The Warrnambool Art Scene

A diverse group of professionals experienced all facets of Warrnambool’s art scene on Friday. The 2017 Leadership Great South Coast participants learnt about art and how it is helping to shape the culture of the south-west.

Participants were treated to a walking arts trail through the Warrnambool CBD, where we saw first-hand murals, sculptures, rogue art, and ground artwork, all of which helps support our local artists and the Warrnambool City Council in attracting people to the town CBD. The overwhelming vibe from the south-west community, is that the arts can be supported and facilitated from the ground up.
Community and philanthropic groups such as The Artery and The Fletcher Jones Factory were highlighted as groups supporting local artists on their way to higher ground. The Artery, gave participants an insight into the struggles that some local and visiting artists are facing, such as having adequate space, and facilities to help them deliver their passion.

Seeing unfinished artwork at The Artery by South West Healthcare’s Artist in Residence, Georgie Mattingley firsthand, raised issues such as how confronting topics such as the hospital environment can be incorporated into art. It was welcome to hear that Warrnambool’s largest employer is planning to launch a platform to support such artwork.

The site of former Warrnambool icon, Fletcher Jones was a cornerstone on the agenda, including presentations in gallery rooms, and a tour of the currently transforming factory site. Local investment in personal art choices such as a car collection featured, and raised the question as to what constitutes art.

Community art in the south-west is starting a groundswell. With a collaborative approach amongst the community, philanthropic and corporate groups, Warrnambool’s arts scene is bearing down to launch in to the future. Fletcher Jones would be proud!

Education, Engagement, Challenge and Inspiration

Leadership Great South Coast 2017 participants were fortunate to hear from four experts in the field of education, and found themselves to be confronted, challenged, but ultimately inspired as a result of their learnings.

The guest speakers came from a wide variety of educational experiences, but all were passionate about the future of education and how the right teacher having the right impact at the right time could make an important impact in a child’s life.

The concept that ‘everyone has the right to an education’ was reinforced by all speakers, and it was inspirational to hear from two teachers in the ‘front lines’ of the education sector discuss their experiences in teaching students who were disadvantaged by generational poverty or by disability, or those students who had seemingly been given up on by everyone else.

It was also extremely valuable to hear some of the broader areas of education policy concern in speaking to two heads of organisations which are very active in our region, and inspirational to see the knowledge, focus, and determination which they embodied

If, as Mandela stated, that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world, then LGSC participants have been provided with very powerful armament indeed as they strive to make an impact in their communities.

Developing Strong Leaders in a Climate of Change

Aspiring leaders from Leadership Great South Coast (LGSC) were inspired to lead change and choose resilience by Fearless Leadership Speaker and Mentor, Corrinne Armour in Port Fairy today. Program participants were challenged to take responsibility and embrace opportunities to influence positive change in their workplaces and communities.

Ms Armour warned that “70% of organisational change initiatives will fail” and stressed the importance of developing skills to drive effective change. “Recognising motivations for change in ourselves and others, communicating change effecively and actively engaging people in change will help make positive change stick”, explained Ms Armour.

Program participant Amanda Wearne recognised that “actions speak louder than words” when it came to making successful changes in the workplace, and encouraged workplace influencers to lead by example.

“The ‘buy in’ for change is driven by a combination of emotions and analytical thinking”, explained Ms Armour, “and conversations considering both of these are needed when introducing change in any environment”.

In a world where change in the workplace is becoming the norm, rather than the exception, the importance of building personal resilience was described as a vital leadership skill during the LGSC Program Day. This was emphasised in the light of figures suggesting individuals will spend an average of 22,808 minutes at work each year.

Program participants were presented with a range strategies for building resilience including learning to delegate, focusing on end points, recognising where things were beyond their control and maintaining alignment with their personal values.

Ms Juanita Dickinson described her own effective strategy of focsuing on an end point through the use of a “vision board”—a physical representation of her personal goals—to help navigate to a preferred career outcome.

The day was summed up by Ms Armour’s provocative challenge to the program participants—“If you don’t like a situation, change it. If you can’t change it, change how you think about it. If you can’t do that, it might be time to consider moving on”.

Port of Portland: International gateway to the Green Triangle Region

Enriched with economic knowledge from our first economy day we gathered at the Port of Portland to learn about the ports significant contribution to the local economy.

Our speakers Jim Cooper, Committee for Portland Chair, David Johnson, HR Manager Keppel Prince, Peter Chellis, Plant Manager, Portland Aluminium, Mark Kamphuis, Port Engineer and Graeme Tivey, Port Optimisation Manager, shared their expertise and gave us an account of their professional leadership journeys, which has landed them in their current roles.

Hoping on the bus in high visibility vests, we toured the port. On 30 June (end of the financial year), the port was buzzing with activity as the Port drew closer to breaking their annual tonnage record. The port had the most modern technology for unloading wood chips from trucks which was a prime example of how technology saves time. We witnessed the ginormous piles of woodchips, grain silo’s, truckloads of cattle, mineral sand and logs loaded onto the ships docked in the berths and then fumigation to comply with standards.

We toured local streets understanding the proximity of port to the community, discussing various community engagement measures in place to ensure that community is not negatively affected by noise and dust issues. It is an example of community engagement and working harmoniously.

Thank you to our expert guest speakers and Port of Portland for sharing their office space and sponsoring our program day.