National Drug and Alcohol Awards

Celebrating Australian achievements to prevent
and reduce alcohol and other drug use and harm

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Newcastle City Council’s Loft Youth Program Delivers Alcohol and other Drugs Options for Young People

The Newcastle City Council’s Loft Youth Arts and Cultural Centre, an incubator of arts projects, a hub for social inclusion, and a centre for skill and leadership development for young people has won the Excellence in Services for Young People Category of the 2010 National Drug and Alcohol Awards.

The other two Finalists in this Category are the Hello Sunday Morning online blog program, and BushMob Inc, a grass roots community-driven AOD services project for young people in Alice Springs.

Loft's drug and alcohol free arts events and activities engage young people as organisers and managers of their own events. An initiative of Newcastle City Council, the Loft is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

And over that time, more than 200 000 young people have accessed the Loft’s services with some 45 to 60 events staged annually. Each activity attracts between 100 and 180 young people.

From the beginning, the Loft has been conscious of its responsibilities to provide services which are drug and alcohol free. To this end, the Loft has introduced policies and procedures which support and maintain the integrity of its drug and alcohol free status.

These include drug/ alcohol protocols for all major events including full security, no passouts, and refusal of entry to intoxicated people. It is a condition of entry to an event that patrons submit to a breathalyser test if requested. Parents or guardians are also told if a young person under 18 years of age presents in an intoxicated state.

The Loft’s Indigenous arts program has been developed with the local Indigenous community and is built upon the linking of intergenerational interaction with contemporary artistic interpretations like heritage site visits, and cultural camps involving Community Elders.

In 2006, the Loft gained a grant to explore the link between the notions of rites of passage to adulthood and alcohol consumption, with the results informing the development of various Loft programs.

The Winner was announced at the National Drug and Alcohol Awards Dinner on Friday 25 June 2010 at the Citigate King George Square Hotel in Brisbane.

Media Enquiries: Brian Flanagan, NDAA Event Manager – Phone: 0400 860 058 (m)

25 June 2010

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