CONNECTING CREATIVES
NETWORKS
The PolisPlan:
PolisPlan: Innovating Regenerative Land Development in Regional Areas
PolisPlan is a pioneering strategic town planning consultancy that has introduced a visionary approach to land development, focused on creating regenerative, sustainable, and socially connected communities. The consultancy’s mission is to develop a network of tech-enabled, regenerative villages—known as Circular Economy Villages (CEVs)—that aim for self-sufficiency and zero waste within their bioregions.
By fostering circular economies, these villages aim to minimize waste, maximize resource efficiency, and promote resilience in regional areas. Explore their groundbreaking work, including the Spiral Village concept, a model for regenerative living designed by Valentino Gareri Atelier: Spiral Village.
For more information, visit PolisPlan’s website: polisplan.com.au
Resilient Blue Mountains
Visionary Partners for a Sustainable Future
Resilient Blue Mountains is a community-led network uniting climate change activists, sustainability advocates, and environmental groups across the Blue Mountains. Run entirely by dedicated volunteers with support from Blue Mountains City Council, we are passionate about empowering local actions that foster resilience, sustainability, and connection in our region.
Our Vision
We envision a vibrant, connected, and resilient community that cares for a sustainable and healthy Blue Mountains. By integrating care for Country and community resilience, we aim to inspire collective efforts that shape a brighter tomorrow.
Our Mission
We connect and empower the Blue Mountains community to collaborate on building resilience while fostering sustainable practices and environmental stewardship. We invite all community members, businesses, and organizations to join us in fostering a resilient Blue Mountains. Whether you’re interested in sharing skills, participating in projects, or exploring ways to get involved, we welcome your collaboration.
For more information, visit Blue Mountains Repair Network or contact us at secretary@resilientbluemountains.org.
Posthuman Press
A NACH Network Partner
Posthuman Press is a press dedicated to publishing creative posthuman texts. We specialise in post-anthropocentric work that takes the posthuman as the starting point and that creatively explores our interconnected relationality and decentred ecosophy. Our goal is to bring the posthuman out of the academic field and to the general reader. We are an international press with a global reach; the founder resides in Melbourne. For more information, please visit: www.posthumanpress.com
Blue Mountains TalkingArtz Enlivenment Project
Artists and all types of creatives often work in isolation, engaging in thinking that sits at odds with mainstream society. Although being on the outer edge can be useful for creativity, creatives also thrive on networking with one another, sharing ideas, challenging viewpoints, discovering new practices. After they leave the collegiate world of creative arts education, many have to find within themselves the will to succeed, to find that ‘thing just around the corner’ that at long last makes what they do make sense to them, and is valued by their communities.
In today’s world of expensive inner city housing, with creatives now living on the urban fringes, how do they find other creatives with whom they share similar values and inspiration? How do they create opportunities for conversation, helping to build a vision for the future of culture and the arts in their region, in Australia and the wider world?
The TalkingArtz Enlivenment Project will address this challenge by interviewing a range of artists and other creative practitioners to discuss their work and events, live on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM and recorded as podcasts on Spotify.
If you would like to become involved in the Blue Mountains TalkingArtZ Enlivenment Project, contact:
Brad @ Brad.Diedrich.com
brad.diedrich@gmail.com
Brad is also a Founding Member of The Enlivenment Network, serving as its media manager.
Circular Australia
Circular Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to a circular economy in Australia. It originated from NSW Circular, a government-backed initiative, and now operates nationwide. The organization’s mission is to reduce waste, promote sustainable practices, and move towards a zero-carbon circular economy by 2030. It achieves this by working with businesses, governments, and researchers to create new markets, services, and infrastructure that support circular practices, such as designing out waste and reusing resources efficiently.
Circular Australia’s key activities include providing transparent data, driving initiatives like circular precincts and food waste reduction, and supporting projects such as “Circular Ag” and “Cool Compost” to foster sustainability in agriculture. The organization also focuses on breaking down barriers to the circular economy through partnerships and taskforces that bring together leaders from different sectors
THE BOWERBIRD COLLECTIVE
Music and Art in Conversation with Nature
The Bowerbird Collective makes art for nature. Founded by violinist Simone Slattery and cellist Anthony Albrecht in 2017, this Blue Mountains-based not-for-profit strengthens emotional connections to the environment and conservation through live performance, digital engagement and educational outreach.
With a focus on performing in regional areas, the Bowerbird Collective has produced more than 250 events across Australia. Their award-winning productions include ‘Where Song Began’, on songbirds, ‘Life on Land’s Edge’, on migratory shorebirds, and their ARIA-nominated albums of threatened species calls, ‘Songs of Disappearance’. They work closely with major conservation organisations, including BirdLife Australia, the Australian Museum, Australian Geographic and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Associate artists include Katie Yap (viola), Emily Sheppard (violin), Andrew Blanch (guitar) and Yyan Ng (multiinstrumentalist).
Kindlehill School's Buran Nalgarra: Solving Problems that Matter
Kindlehill School has launched a new education initiative for its Senior High School Program: Buran Nalgarra—Strength and Learning through Togetherness, which is being led by Lynn Daniel and Georgia Adamson. This offers a model for education shaped by a commitment to the relationist ethos of the paradigm shift to relationality.
As an innovative school of educators, Kindlehill recognises that as our world undergoes fundamental social and ecological change, it is imperative that the way we educate and prepare our young people for this world evolves accordingly.
This vibrant community of education leaders and students are actively working with a wide range of community organisations, community hubs, social enterprises, and businesses to develop collaborative real-world projects to create positive change in the Blue Mountains community.
To launch Buran Nalgarra, they hosted a premiere screening of the documentary, A Murmuration, on Tuesday 28 March 2023 at Mt Vic Flicks. Filmed and edited by Michael Joy, it speaks to the impact we can have when creativity, community and education intersect.
To find out more go to: Kindlehill School
FARM IT FORWARD
Socially Engaged Art Meets Food Security and Wellbeing
Farm It Forward has a focus on young people’s capacity to deal with ‘when times get tough’. It is a not-for-profit urban farming social enterprise connecting landowners and local young people who are passionate about growing food and promoting socially engaged art.
The project fosters youth and community mental health and develops skills, training and job opportunities while tackling social isolation and increasing community wellbeing. It is committed to honouring and respecting the rightful traditional custodians of the land we grow on, the Dharug and Gundungurra people.
As well as their own greenhouse tunnel growing and selling locally grown food, their focus is the ‘Growing Together’ outreach project using their Transformative Learning framework to develop and run a number of youth outreach projects with Blue Mountains schools and communities. These include Blacktown Youth College, Lawson campus, and Katoomba High School in a future collaboration with NSW TAFE to gain unit credits in horticulture, organic farming, permaculture and conservation and land management. We are working towards an art exhibition featuring the scope of our work.
—Project Lead: Manu Prigioni
GANG GANG GALLERY
The Seven Valleys (Lithgow) region is home to a growing community of creatives as it transitions to becoming a renewable energy and eco-tourism hub. Under the leadership of Sharon Howard, who is a leading cultural figure of the Lithgow community, Gang Gang Gallery is one of its most innovative centres of contemporary art practice, live music events, a fresh food weekly market, and workshops. It draws on a variety of contemporary art from the Blue Mountains region, Central Western NSW as well as other parts of Australia.
The gallery has a focus on representational pieces from all traditions, expressionist to abstract and even kitch in a multitude of mediums, including sculpture, textile, paint and ceramic.
Contact Details
Address: 206 Main Street, Lithgow
Phone: 0408 514 440
Website: www.gggallery.com.au
email: sharon@gggallery.com
Australian Earth Laws Alliance
AELA is a national not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to increase the understanding and practical implementation of Earth centred governance in Australia, with a focus on law, economics, education, ethics and the arts.
AELA projects work on five themes: changing culture; reconnecting with what matters; building community with a focus on civil society; creating alternatives; and transforming law and governance.
Programs include: AELA Education, Australian Earth Laws Centre, Australian Network for Community Eco-Governance, Australian Peoples Tribunal for Community and Nature’s Rights, Earth Arts, Earth Centred Economies, Earth Ethics, Exploring Ecospirituality, Future Dreaming, and GreenPrints – a whole of community transformation process.
Led by Michelle Maloney, AELA’s work is inspired by the theory and practice of Earth jurisprudence, which is a governance philosophy and growing social movement. Earth jurisprudence proposes that we rethink our legal, political, economic and governance systems so that they support, rather than undermine, the integrity and health of the Earth.
To learn more visit: https://www.earthlaws.org.au/
Kalani Gacon Filmmaker and Mountain of Youth
Kalani Gacon is an award winning filmmaker, born and raised in Katoomba, who has worked across four continents in search of stories that touch the heart. He recently returned home to found the Mountain of Youth (MOY), a youth mentoring project in film making. Working with local teenagers and professional mentors, their first film, ‘Soles’, and linked documentary, ‘The Making Of’ premiered at The Edge Cinema, Katoomba on 8 November 2022. The documentary demonstrated flow-on impact on teenagers through their involement in the full range of storytelling via filmmaking, speaking volumes for the benefits of such projects. Their second film project with Springwood High students resulted in the film, ‘DreamLink’, also premiered at The Edge Cinema in Katoomba. They have also developed a MOY Alumni project that actively helps graduates of their program find paid work in the film industry, including making music videos and other community-focused film work.
THE PLANETARY HEALTH INITIATIVE
Recognised in Circular Australia’s 2024 Circular Precincts Report, the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative, under the leadership of Blue Mountains City Council, supports local action to restore the health of our natural systems and support community health, wellbeing, resilience and hope in the face of climate change and increasing natural disasters.
Like a Songline, which spirals deep into the past and far into the future, the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative has a strong vision to grow Planetary Health for the whole City, for all life, and for future generations. It aims to provide a framework for us to reassess and adapt human practices to better support a healthy planet for current and future generations. It also includes learning from sustainable resource management practices that have been used by traditional peoples from around the world for millennia.
Recognising that #WeAreNature, and that all life is interconnected, helps us see the way we treat ourselves and each other and all other species, ultimately also impacts the wider health of our planet. health. As the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative grows it will involve community groups, educators and researchers, organisations, businesses, creatives and collaborations of all kinds and across all disciplines, to help them develop the outcomes Blue Mountains need so that our human and non-human communities can thrive.
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