Goya Dmytryshchak
Altona Meadows’ Gabby Bortolot has created the Forever West Zine researching creative industries in Melbourne’s west, focusing on the music industry.
There were 26 participants, including Pride of our Footscray community bar, The Substation, Yaw Faso and Wrangler Studios.
“One of the main themes was a sense of community,“ Ms Bortolot said.
“A lot of people found that it was a lot closer-knit.
“The people that you encountered in the western suburbs … just say you lived in Footscray and you went to Yarraville, you’re always going to run into someone you knew that had an idea of what you did and it was just this sense of closeness between the people.
“It’s a very diverse area. You’ve got lots of different cultures.
“You’ve got great Sudanese restaurants in Footscray and you’ve got great Vietnamese restaurants and this sense of all the cultures making it a more inclusive area and definitely bringing all the cultures to the table.“
The project is called Forever West Zine and has been published as a 36-page zine.
“It was a clear theme that everyone who lived further on from Newport – so Newport to Werribee and spanning that way – the culture was a lot quieter,“ Ms Bortolot said.
“But as soon as you hit Newport and into Footscray, then the people there definitely commented on bars and gigs.“
Forever West Zine can be found on Facebook and Instagram.
Proceeds will go to Aboriginal action group, Pay The Rent.
