Resources
Welcome to our Enlivenment Resources hub, your go-to destination for tools, guides, and inspiration designed to support artists, cultural workers, and community organizers. Here, you’ll find a curated selection of practical resources aimed at fostering collaboration, creativity, and sustainability within our Enlivenment arts and culture community.
Whether you’re looking for networking opportunities, eco-friendly art practices, or insights into community-driven cultural initiatives, our resources are here to empower you. Stay connected with the latest articles, reports, and workshops as we grow together to foster an Enlivenment worldview to meet the challenges of our uncertain times.
PDFs
Circular Economy Markets Australia.pdf
Extracts on Philosophical Posthumanism.pdf
Korten-Eco-nomics-.pdf
Korten explains that to secure the wellbeing of all of Earth’s people, we will need a new economics that guides us on a path to an Ecological Civilization.
Applying Kubler Ross’s stages of grief to our response to the collapse of modernity as a normative culture framework
A series of templates for developing the skills to understake systems thinking and apply it to projects.
Lauren Tynan of Maquarie University explains the difference between extractivism and relationalism.
An overview of the application of the relationality paradigm shift across a range of disciplines and practices, including implications of Indigenous Knowledges approaches to relationality.
Circular precincts are essential to Australia’s transition to a circular economy. They stimulate economic growth, creating jobs and new sustainable products and services, while supporting liveable and sustainable communities.
Steven Liaros’ Becoming Indigenous envisions decentralized, self-sustaining communities inspired by Indigenous philosophies and practices. Drawing on Bruce Pascoe and Bill Gammage, he advocates for regenerative, ecosystem-aligned living, replacing extractive economies with renewable technologies and governance rooted in balance and harmony.
PODCASTS
FORCE OF LIFE: The Art of Enlivenment
To create real, deep, broad and meaningful climate action, we must shift Australia from extraction-minded modernity to a life-centred culture, and explore how humanity might recover its sense of wonder, humility, and purpose in relationship with the living world.
Could this be that ‘holy Grail’ in climate action which humanity has been looking for quite some time?
In this second episode of The Force of Life podcast series, host Mik Aidt speaks with writer, philosopher, and sociologist Barbara Lepani about what she calls enlivenment – a life-centred response to the decay of modern civilisation, recovering a poetic, relational way of being with the more-than-human world, and inviting retired seniors to lead a new season of service to life on Earth.
Barbara is a retired sociologist of technological change, a writer, and a cultural weaver from the Blue Mountains. Building on Episode 1’s “Senior Uprise”, Barbara talks about the Eldership Revolution, indigenous ways of knowing, arts-as-activism, and how a song – ‘The Rebellion of the Earth Kingdoms’ – became a call to kinship and courage.
Barbara reminds us that the great transformation begins quietly – in gardens, in friendships, in creative networks, and in the way we listen to the Earth. This episode is a celebration of that quiet revolution.
FORCE OF LIFE: The Art of Enlivenment
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.
2026
Talking ArtZ | Wyn Jones – Cradle of Conservation
Talking ArtZ | Wyn Jones – Cradle of Conservation
Talking ArtZ | Wyn Jones – Cradle of Conservation
In this episode of Talking ArtZ, The Professor sits down with Wyn Jones — ecologist, artist, poet and lifelong advocate for the Blue Mountains — to explore the powerful intersection of art, conservation and community.
With his exhibition Cradle of Conservation – Hands on Heritage currently showing at Gang Gang Gallery in Lithgow, Wyn reflects on the origins of Australia’s conservation movement, from the historic saving of Blue Gum Forest in 1932 to the World Heritage–listed landscapes we know today.
The conversation moves across decades of lived experience — childhood encounters with the bush, a vast archive of photography, poetry shaped by place, and the belief that art can awaken the senses in ways science alone sometimes cannot. Wyn shares how participatory works, including hand-printed conservation banners and children’s painted stones, carry forward a message of shared responsibility and intergenerational care for country.
This is a thoughtful, inspiring discussion about memory, activism, creativity and the deep sensory connection we have to the natural world — and how stepping outside, even briefly, can restore perspective.
The episode closes with Wyn’s musical selection: Dave Brubeck’s Strange Meadowlark.
Talking ArtZ – The Force of Life: Enlivenment and the Eldership Revolution
Talking ArtZ – The Force of Life: Enlivenment and the Eldership Revolution
In this inspiring Talking ArtZ special, The Professor shares a profound conversation from The Force of Life podcast by Mik Aidt, featuring Blue Mountains writer, philosopher, and cultural weaver Barbara Lepani. Together, they explore how we can move from an extraction-driven culture to one that honours life, relationship, and renewal.
Barbara introduces her vision of Enlivenment — a poetic and relational philosophy that reawakens our connection with nature and community — and the Eldership Revolution, a movement calling older generations to lead with wisdom, compassion, and care for the Earth.
Drawing from Indigenous knowledge, deep ecology, and Buddhist philosophy, Barbara reflects on how true transformation begins in small acts — in gardens, friendships, art, and shared stories.
Originally produced for The Force of Life podcast by Mik Aidt. Replayed on Talking ArtZ with permission. Featuring members of the Enlivenment Network: Mik Aidt, Barbara Lepani, and The Professor.
#TalkingArtZ #RBM891FM #ForceOfLife #Enlivenment #EldershipRevolution
Talking ArtZ Podcast | Singer-Songwriters, Storytelling & Social Change
Talking ArtZ Podcast | Singer-Songwriters, Storytelling & Social Change
Talking ArtZ Podcast | Singer-Songwriters, Storytelling & Social Change
In this episode of Talking ArtZ, The Professor welcomes back Barbara Lepani for the second instalment of her regular Enlivenment Network segment. Barbara unveils an inspiring new initiative: the Singer-Songwriter Showcase—a grassroots music platform for the Blue Mountains designed to amplify local voices in response to the challenges of our times. From climate anxiety to political unrest, Barbara discusses how music, inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan, Archie Roach, and Missy Higgins, can serve as a powerful medium for collective healing and cultural expression. With open mic nights planned at On The Soul Side Café and a culminating concert on the horizon, the vision is as much about community and intergenerational dialogue as it is about the songs themselves.
Later in the show, arts communicator and educator Gill Nicol joins the conversation to explore how storytelling, experience design, and audience engagement deepen the impact of arts practice in contemporary society.
📍 Originally aired on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM
🔊 Podcast available now on Spotify, Apple, and all major platforms.
#TalkingArtZ #SingerSongwriterShowcase #BarbaraLepani #GillNicol #EnlivenmentNetwork #BlueMountainsArts #SociallyEngagedArt #ArtsForChange #CommunityRadio #CulturalResilience #StorytellingInArt
Talking ArtZ – Episode: Enlivening Culture with Barbara Lepani + What's On at BMCC with Haley Zena Pynton
Talking ArtZ – Episode: Enlivening Culture with Barbara Lepani + What's On at BMCC with Haley Zena Pynton
Talking ArtZ – Episode: Enlivening Culture with Barbara Lepani + What’s On at BMCC with Haley Zena Pynton.
Align in the Sound Podcast
Welcome to the podcast of the New Economy Network of Australia, or NENA. NENA podcast is organised, produced and presented by Anna Garnock, and edited by Catherine Van Wilgenberg and Scotty Foster.
LINKS
Archie Moore on Kith and Kin
Archie Moore discusses his work ‘kith and kin’, winner of the Golden Lion for National Participation at the 2024 Venice Biennale, and his vision for honouring First Nations culture and history.