The Enlivenment Network

The Enlivenment Network

NAVIGATING OUR SITE

Under Media, you can find our blog and podcasts. Under Projects, we list the range of projects that our community is developing. Under Resources, we list PDFs of key articles, Video links and podcast links that help you find a pathway to key ideas that inform the ENLIVENMENT WORLDVIEW.

ABOUT US

Our network of engaged individuals and organisations is working to create a dynamic, ecologically healthy and socially just society,  spreading the seeds of an ENLIVENMENT WORLDVIEW, based on the idea of REGENESIS. This reimagining of our relationship with the more than human world as one of fellow EARTHLINGS provides a pathway to a future that combines our First Nations ethos of Caring for Country in all its multiple levels of meaning. Multicultural Australia rests on the  cultural foundations of the 65,000+ years of this continuous living worldview.

INSPIRATION OF THE EELS

Referenced in our logo, we draw inspiration from the courage, resilience and determination of burra (Australian eels) who each year make an epic migration to the Coral Sea to breed, with their tiny baby elvers making their way back and up the coastal rivers to their homes, including up the Nepean River through the concrete barriers of the Warragamba dam, to Lake Burragorang, Gundungurra Country. A metaphor for the resilience of Indigenous knowledge systems speaking back to modern Australia.

Our artists, creatives, storytellers and culture change advocates are Community Weavers, drawing on ancient wisdom traditions, the insights of science, the nourishment of connection and the liberating power of story, to support a distinct paradigm shift to an ENLIVENMENT WORLDVIEW. A reworlding of our world, away from the technocratic, neo-liberal economics of profit maximisation, techno-harvesting of human emotions and alienation from the natural world, which underpins the intersecting crises of our times.

The political crisis of flailing democracies and populist rage are the result of the failure of the post-Enlightenment belief that:

  • continuing human progress is constant and inevitable
  • everything will get better over time.

This patently no longer holds. We are living in the era of blowback from our profligacy. The question now is whether societies bound by the promise of ‘better’ or ‘more’ can learn to endure ‘less’ and even ‘worse’—embracing the new ethos of relational enlivened living as fellow EARTHLINGS in kinship with the living Earth.

We seek to support the growth of a mycelium-like network of cultural connections that celebrate our eco-spiritual kinship relationships with the more-than-human world, to nourish our courage and resilience, and to hand over life-affirming legacies to our coming generations, human and non-human alike.

We pay respect to all the Elders, past, present and future of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia.

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ARTICLES

Bridging Cultural Divides

The Challenge of Relationship One of the issues that comes up in creating any community engaged in direct relationships is what is our relationship going to be with other communities? In particular, indigenous communities, and even more particularly those...

|Jun 2, 2026

RECKONing With Rupture

THE QUAGMIRE The ancient Dhammapada (300BCE) warned: “We are what we think: with our thoughts we make the world”. Canada’s Mark Carney named it at Davos: the post WWII international rules-based order under US hegemony is over. The global pattern of nation states’...

|May 25, 2026

Escaping the Anglosphere

THE ANGLOSPHERE Mark Carney called it out at Davos: the end of the international rules-based order under Pax Americana, the undisputed global hegemon since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The world’s political powers are re-arranging themselves into a new multi-polar...

|May 5, 2026

Regenesis and Circularity

REGENESIS Back in 2023, when I published The Regenesis Journey (amazon.com.au), I suggested that the regeneration of Australia as a sustainable, vibrant, multicultural and socially justice society, should rest on three pillars: Caring for Country—a bridge that...

|Apr 9, 2026

Questions of Sovereignty

THE MANY ASPECTS OF SOVEREIGNTY The dictionary defines sovereignty as [attributive] (of a nation or its affairs) acting or done independentlyand without outside interference. We also see the idea of 'sovereign' recently applied to a type of citizenship - the...

|Apr 2, 2026

Shifting Sands

Saturdays are when I get to do deep dives into interesting articles from my ‘go-to’ sources, such as The Guardian and The Saturday Paper, bringing me to insightful reflections and musings about the state of the world and my own life. What caught my attention were...

|Mar 28, 2026

Creative Climate Futures Collaboration

Creative Climate Futures Incubator    The Aust-Indo Creative Climate Futures Incubator is a cross-cultural artist incubation-residency and exhibition program that brings together Indonesian and Australian artists to imagine alternative climate futures through...

|Mar 26, 2026

Regenesis 2026

THE REGENESIS PROJECT Since 2022 I have been working with my community of creatives in the Greater Blue Mountains to run the yearly Regenesis Project. In 2024 we wound up GBMCAN (Greater Blue Mountains Creative Arts Network) and created a new group, the Enlivenment...

|Mar 25, 2026

Losing Hope—The Price of Materialism

AND YET This post is a response to  world where traditional sources of hope and aspiration in our modern world of intensifying consumerism, frustrated rage and anxiety, are no longer available to most of us. And the promises of our political leaders no longer ring...

|Mar 6, 2026

Talking ArtZ 89.1FM | Podcasts

 Brad Diedrich for The Enlivenment Network on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM

Podcasts hosted on BradDiedrich.com Servers.

Talking ArtZ is your weekly dive into the creative heart of the Blue Mountains and beyond – where artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders share their work, ideas, and passion for the arts. Hosted by The Professor on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM, the show airs Thursday evenings from 6–7pm, spotlighting everything from visual arts and performance to philosophy, music, and grassroots cultural change.

In this special episode, we announce an exciting new collaboration with the Enlivenment Network – a cultural and philosophical initiative led by Barbara Lepani that explores the transformative power of story, art, and dialogue in a time of ecological and social transformation.

🎧 Missed an episode?
Our growing archive of past episodes features in-depth conversations with local and visiting artists, musicians, curators, writers, poets, and creative activists. Whether you’re an art lover, a practicing artist, or simply curious about the cultural life of the region, there’s something for everyone in the Talking ArtZ back catalogue.

Stay tuned, stay curious, and keep talking art.

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN

Call for Entries

Regenesis 2026 Competition

Theme: Our Kinship with Nature

Eligibility: Residents of the Greater Blue Mountains Community

Nepean to Lithgow

Submissions close on 30 June 2026

Q&A Info Session 22 March 2-4pm Junction 142, Katoomba

Submissions: Entries are free – limited to one entry per category, by email with attachments

Completed submission form + works

text as word docs
images as png/jpg
music as mp3
video as mp4

to: regen@enlivenment.network

Entry Categories: Youth (12-18 yrs) and Adults (18 yrs and over)*

Short Story – up to 1,000 words in length

Poetry – up to 150 words in length

Visual Artwork – image of original work in 2D, 3D, photograph or illustration

Lyric with music— original work, lyric in text and music in audio file mp3

• *Video–2-4 mins for 15-25 yr olds in mp4 

Requirements for Entry—submission form downloadable from website page or on request from regen@enlivenment.network

• Name, date of birth, residential post code, contact details (email and phone)

• Brief biography of 100 words

All works entered to be provided as file attachments in format specified in Submission Form.

Winning Entry Prizes —selected by independent assessment panels of three ‘experts’

Youth: $250 for the winner in each of the four categories for participants under 18 years of age in 2026.

Adults: $250 for the winner in each of the four categories for participants 18 years of age and over in 2026

Video: $250 for the winning entry 15-25 yr olds

Celebration of Winning Entries on Sunday 18 October 2026, 2-4.30pm

—All prize winners presenting their work

Printed Regenesis 2026 anthology of all short-listed short stories, poetry and art images for sale

Regenesis 2026 CD of short-listed lyric + music entries, available for sale

Winning Regenesis 2026 Video shown at event. Other entries published on YouTube.

Call for Entries

Regenesis 2026 Competition

Theme: Our Kinship with Nature

Call for Entries

Regenesis 2026 Competition

Theme: Our Kinship with Nature

Regenesis 2022

 

Regenesis 2023

 

Regenesis 2025

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