NCIE CEO Jason Glanville
Jason Glanville’s introduction to the Indigenous Innovation Unconference held at the NCIE on 29th October 2011.
Jason talks about the NCIE, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ capacity to innovate, the need for a new national narrative that acknowledges the contribution, resilience and excellence of Indigenous people, and the need to overcome barriers to progress such as racism and lateral violence.
Rhinanna Patrick and Carla McGrath will be innovative participants and speakers at the Indigenous Innovation Unconference this Saturday 29th October at the NCIE.
Rhianna Patrick is a Torres Strait Islander who grew up in Brisbane and Weipa. She is the presenter of ABC’s Speaking Out, a radio program about culture, lifestyle and political issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia.
Rhianna joined the ABC as a news and current affairs cadet in 2002. She spent a year in the newsroom at the ABC’s office in Mackay before heading to Sydney in 2004 to take up a position as the breakfast newsreader for triple j news. Rhianna joined the Speaking Out program after a stint in Television where she worked as an Associate Producer/Researcher for the ABC’s Indigenous program, Message Stick.
Carla McGrath is an Indigenous Australian woman from Thursday Island. Although raised on the mainland, she retains strong family and community ties to the Torres Strait Islands.
Carla is currently the Business and Program Development Manager at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE). She is also a delegate to the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and a member of the NSW Reconciliation Council’s Management Committee. Prior to joining the NCIE, she was the Relationships Manager at the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) and in 2009 she held the position of National Indigenous Officer for the National Union of Students.
Event Details
What: Indigenous Innovation Unconference
Where: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, 180 George St, Redfern, NSW 2016. Map here
When: Saturday, 29th October 2011, 10am – 4:30pm
Who: People in or interested in the Indigenous Sector and Social Innovation Sector
Why: To develop and progress ideas and action on Indigenous Innovation
Presented by: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence & Social Innovation Sydney
Announcing the first round of speakers for the upcoming Indigenous Innovation Unconference to be held at the NCIE in partnership with Social Innovation Sydney on Saturday, 29 October 2011:
Tanya Hosch:
talks about the intersection of Indigenous Innovation and Social Innovation in Australia, how they can and could collaborate and what the next steps are for the co-creation of Australia’s Innovative future.
Jason Glanville is a member of the Wiradjuri peoples from south-western New South Wales. He is the CEO of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) based in Redfern. Prior to joining the NCIE Jason was Director of Programs and Strategy at Reconciliation Australia.
Shelley Reys is an Aboriginal woman of the Djiribul people. She is Managing Director of Arrilla Indigenous Consultants and Services, which provides services that assist Indigenous Australians and the wider community to work more effectively together in business, government and community environs. Ms Reys is also Vice-Chair of the National Australia Day Council and Director of Indigenous Film Services (IFS). Previously, she was Director of The Hollows Foundation, NSW Coordinator for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and worked with reconciliation’s people’s movement 1991 – 2000.
is a proud Aboriginal man whose family comes from Brewarrina. He is the CEO of the National Congress of Australia’s First People. Prior to joining the National Congress, Lindon was the Executive Director of Tranby Aboriginal College in Glebe.He worked in Aboriginal Affairs in NSW government for over a decade in positions covering culture & heritage, natural resource management, education, child sexual abuse and the Aboriginal Land Council system. He also worked for ATSIC and as Senior Policy Advisor to successive Ministers.
Charles Prouse is the CEO of the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA), located in Sydney. He currently serves as an observer of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Council (AILC) board. Charles is a Bardi/Nyikina man from the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Charles’ current role as the CEO of NASCA sees him managing a not-for-profit Indigenous organisation delivering healthy lifestyle programs to young Indigenous people, including students and jobseekers and using sports and sports role models to promote positive health, education and employment messages. Charles is an advisory board member for the Shift Foundation.
Luke Pearson is an Aboriginal man from NSW, he is a qualified Teacher (B.Teach/B.Arts), researcher and social commentator. He is a leading Indigenous innovator online and is best known for his influence on twitter as @AboriginalOz (he recently changed his twitter name to @LukelPearson).
Two more innovative speakers to be announced soon.
Event Details
What: Indigenous Innovation Unconference
Where: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, 180 George St, Redfern, NSW 2016. Map here
When: Saturday, 29th October 2011, 10am – 4:30pm
Who: People in or interested in the Indigenous Sector and Social Innovation Sector
Why: To develop and progress ideas and action on Indigenous Innovation
Presented by: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence & Social Innovation Sydney
The following is the second instalment of a two-part post by Rhyll Tonge, a recent intern at the NCIE.
After my first day here, I was in awe. How I ended up here is a mystery. I’d gone from thinking remote, desert, new community to being in the city, concrete, home state.
I keep thinking that I’m in the political heart, this is where so much Indigenous change has stemmed from, where many of the heart beats of Aboriginal affairs have been loudest, Redfern. I walk down the street to get lunch in the sun and it seems so normal, people don’t even realise the history they walk in and around.
So I adjust. I thank Aurora and the universe silently. In my first week I go to the NAIDOC ball!!! And i also enjoy doing surveys with youth for the inaugural online Community of Excellence at the NAIDOC Family and Sports Day. In my second week I am inspired as I hear some amazing talks at the inaugural Leadership Plus forum and learn about the Indigenous Leadership Centre. In my third week AIME is creating change waves in all of Australia with the National Hoodie Day campaign and conversations. We get to go to the one that’s happening on site with the CEO of AIME. NITV pops in. In my last week I feel like I’m finally getting comfortable and typically it’s all over!
Basically this place is amazing. After pondering the beauty of resilience and laughter in my Indigenous cultures all semester, I am so grateful to have landed here. The word resilience also resonates here and I have also learnt NCIE’s Key values growth, inclusiveness, integrity and most of all EXCELLENCE.
This is the future of change. Focusing on a language and experience of excellence not the deficit language we are ingrained into at university and mainstream society. I am inspired to write university teaching guidelines to help lecturers understand that yes there are facts and we have got to change them. BUT by talking disadvantage into the mind of youth will NOT break the cycle. At NCIE the cycle has broken. The opportunities that lay ahead for Redfern community and all those that participate in programs here from throughout the country are walking in a new pathway for this country. Youth leave this site holding integrity and growing into the size and options of excellence. It is a wonder to be a part of. Everyone here works so hard at changing life and its happening every day.
If there is one quote that I have heard a thousand times but will never cease to give me faith in how we can create change it is ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’. I am so grateful to have been a little thing in the big thing that NCIE is growing.
- By Rhyll Tonge
Rhyll Tonge
The following is part one of a two-part post by Rhyll Tonge, a recent intern at the NCIE.
Rhyll Tonge with Shireen Malamoo
People are dashing in and out of the office. Laughter is rising from Mickey’s cubicle. Pam is answering the intercom again. Brooke is giving one of her famous NCIE tours. Carla is eating a cookie. Jason is having another meeting. Sheena is working in a quiet flurry. Another day at NCIE, who knows what may happen next…
Its NAIDOC week and the air is buzzing and ready to celebrate
Some famous footy people drop by for a photo shoot date
Shireen Malamoo is telling us of how she just changed Sydney council’s documents
Invasion the new word, put that in all your ‘arrival’ statements
NAIDOC family fun day is rockin, everyone’s out on the field or in the sun
Gondwana Choir, Collie Kidz, Samantha Harris and others join the fun
The NAIDOC Ball is at the end of the week’s many celebrations
A night of Indigenous performance and awards for people from our many nations
It’s the inaugural Indigenous Leader Plus Forum on my second week
Mick Dodson just dropped in to say hello and later to speak
The fire trucks arrived at the opening ceremony’s smoking
Alarms went off; everyone went out laughing, no one choking
These leaders are here to converse about how they are changing history
Building up another sense of support and family
It’s National Hoodie Day which is really a week, everyone is sky blue
Nationally people put their AIME Hoodie on and have a conversation long over due
Talk about AIME, then your talking about real social change
Indigenous excellence to cultural integrity is the new thought range
This is the time Australia, this is the place to be, NCIE
Indigenous youth are rising up out of the ‘disadvantaged’ identity
It’s a new generation full of opportunities,
One that’ll change expectations from the country to all the cities
- By Rhyll Tonge, stay tuned for part two.
Rhyll Tonge
The Indigenous Innovation Unconference will be a gathering of thought leaders and changemakers in the Indigenous Sector and the Social Innovation Sector to explore:
The idea of the Indigenous Innovation Unconference is to facilitate a space for connections and collaboration between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the Social Innovation Sector. The event hopes to foster the development of new innovative partnerships that have a positive social impact and empower people and enterprises to build a brighter future for all Australians.
Speakers to be announced soon.
Event Details
What: Indigenous Innovation Unconference
Where: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, 180 George St, Redfern, NSW 2016.
When: Saturday, 29th October 2011, 9:30am – 4pm
Who: People in, or interested in, the Indigenous Sector and Social Innovation Sector
Why: To develop and progress ideas and action on Indigenous Innovation
Presented by: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence & Social Innovation Sydney
Innovative Advocacy
Carla McGrath, the NCIE’s Business and Program Development Manager, joined other professional Indigenous facilitators at the Learn Earn Legend Regional Youth Summit early this year. Check out the highlights from the inspirational Summit below.
The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) is creating an online Indigenous social learning platform aimed at empowering young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders that are linked to the Centre and its Pathway Partners.
The platform is being designed as an online space for NCIE Pathway Program participants:
The social learning network is innovative because:
The purpose of the social learning platform is to focus on meaningful participation and on the connections, interactions, and opportunities that empower young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and enhance their abilities. The online network will increase the effectiveness of the NCIE’s life-changing Pathway Programs by providing an ongoing point of engagement with the Centre and its partners. Ultimately, this new platform will further improve young people’s ability to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities.
The NCIE is currently consulting with young people to gain their perspectives and to find out their needs, desires, preferences and motivations. If you are a young Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, between the ages of 12-30, and you would like to add your perspective, please fill out this survey (if you are not, but you know young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who might like to be involved, please pass on the link to the survey).
We will keep you up-to-date on how this project progresses. If you have any questions or feedback feel free to comment below.
The NCIE would like to thank the Telstra Foundation for their generous support of this initiative.
The Morgan & Banks Foundation recently made a generous donation to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence’s (NCIE) Excellence Foundation. The funds will facilitate innovative youth engagement at the NCIE and help establish a National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC). The Council will be made up of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged between 12 and 30 with an interest in leadership development and steering youth engagement at the NCIE. As we have a local and national focus, members of the Council will come from across the country and will be a group of young people who have a focus on both their local communities and the nation. The NYAC will assist in developing the NCIE’s National Youth Engagement Strategy, set the strategic direction of the NCIE and provide guidance and support in relation to the development of the NCIE programs.
One of the programs the NYAC will have direct oversight of is the Indigenous Youth (IY) Nation Report. The IY Nation Report will be an innovative and substantive policy document that is used by political leaders, bureaucrats and organisations who wish to work with and understand issues affecting young Indigenous Australians. The NYAC will provide strategic direction into the policy development, content and research required to develop and launch the report.
Potential future leaders
The generous donation from the Morgan and Banks Foundation will allow the NCIE to identify potential participants for the NYAC, bring them together for two meetings per year and scope the development of the IY Nation Report.
The NCIE is grateful for the support and leadership of the Morgan & Banks Foundation.
From Black to Blue: It’s interesting how one’s mentality can change when exposed to the greater good. Thanks NCIE, a profound NGO, with a compelling vision!
Lindsay Bainbridge
In the winter of 2011, I was fortunate enough to be an intern at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, located in the heart of Redfern. This opportunity had arisen from one of my lecturers informing students at Newcastle University, studying Native Title Law, and Indigenous Peoples Issues and the Law, to apply through the Aurora Project for an internship with a Native Title Representative Body, or service provider. As an Arts/ Law student, with Majors in Sociology and Anthropology, and Politics and Policy, I liked the idea of being exposed to the operations of an NGO, having that semester lost faith in the notion of ‘equality before the law.’
During my four-week placement I observed the commitment of the NCIE team to their work, and their prime vision of affecting change for Indigenous peoples. Everything that NCIE stood for left me intrigued: wanting to be part of such a visionary, unmatched approach to social justice. When asked to write a short reflective piece on my time at NCIE, I asked Rhyll (another Aurora Intern) what I should write about. Rhyll replied: ‘write about your transformation.’ Rhyll had exemplified this by referring to my change in dress, as I began my internship wearing mainly black, and had in the final week begun to wear blue jeans and hoodie’s. I had been oblivious to my change in dress, and whilst Rhyll had pointed this out on National Hoodie Day, I did acknowledge Rhyll’s observation. This led me to question whether I too, along with so many before me, had become a product of NCIE’s compelling work.
I had undisputedly become more positive and inspired, and I could only accredit NCIE for this. NCIE not only recognises that they need to inspire Indigenous peoples to dream, but that inspiration needs to be nourished and cultivated. I have left NCIE knowing that it definitely has the potential to be a driving force in promoting positive change for young Indigenous peoples of Australia.
Having been placed at NCIE during NAIDOC week, I was exposed to such a fun and fantastic atmosphere. My experience was further enhanced by a LeadershipPlus Delegate forum held at the Centre the following week, where I got to hear Mick Dodson, Tom Calma, and Dr Stephen Cornell speak.
Most of my time at NCIE was spent enthusiastically researching, and constructing policy arguments. During team meetings I was briefly exposed to how the private sector, the government and NGO’s intertwine.
Lindsay Bainbridge
Perhaps one of the best lessons I learnt on my placement was that networking and teamwork is an essential ingredient for the success of any entity. The people I have come across during my time at the NCIE are some of the most passionate, inspirational, and intelligent that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
My experience at the NCIE was the most captivating experience I could have ever have dreamed of. I hope other interns are given the same opportunities I was given, because it was priceless. Please see: www.auroraproject.com.au. Applications for the upcoming summer 2011/12 round of internships will be open from Monday 8th August through Friday 2nd September 2011.
- Lindsay
Editor’s note: We did not pay Lindsay to say this 