When the plethora of issues both at home and around the world make it feel like there’s little hope left, mutual aid can be a helpful way for small bizzes to not only give back to the community they serve, but also feel more connected to a wider collective. We chatted to Nour Abdullatif, founder and director of Melbourne/Naarm’s Unassigned Gallery, about what mutual aid is, what it can look like and how small-business owners can get involved.

Tell us about Unassigned Gallery and what goes on there. Unassigned Gallery is a small grassroots community gallery I opened almost four years ago! In that time we’ve held numerous exhibitions, workshops and events, and really made ourselves part of the community. Unassigned was opened because I felt like there was a massive gap in the art world – galleries felt so inaccessible and I had a dream of making a space that felt welcoming and inclusive. With those as the core values, the gallery naturally gravitated to being a space for education, mutual aid, resource sharing, knowledge sharing, fundraising and so much more. All those things combined make Unassigned what it is, but it doesn’t make me or Unassigned the authority on mutual aid.

 

 

 

 

 

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What makes mutual aid different to charity? While mutual aid and charity are both really important in keeping our communities alive, charity mostly relies on a regimented structure within organisations and a hierarchical system. Mutual aid takes away those barriers to access and treats everyone as equals while focusing on collective care as a shared responsibility.

Mutual aid isn’t just about raising money – while that is still a massive part of it, it can also look like cooking, cleaning and skill and resource sharing. Mutual aid is an act of resistance against the oppressive structures that we all live under – it gives us power to take community care into our own hands.

How can mutual aid combat hopelessness? It honestly is so true that we can feel hopeless and overwhelmed with the constant state of the world, and engaging with mutual aid doesn’t necessarily take that away, especially when you’re (like most of us) giving so much of yourself to mutual aid that you’re also experiencing burnout. 

Engaging with mutual aid means that you are connected to community, whether it be physically or digitally, and that level of connection for me combats that hopelessness that we all feel. Being part of a community, in whatever capacity, is one of the most inspiring and motivating experiences. I personally think that mutual aid is like a glue that connects community and strengthens us – of course it can't cure that feeling of hopelessness, but it puts us in a position where we can physically see and understand the difference we can make.

 

 

 

 

 

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Tell us about some of the mutual fundraising events Unassigned Gallery has hosted. One of our most popular and well known mutual aid fundraising events is the annual music night called The Time That Remains, a fundraiser for Palestine with the NFP Made in Palestine, which typically raises over $10k through ticket sales, merch sales and donated work from artists. Our other big one is The Big Lesbian Fundraiser for Palestine – it’s a collaboration with Unassigned, Lesbian Mud Wrestling and Made in Palestine, and it raised over $30k in one week through ticket sales and a silent auction of 85 donated artworks. All of these funds get redistributed to support people in need, while having these events also provides a space for people to come and connect. On a smaller scale, we’ve also held life drawing events where the funds have gone to gender-affirming care – we raised about $600 each session. Despite the sizes and amounts raised, the important factors stay the same.

Currently the ways in which we engage with mutual aid as a gallery are by donating life drawing prize packs to gender-affirming care, converting an old vending machine stocked with volunteer Alex Frazer’s work into a mutual aid fundraiser, and hosting free workshops with Helen from A Kindsugi Future where members of the community who may experience isolation and loneliness can come and create cards with messages of hope to give to others in the community.

What would you suggest to small-biz owners who are thinking of hosting similar events of their own? One of the absolute most important things is transparency – be completely transparent about finances with everyone involved, everyone working the fundraiser, and everyone donating to the fundraiser. If the venue is taking a fee, that can’t just be assumed knowledge – that has to be documented and communicated.

Another really important thing to remember is that your role and value in mutual aid is not directly related to whether or not you can organise and host events. Sometimes, we need to step back and be a community member rather than an organiser. That means being aware of the needs of your community, sharing their mutual aid requests, volunteering with other organisers and events, and volunteering your own personal time. And of course, using the power of social media by sharing mutual aid initiatives with your community.

 

 

 

 

 

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I think that fundraising events and money are how we as small businesses can use our privilege, but there are so many ways beyond that. For example, Shop Bao Ngoc has a free community fridge outside their restaurant, Catalyst Social Centre has a free food market, Chibi & Esme donate a portion of their earnings to mutual aid and filling community fridges, and Pink Ember and Schoolhouse Studios donate their galleries to hosting mutual aid events and fundraisers. 

It’s also really important to build that trust with your community. Our community here knows that any mutual aid initiatives we are supporting are not just being backed by the gallery itself, but that those of us who represent the gallery are also getting involved. People should know that you’re not just engaging for the sake of it, but that you really and truly embed mutual aid practices into your personal life as well as your professional life. 

What does successful mutual aid look like to you? Successful mutual aid can look so different every time. I think that anyone engaging with mutual aid, in whatever capacity, is successfully doing so, and any engagement with mutual aid is better than none. If you’re wanting to start to engage with mutual aid through your business, begin by finding out what the needs of your community are and go from there.

For more small-business stories like this, visit frankie.com.au/strictly-business, or sign up to our monthly e-newsletter. Have a small-business story you’d like to share? Pitch it to us.