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TURNING a footpath into an art mural.
Converting empty old farms into housing.
Providing driving lessons for migrants and refugees.
These were just some of the ideas being developed by participants at the Let’s Nut It Out session in Bendigo on Monday.
More than 60 people attended the day-long program at La Trobe University, which aimed to equip central Victorian business and community leaders, entrepreneurs and ‘change makers’ with the skills, knowledge and networks necessary to make their ideas a reality.
Make A Change founder and director Karen Corr was pleased by the turnout.
“In the work we do, we see people wanting to contribute everywhere,” she said.
Eight skills mentors helped participants workshop their ideas throughout the day.
Guest speakers Jon Anstey, general manager of insight and innovation at Coliban Water, and Lyndon Galea, founder of not-for-profit Eat Up Australia, shared some of their insights.
But one of the aspects participants appreciated most about the program was the opportunity to meet like-minded people and discuss their ideas with them.
Health coach Merrin Ashton attended to help realise her idea of making people healthier home cooks. She is developing a program to coach people through the process.
When The Bendigo Advertiser spotted Ms Ashton, she was collaborating with Rose Broadway and Rebekah Honey on a task.
Ms Broadway, of Madhu Health, is developing a relationships education program for children aged 8 to 12 years called Growing Up Human.
Ms Honey, of Open Heart Wisdom, is developing a program for girls aged 10 to 12 and their mothers or female carers called A Celebration Day for Girls.
It addresses topics such as menstruation, positive self-esteem and body image, and womanhood.
The trio were enjoying helping each other develop their respective projects.
“You pick your friends’ brains but there’s only so much they can help you with these things,” Ms Ashton said.
Skills mentor Glenn Harvey, marketing manager at Bendigo Tourism, said many of the participants he was mentoring were in the early stages of learning where to go and who to talk to about their concepts.
He said they had valued having a safe environment to raise and explore those questions. “It was great to see so many ideas in one room,” he said.
“Some of these ideas, if they come to fruition, are going to be fantastic for Bendigo and the region.”
Make a Change coordinated the workshop, which was run in partnership with La Trobe University, Keech Australia and Lisa Chesters MP.
Sharing central to innovation
Several of the bright ideas emerging from Let’s Nut It Out have a sharing economy at their core.
Ecological sustainability practitioner Ian McBurney has been talking about the benefits of an open sharing economy for years.
Now, he’s decided to create one based in, and benefiting, Bendigo.
The concept doesn’t have a catchy name like Uber or AirBnB yet, but Mr McBurney said it was similar in that people share goods and services. Only he wants the profits to flow back into the community.
“There are so many possibilities,” he said.
“Car sharing is a big one – there are way too many cars in Bendigo.”
Mr McBurney hoped Let’s Nut It Out would help him refine his ideas before he completes his business plan.
He aims to launch the cooperative, which will be accessible via a website, next year.
Meanwhile, Dingee residents Sharlene Crage and Alana Newbold are planning on taking farmhouses emptied by the drought and filling them with people.
“It’s all about community engagement,” Ms Crage said.
The pair, both members of the 2016 Loddon Murray Community Leadership Program, will be consulting farmers about using their unoccupied properties to house guests or skilled volunteers willing to help revive their premises in exchange for board and food.
Ms Crage said the 48 dairies in Dingee had been whittled down to eight by the drought.
“This is all part of drought relief as well – it’s going to promote an alternative source of income,” she said.
