Social Enterprise is a natural fit for creative individuals. It's where intuition meets logic in a heady mix of creativity, passion, ingenuity, business sense and hard work. But it certainly isn't an easy path.
I was lucky enough to be involved in the founding of the Tasmanian Social Enterprise Network; an ego-less industry led group that was all about raising awareness of social enterprise and both the benefits and challenges. This coupled with my work studying the Tasmanian social enterprise sector as a Research Associate with the Institute for Regional Development provided me with a great opportunity to explore my own ideas and those of many other passionate individuals. It also resulted in the Tasmanian Social Enterprise Study and was followed a year later by the publication Stories of Social Enterprises.
With a change of government and massive shift in support for social enterprise over the last few years, the focus has moved away from the social enterprise model. Although, it is a challenge for anyone wanting any financial assistance, it actually leaves those who are absolutely committed to the idea of matching a social mission with entrepreneurial practices to make change.
Last week I was thrilled to deliver an Introduction to Social Enterprise Workshop to a group of individuals working on major projects funded via Tasmanian Medicare Local.
It reminded me of the opportunities in exploring social enterprise and thinking outside the square and I like that.
The aim is to provide future workshops, so drop me a line if you or your organisation are interested.
My background is as a journalist. I started naively at The Examiner in Launceston with little life experience and it really was a baptism of fire. With uncles successfully working in the media business I felt the pressure to remain in mainstream media, but it wasn't long before I escaped. Initially I was devastated as I thought my lifelong dream was over and that I had failed.
With time I realised my passion for capturing people's stories hadn't waned. I also realised that writers write; irrelevant of the place or platform and that just as there are many types of writers there are just as many types of readers. Which means that there is a place for us all. And finally I realised that I didn't have to be perfect. Everybody needs an editor and that the idea of immediate perfection by one individual is a nonsense.
This passion has led me to writing a number of publications and articles over the last 20 years. Particularly gratifying is when I can combine my love of the arts and people, with my passion for story telling.
Last year I was invited to write an article for IMPRINT about Paper Garments for the Grave, an amazing collection of work by mostly Tasmanian artists. It's one in a series of art stories that I have captured with hopefully many more to come.
