Sanctuary: a Creative Co-Design Space

Our mindset is multi-sensory, educational, conservation-minded, respectful of First Nations Country & culture & nourishing to both mind & body.

Native Orchid Celeana (Flying Duck Orchid). Photo by Michael Prideaux

We bring long-term memory and a creative, long-term vision to development in our region.

Sanctuary East Gippsland Inc. is an advocacy group focused on the Creative Industries as a means of building trans-generational prosperity in East Gippsland and exploring strategic opportunities to transition to a more regenerative economy. We promote the creative co-design of sensitive places, spaces and ‘experiences’ that recognize and secure environment, culture and community identity. We are a group with deep knowledge of the region; its history, communities, its tourism, cultural and environmental significance.

Our Sanctuary Inc. team (a non-profit) oversees a flexible, non-linear co-design lab that brings together custodians, specialist expertise, artists, local wisdom, all the relevant stakeholders, to explore and test innovative and strategic opportunities and strategies.

"Co-design extracts contributions in a continuous experimental and creative process. It allows for the iterative outlining and prototyping of emerging ideas and enables stakeholders to experience the implications, advantages and risks of different propositions."

"In this complex intersection, that combines cooperative experimenting and testing of ideas to build a greater knowledge base around the concept and the collaborative ability to establish clearer understanding of risk, we make the co-design process singularly valuable." 
Michael Trudgeon, Professor of Architecture and Design in Social Context. RMIT University, member of the Sanctuary E.G. team

For organizations co-design can assist in 'breaking down the silos' that impede the fruition of cross-disciplinary projects and help to minimize the investment risk.

For communities we give voice to local creativity and wisdom and enable collaboration with experts (scientific, cultural and heritage) in the testing and prototyping of ideas and propositions. Experiences, places and enterprises that are safe for people and the planet, that attract visitors and investors.

We are guided by our associate Dr Daniele Hromek (a Yuin Saltwater woman) (1) and we are learning to observe cultural protocols and ensure that respect for Country and culture is at the core of our co-design process.

We recognize, not only the pull to Nature, the need to secure our biodiversity, but we also value the unique culture of communities, their identity, heritage, social and communications needs.

This is our flexible and evolving co-design model.

Sanctuary E.G Inc. Social Values

We value community. Each community has its identity - its history, stories, culture and its brand of resilience. It will have its strengths, assets and unique opportunities

We value inclusiveness by listening to all who have a stake in the regeneration of land, biodiversity, culture and community

We unleash the power of creativity – imagination, ideas, complex problem solving, skills and knowledge 

We value diversity. We create safe and trustworthy settings that observe protocols and enable sharing of ideas and knowledge across disciplines, cultures, ethnicity, age and gender identities

We respect truth and reconciliation: the need to acknowledge the beauty and ugliness of our history; our First Nations need to regenerate culture, language and knowledge; our history of Colonial settlement, including evidence of massacres and atrocities that displaced Traditional Owners and officially sought to expunge their rights, their culture, lore, language and livelihoods

We are mindful of ongoing trauma that results from catastrophic events. We draw on our innate connection to Country/Nature and creativity for recovery as individuals, communities and industry. 

We seek strategic pathways to enhance skills, hatch businesses and create jobs in a thriving regional economy that supports First Nations, their autonomy and economic prosperity; that leverages off tourism operators and their services; location, rich biodiversity and an abundance of growers, citizen scientists, entrepreneurs, makers and creators.

Our Team and Associates

We are are designers, makers and shakers. We bring together a combined knowledge and experience of design, local tourism, education, the creative industries, communications, regenerative agriculture and remote community services.

If you want to know more about us or to read our blogs that include relevant Eco-Cultural-Tourism international models visit our website @ https://www.sanctuaryeastgippsland.com/about-us