Reflecting on Leadership Among Giants

Posted on August 7, 2012 by ncie

Blog post by NCIE CEO Jason Glanville

I had the great privilege of being a guest at Lowitja O’Donoghue’s 80^th birthday over the weekend and it was one of those opportunities that give you the chance to reflect on how far we have come and how much more work there is left to do.

Lowitja O’Donoghue, Sol Bellear, Jason Glanville

The room was full of giants, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who have played a part in shaping Australia over the last half-century or more. What Lowitja has achieved is extraordinary and what she represents to future generations in terms of a vision of excellence is incredibly important. The battles she has fought, private and public, have established new benchmarks of integrity and possibility.

Michael O’Loughlin with Lowitja O’Donoghue

The NCIE’s vision of excellence is possible because of the work of Lowitja and so many of her contemporaries that were in the room. People like Jackie Huggins, Pat Anderson, Shirley Peisley, Anne Martin and Kerrie Tim and the next generation of Indigenous leaders present including Tanya Hosch, Kirstie Parker, Ian Anderson and Kerry Arabena. Our success will depend, in part, on our capacity to take the lessons from these great leaders and make sure they are transferred to future leaders.

Leadership is tough and many of our leaders didn’t set out to play the roles they do, but their resilience, passion, commitment and natural talent, led them on a journey from which we all benefit. Handing the baton over to a new generation of leaders isn’t always an easy or smooth process, but the bottom line is that the success achieved to date will be unsustainable without an effective transition. And, the reality is, there is plenty of work still to be done, requiring leaders from across the community contributing in a range of ways.

From everyone at the NCIE, Happy Birthday Lowitja – we owe you so much.

- NCIE CEO, Jason Glanville

Jason Glanville

Excellence is the New Black!

Posted on June 7, 2012 by ncie

This is the second blog post in a series by NCIE CEO Jason Glanville.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander excellence is a belief in possibility, a conviction that past failure can be used to fuel future innovation and a trust in the inherent capacity of all our babies to be the absolute best them possible. Indigenous excellence requires grand vision, a genuine interest in the ideas of others and a belief in the potential of that which doesn’t yet exist. Self-interest, paternalism dressed as support and debilitating racism, however it presents itself, are the inheritance of disadvantage and not drivers of excellence.

NCIE National Youth Advisory Committee: Peter Dawson, Hanna Donnelly, Harry Murphy, April Long, Benson Saulo

National Centre of Indigenous Excellence National Youth Advisory Committee: Peter Dawson, Hanna Donnelly, Harry Murphy, April Long, Benson Saulo

Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from all over Australia at the NCIE to progress Constitutional Recognition

Every day at the NCIE, we see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of all ages engaging in a new future of possibility. We are driven by the reality of disadvantage and the knowledge that too many of our people still suffer too much. Standing on the shoulders of the giants that came before us, we have a clearer view of an unlimited future where Indigenous excellence and innovation are valued as key drivers of national success and pride.

National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Association Dancers

National Aboriginal & Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) Dancers

Young Swimmers at the NCIE Pool

Excellence is the New Black, is more than a cute catch-cry at the NCIE. It’s core to our belief in the power of resilience and the possibility of large scale change driven by a vision of excellence. Over the next few months we will start to have a bit of fun with the idea of Excellence is the New Black – so watch this space.

Jason Glanville

- NCIE, CEO, Jason Glanville

Indigenous Innovation: Learning to Listen

Posted on May 9, 2012 by ncie

As part of the Australian Social Innovation Exchange’s (ASIX) first ever Social Changemakers’ Festival, which took place between April 13^th and 22^nd, the NCIE hosted an event called – ‘Indigenous Innovation: Learning to Listen’.

Firstly, a quick background check; ASIX is a community of Australian’s working to design and implement new solutions to some of the social and environmental challenges and opportunities that face our world. It’s a community that allows social changemakers to create an online profile where they can list projects and events, offer or find out about learning opportunities, and ultimately share their experiences and report on what is being achieved.

How does the NCIE fit into all this? Our Centre is igniting the conversation around Indigenous innovation and showcasing real world examples of innovation through the work that we carry out each and every day. Indigenous Innovation is a uniquely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approach to social innovation. The NCIE is a social innovation itself – we are an enterprise trading for a social purpose and creating new forms of collaboration. We develop mutually beneficial Pathway Partnerships to deliver life changing programs for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and their communities.

Indigenous Innovation: Learning to Listen was held at the NCIE on April 17^th and included an introductory talk from our CEO Jason Glanville. In this talk, Jason introduces the notion of Indigenous Innovation and talks about the NCIE’s approach to rewriting the national narrative while creating brighter futures with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from across Australia.

- Bianca Roberts, NCIE Communications Coordinator

Recognise This!

Posted on March 30, 2012 by ncie

We here at the NCIE recently had over 75 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders come to stay and participate in a four-day youth-led Constitutional Recognition Forum. It was an uplifting and inspirational experience for all involved.

The NCIE secured high profile speakers such as Tom Calma (Co-Chair, Reconciliation Australia), Pat Turner, Pat Anderson (Chair, Lowitja Institute), Paul Howes (National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union), Mick Gooda (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Karen Middleton (Chief Political Correspondent, SBS), Kirstie Parker (Editor, Koori Mail), Jody Broun (Co-Chair, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples), Indigenous Education Specialist Luke Pearson and Aden Ridgeway (Founder, Cox Inall Ridgeway) to speak at the Forum.

This special event was organised by the amazing NCIE team members Brooke Pettit and Alison McLeod and it was made possible by sponsors the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Reconciliation Australia, Qantas and Accor. There will be lots of photos, videos and reports to come out of the event but here is a quick sneak peek.

: The early-risers from the #NCIECRF photo by Blayke Tatafu

We developed a Twitter hashtag for the event #NCIECRF - check it out for some amazing comments and photos from participants, facilitators and speakers. The event also led to the redevelopment of the @IndigenousX twitter account that is taking the #IndigenousX hashtag to a whole new level. Here is a great blog post about it by Luke Pearson.

Pete Dawson NCIE National Youth Advisory Council Co-Chair - 'Great to meet twitter king @LukeLPearson @theNCIE #nciecrf'

While the participants were here, we also beta-tested the Community of Excellence, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social network we have been developing over the past 6 months. First impressions were brilliant! The forum participants loved the look and feel and were excited by the unique experience the network offers. It has been affectionately referred to as the ‘blackfella facebook’. Big shout out to Digital Eskimo for doing such a fantastic job on developing the social network so far. We are just a couple months away from launch.

Kimberly Lovegrove signing up to the Community of Excellence - the NCIE's Indigenous Social Network

Here a few tweets from one of the forum participants that sums up his experience.

The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Taste of Excellence Gala Dinner

Posted on March 21, 2012 by ncie

On Thursday 15^th March 2012, The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence closed its doors to the public! As, on this particularly warm dewy night, the basketball stadium in the EORA SARC was not a basketball stadium, but rather a dining hall of glamorous proportions. Why? To host the A-List of the Indigenous Community, both local & national, along with 300 more supporters and contributors to the NCIE in what was a remarkable celebration of the Centre’s work in our first 2 years of operation and the prosperous future of this astonishing facility. This was the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence’s Taste of Excellence Gala Dinner 2012.

The NCIE Team, Emily Scivetti, Carla McGrath, Sheena Duncan, Jason Glanville, Brooke Pettit, Ros Morgan, Bianca Roberts, Pam Kaur

NCIE Stadium Transformation

The night’s festivities kicked off with canapés and mocktails in the courtyard at sunset. As our prestigious guests mingled and had their glamour shots taken by NCIE advocate & Indigenous photographer Wayne Quilliam, we were treated to a performance by the Moogahlin Circus Crew in the Campus Dining Hall. The sound of didgeridoos (courtesy of Clarence Slockee & Glen Doyle) and smoke billowing from the EORA SARC was the cue for guests to proceed into the dining hall where Donna Ingram delivered a beautiful Welcome to Country. Highlights of the Centre’s work played during the night with the debut of the NCIE show reel and a photo slide show of the excellence, integrity, inclusiveness and growth of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence since we opened our doors back in January 2010. With the cream of the crop in attendance such as Rhoda Roberts who charmed the crowd as our Master of Ceremonies (and I was lucky enough to sit next to her!), NCIE patron & tennis champion Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, supermodel & NCIE advocate Samantha Harris, as well as other distinguished Indigenous guests including Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, Adjunct A/professor & Author Anita Heiss & Linda Burney MP, just to name a few, we rolled out the black carpet and requested that everyone dress in their deadliest frocks. And boy did they deliver. Board members & staff were blown away by the response to the dinner when this illustrious group of black fullas accepted the invitation. Even more blown away by the Governor, Her Excellency Marie Bashir, who graced us with her company, once again showing her long-standing support of NCIE’s past, present & future.

Lowitja O'Donoghue, Dawn Casey, Marie Bashir

Deadly sista girls Emma & Casey Donovan both performed on the night, Emma staying true to her blend of Country, Gospel & Soul music to deliver two beautiful numbers with the inclusion of her traditional Gumbayngirr language. Casey decided to pull out the Whitney tragic’s heartstrings, kicking off her set with ‘I Will Always Love You’. I had to have a little giggle at the gasps in the room when the music started and we all realised what song it was. But she pulled it off, and then bought the house down, belting out the Sam & Dave classic ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ just before dessert. We were also treated to an intimate performance by Lenny & Travis from the Bangarra Dance Company, with their piece ‘Possum”, and Indigenous pianist & graduate of the WA & Sydney Conservatoria Bradley Gilchrist.

Emma Donovan

Casey Donovan

Bradley Gilchrist

The CEO of the NCIE Jason Glanville, spoke powerfully of the contribution of the NCIE over the past 2 years, telling guests of the 10,000 young Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people that have stepped over the threshold of our George St entrance, to participate in life-changing programs across our four development pathways of Arts& Culture, Learning & Innovation, Health & Wellness and Sport & Recreation. He spoke of the local contribution, with the help of our pathway partners, and mentioned successes such as the Tribal Warrior Association & The Redfern Police coming together to create a boxing program for both youth and police officers to participate in together and work on bettering relationships. This has seen the crime rate in Redfern decrease significantly. It is these kinds of wins that keep us going, and the kinds of victories that we wanted to share with board members, and hundreds of other supporters of this amazing Centre. A stand out line from Jason for me was when he recognised all the prestigious, influential members of the black community in the front of the room and followed with ‘there’s no Blacks in the Back here, it’s all Blacks in front’. Nicely put indeed, there’s a reason he is our fearless leader!

NCIE CEO Jason Glanville

Bangarra Dancers

Having worked at the NCIE since its opening I felt immensely proud and privileged to be a part of such an amazing, future changing organisation with passionate, hard working staff committed to the NCIE’s values of integrity, excellence, growth and inclusiveness. A HUGE thank you to Sheena Duncan & Great Big Events for pulling off a remarkable evening, Laissez Faire for feeding us and everyone who turned up on the night and to those who turn up every day to make sure that NCIE’s gates stay open.

- This post was written by Bianca Roberts, the NCIE’s new Communications Coordinator.

Rhoda Roberts with blog post writer Bianca Roberts

Innovative Unconference Speakers Announced

Posted on October 19, 2011 by ncie

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:

Register Now

Tanya Hosch, Board Director, the Australian Centre for Social Innovation
Jason Glanville, CEO, National Centre of Indigenous Excellence
Shelley Reys, Managing Director, Arilla Indigenous Consultancies & Services
Lindon Coombes, Executive Director, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
Charles Prouse, CEO, National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy
Luke Pearson, Online Social Commentator @LukeLPearson

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.

Tanya is a consultant working on a range of Indigenous specific and broader social policy areas across Australia, and has a particular interest in the area of philanthropy and co-investment and community corporate partnerships as a model of progressing our social agenda.Her expertise is in Indigenous affairs, youth development and leadership development. In addition, Tanya serves as the Board Director at The Australian Centre for Social Innovation; as a Director on the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation; is a Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Technology, Sydney; is a Director for the International Funders of Indigenous Peoples based in North America and the Aboriginal Advisory Committee to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Tanya is also an advisor to Social Ventures Australia.

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.

Jason is Co-Chair of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute, on the board of the Indigenous Leadership Centre and on the board of Carriage Works.

Jason was named in the (Sydney) magazine’s 100 most influential people of Sydney and, 2011 was featured in Boss Magazine’s True Leaders of 2011 list. He is also a member of the Sydney Leadership Program’s Headland Project.

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.

Lindon Coombes 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.

Register Now

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

Indigenous Innovation

Indigenous Excellence through Social Innovation

Tag Archives: Jason Glanville

Reflecting on Leadership Among Giants

Excellence is the New Black!

The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Taste of Excellence Gala Dinner