Shalom Institute funds Aboriginal medical students
Sydney’s Shalom Institute is funding Aboriginal medical students through the exhibition and sale of Aboriginal art..with ten indigenous students currently in residence in Shalom College.
The Shalom Institute’s support for the Aboriginal education scholarship program Shalom Gamarada goes from strength to strength in 2009 with the opening of the fifth Shalom Gamarada art exhibition and art sale in Sydney in July.
The 2009 Shalom Gamarada art exhibition will bring together an extensive range of original artwork from emerging and acclaimed Aboriginal artists around Australia. The exhibited artwork is valued at over $1 million and will feature special installations from Gloria Petyarre and Shorty Jangala Robinson as well as works from Jan Billycan, Daniel Walbidi and Weaver Jack. The patron of the 2009 Shalom Gamarada art exhibition is Her Excellency the Governor of NSW Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO.
Members of the Jewish community are encouraged to attend the exhibition and show their support. All artwork on display will be available for purchase and Shalom Gamarada’s share of the proceeds will be used to fund residential scholarships for Aboriginal Medical students at the Shalom College, University of New South Wales.
Shalom Gamarada has been able to assist 15 students study medicine, optometry and medical science covering their lodging expenses so students are able to focus solely on their excelling in their studies. Each scholarship is valued at $15,000 per year and covers full board and lodging at the College on the University’s Kensington campus.
Currently there are ten Indigenous students on scholarships residing at Shalom College – eight medical students, one health sciences student and one optometry student.
With only 120 Indigenous students enrolled in Medicine across Australia, scholarship founder and Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver believes the Shalom Gamarada art exhibition plays an important role in bringing the Jewish and Indigenous communities together.
“The Shalom Institute has supported the Shalom Gamarada aboriginal scholarship program and the Shalom Gamarada art exhibition since its inception in 2005. With both Jewish and Aboriginal communities no stranger to prejudice, this program is an important way of bringing the two cultures together through art,” said Jackson Pulver.
“By attending the exhibition the Jewish community can play a vital role in improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal Australians,” she added.
The Shalom Gamarada scholarship program was set up in 2005 to boost the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical students attending the University of New South Wales and runs in partnership with the UNSW’s Shalom College, Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Unit and the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit.
Shalom Gamarada has been able to assist 15 students study medicine, optometry and medical science covering their lodging expenses so students are able to focus solely on their excelling in their studies. Each scholarship is valued at $15,000 per year and covers full board and lodging at the College on the University’s Kensington campus.
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