a win-win for everyone involved – artists, buyers, the community, and Space2b itself.

Here’s why:

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The Art of Belonging

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Over 100 people joined us  for ‘The Art of Belonging’ a spoken word poetry night and launch of a fabulous new Laneway Mural by the much loved street artists Be Free & Suki.

The night was an exploration of home, settlement and connection, and how we find belonging in an unfamiliar place by 4 thought-provoking performances.
The night was beautifully complemented by the performances of emerging young poets from St. Kilda Primary.
We were lucky enough to have the wonderful and talented street artists Be Free and Suki create a colourful and joyful mural in our laneway.  Entitled ‘Forever Young’, this fun and quirky artwork brings the community  joy on a daily basis.
Thank you Befree and Suki for your amazing support!


Poetry Competition with year 4 students at St Kilda Primary

Note from Sue Higgins the Head teacher of St Kilda Primary
Last year the Grade 4 students collaborated on a project with Space2b where they were asked to capture the essence of Space2b and ‘making a new home’ from the perspective of a child. We had many eager students enter the competition and as a result, there were 3 winning entries: 1) Zamina 2)Ada, Harry, Ocean, Manol and Hridaya and 3)Celeste & Dylan. Winners have been invited to recite their poems on stage at The Art of Belonging – Spoken Word Poetry Evening. All entries will be permanently scribed in the laneway behind Space2b as part of the new mural by street artists Befree and Suki.
As part of this project, Clare Larman, a professional artist, has supported our children to rehearse and prepare for the evening. I had the great pleasure of being present when Clare worked with the children and she is truly inspirational.

 

Performances by St Kilda primary School poetry competition winners

Performance by Sermsah Bin Saad as night falls.

A huge THANK YOU to spoken word poets, from left to right, Melissa Pearson, Nelson, Sermsah Bin Saad, Clare larman, and  Tariro Mavondo.

 

 

THANK YOU
to the Palais Theatre &  Live nation for your kind funding