Harbinger Consultants - Capability Statement

HARBINGER
CONSULTANTS Harbinger Consultants is a people-focused social, urban and cultural consultancy committed to community wellbeing, social innovation, organisational and non-profit sector resilience, and cultural development. We undertake research, planning, strategy and consultation for clients and partners in the public, private and non-profit sectors. As Harbinger Consultants, JM John Armstrong and Linda Carroli draw on their extensive experience working in project management, community engagement, business development, urban contexts and the cultural sector. We apply enterprising, innovative and interdisciplinary thinking as well as awareness of ecological, social, design and technological ideas to shape creative and vital futures and cultures for communities, organisations and cities. Working collaboratively with clients and other stakeholders, our processes and methods are designed to engage and activate the rich streams of intelligence, sense and passion that flow through communities, organisations and places. We seek to enhance resilience, capacity and wellbeing so that people - decision makers, service providers, enterprises and industry - can think, plan and act.


SERVICES & CAPABILITY Harbinger Consultants’ service provision is focused on research, planning and strategy for the realisation of creative and connected places, environments and spaces. We work across three priorities – both independently and as part of larger project teams – using creative, deliberative and consultative methods to realise enduring and sustainable outcomes that are people and planet responsive and futures oriented. Place • Community engagement, collaboration and consultation • Place-based strategic thinking • Cultural, creative industries and public art planning • Cultural infrastructure, clustering and precincts • Robust and smart communities and enterprises

Organisations • For-profit and not-for-profit • Small to medium enterprise, home-based business and ‘solopreneurs’ • Social enterprise, Indigenous enterprise, creative enterprise, and corporate responsibility • Organisational planning, evaluations and development

Community • Place, projects and people • Community development and capacity building • Community consultation, collaboration and engagement • Community infrastructure • Diversity and inclusion • Communications, awareness and engagement


PEOPLE JM John Armstrong has held executive and senior management roles in higher education, enterprise and government. As Manager of Blak Business Smart Business from 2005 to 2008 he led a team of Indigenous staff to provide ongoing personalised, professional guidance for the sustainable development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. Intensive and extensive consultations with Indigenous Community leaders and others enabled Armstrong to provide a valuable service for a rich and diverse mix of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, enterprises and organisations with over 600 enquiries and 150+ active clients during the three years. He has worked with many organisations to develop and facilitate strategy, policy and change. An experienced project manager and formerly CEO of a creative enterprise incubator, John was a member of the Board of the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency for five years and formerly Chair of an arts and disability organisation. Having served on many non-profit Boards he is currently Secretary of the South East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, which has recently secured Federal Government funding. He has also participated in government initiatives in placemaking, creative city and urban agriculture. Formerly Project Manager of Campfire Group and Gallery Manager of Fire-Works Gallery, John developed and managed international, metropolitan and regional cultural projects to facilitate intercultural exchange, cultural export, market development and professional development focused on Indigenous art and artists. He was Associate Professor, Head of Visual Arts at QUT for a number of years. As an award winning contemporary artist, practicing in the 1970s and 80s, Armstrong travelled widely and his artwork is held in many public collections. He represented Australia in international cultural events such as the Sao Paolo Biennale and the Paris Biennale. Linda Carroli has completed studies in media, cultural studies and heritage and is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in urban planning and design. For two decades she has worked freelance in research, writing, editing and project management. Most recently she has worked in strategic communications and community consultation in the urban development industry. Her work in the arts, museum and heritage sector, community services, creative industries and urban environment has included community development, reporting and analysis, public relations, planning and policy, program

evaluation, project management, publishing and information/digital content management. She has served on many nonprofit boards and most recently four years on the Board, including three as Chair, of the Australian Network for Art and Technology, a national art, science and technology organisation, She was formerly the editor of Fine Art Forum, an international art, science and technology electronic magazine and edited The Ideas Book (UQP, 2005). Having participated in a range of urban, regional, cultural and community planning initiatives, she has a current research interest in the intersection of technology, science, urbanism and culture. Formerly a member of the state government’s Queensland Government Community Forum for the Greater Brisbane Region, she has recently been appointed Deputy Chair of Regional Development Australia’s Brisbane committee. As an award winning writer of interactive works and non-fiction, she continues to publish and produce in a range of media and contexts both nationally and internationally. She is also the recipient of a Centenary Medal for ‘long and distinguished service in the arts’.


EXPERIENCE As a small, collaborative and dynamic consultancy, Harbinger Consultants has worked a diverse range of projects that provide direction and clarity for our clients and their stakeholders while achieving positive community outcomes. Moreton Bay Regional Council Cultural Strategy and Plan Moreton Bay Regional Council In partnership with Brecknock Consulting, Harbinger Consultants was involved in the development of the Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Cultural Strategy & Plan. This has required cultural mapping and extensive consultation across the cultural and creative industries sectors and broader community. As part of the project team, Harbinger has undertaken community consultation within the planning process to ensure significant community input in shaping the plan. The consultation process involved stakeholder identification, online and printed surveys, face to face interviews, information sessions and facilitated focus groups. Cultural Wellbeing: Indigenous Program Strategy Access Arts As a provider of cultural services and programs to people and communities experiencing disadvantage and/or disability, Access Arts delivers an Indigenous Cultural Program. In undertaking a review of the program with a view to developing some strategic directions for the program, Harbinger formulated the program under the umbrella of cultural wellbeing. The intention in this framing was to ensure an intercultural awareness and communication throughout the organisation as well as developing the program in a way that drew connections between culture, community and country as foundational in Indigenous people’s well-being. The review included desktop research, interviews and focus groups.


CONTACT

JM John Armstrong Harbinger Consultants PO Box 334, Aspley Qld 4034 Phone: 07 3863 1096 Mob: 0418 224 953 [email protected] http://harbingerconsultants.wordpress.com ABN: 54 657 665 684

Community Centre Planning in an Emerging Masterplanned Community State Government A new community centre will be constructed as part of the masterplanning and development process for an emerging suburban community on a outer suburban greenfield site. Harbinger Consultants worked with Foresters Community Finance to undertake community consultation to identify preferences for the community centre’s offer with a view to scoping potential uses, tenants and service provision of the centre. Harbinger also facilitated focus groups, interviews and community meetings as part of the consultation process. The consultation outcomes also informed the operational plan and design concepts for the centre. Disability Action Plan Queensland Performing Arts Centre QPAC has recently undergone redevelopment and significant change management. As part of that process, Harbinger has developed a Disability Action Plan that will ensure that customer relations and services are appropriate for people with disabilities, and so that cultural events are fully accessible to people with disabilities and the wellbeing of customers with disabilities is understood. This has involved consultation and awareness-raising with the staff and management team of QPAC as well as disability awareness workshops.

JM JOHN ARMSTRONG
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE JM John Armstrong is owner and principal of Harbinger Consultants, which focuses on research, strategy and engagement. This consultancy applies creativity, knowledge and action to shape desired futures of organisations, communities and places. Prior to establishing Harbinger Consultants, John served in a variety of roles where he was responsible for major initiatives in policy and industry development and export as well as large projects with an emphasis on business, sustainability and community accountability and participation. John is a specialist in social, Indigenous and creative enterprise development. In 2009, John lectured in the Indigenous business program at the Australian Catholic University. He was the inaugural Manager of Blak Business Smart Business, an Indigenous Business Hub formed through a partnership between local, state and federal governments. Previous to this he worked at Arts Queensland on the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy implementation and was the inaugural Director of artSynC, a regionally based arts business incubator working towards developing arts enterprise activity in and around the Sunshine Coast. In this role, he initiated a range of programs aimed at supporting emerging creative industries enterprises in the region while contributing to economic development policy and regional planning initiatives. John believes that appropriate and effective community and stakeholder consultation and rich social dialogue in organisations, communities and places are essential for ensuring the design and delivery of services, products and facilities. He is a highly experienced facilitator having designed and delivered forums and consultation sessions for a range of clients including government, community organisations and small to medium enterprises. John has facilitated for Indigenous and cross-cultural contexts, drawing on culturally appropriate methods and approaches. His facilitation practice emphasises scenarios, mindfulness and deliberation with a view to promoting learning, co-intelligence and co-creation, creative problem solving and aspirational visioning that can be strategically planned and practically realised. Formerly an educator and researcher working in higher education, he is committed to working with people to realise their potential and recently joined the QUT Career Mentoring Program and continues to supervise PhD students. He has lectured at university level in Visual Arts and was the Head of the Visual Arts Department of QUT for several years and Assistant Dean on secondment at QUT, where he was responsible for a change management process, restructuring one academic school into two separate schools. He has developed and taught postgraduate and undergraduate programs and professional development courses for several universities around Australia. John was Chair of QUT’s Cultural Diversity Working Party for several years. While at QUT he initiated and contributed to many community and sector outreach projects to ensure a viable local cultural industry that could support and absorb emerging artists and arts professionals, while also ensuring the University’s social responsibility was dynamic and meaningful. Committed to robust and resilient organisations, John has been involved with several arts organisations as a member and office bearer of the boards of Fine Art Forum, Arterial, Metro Arts and Eyeline Magazine and served as the President of Access Arts Inc for a number of years. John is currently the Secretary of the South East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce and is also a member of Local Enterprise Advisory Partnership (LEAP) with Mission Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing & Export Agency Board for five years. As a consultant, he has worked with a range of organisations including the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Craft Queensland, Brisbane Ethnic Music & Arts Centre, Access Arts and the Brisbane City Council as well as a number of regional community groups and organisations. He was Project Manager of Campfire Group Projects and Manager of Fire-Works Gallery, an Indigenous art gallery located in Brisbane with an international and national client and project base. As Project Manager for Campfire Group his major projects included: ‘Dreamtime: The Dark & The Light’ for Sammlung Essl in Vienna, Austria in 2001; The Queensland Indigenous Art & Craft Pavilion for ATSIC at the 2001 Goodwill Games, Brisbane; and the Australian Indigenous Art Exhibition for Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet at CHOGM 2, Coolum in 2002.

LINDA CARROLI
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Linda Carroli has extensive experience working in community, communications and cultural contexts, with recent experience in the urban development industry, addressing a range of organisational and community development and social innovation priorities. Her work has included cultural and community planning, communications, consultation and strategy, as well as strategic planning addressing the urban, organisational and business contexts of arts and social enterprises (for profit and not for profit), the cultural sector and creative industries. Having spent two decades working freelance in research, writing, editing and consulting, She has significant experience working in the arts, museum and heritage sector, creative industries, publishing and urban environment. Her work has included consultation and engagement, reporting and analysis, public relations, planning and policy, program evaluation, project management, publishing and content management.

As an internationally published journalist and award winning writer, she has worked across print, broadcast and digital media and applies media production and research methods to her consulting practice with a view to obtaining and communicating rich information and narratives. With an extensive publishing record and as an award-winning writer, she publishes in a range of media and contexts both nationally and internationally including a regular feature for Arts Hub focused on urban innovation and creativity. Her writing has been published in a range of online and print journals, magazines, anthologies and catalogues, including peer-reviewed publications. Linda has a specific interest in the civic communications, deliberative and engagement potential of social media, having coordinated and developed the online engagement program of the Ideas Festival and designed simple and integrated web 2.0 engagement strategies for small scale consultations using freely available tools. Her current postgraduate studies in planning, coupled with previous experience at in urban development, in community and cultural development and in regional planning (SEQ2001 Regional Plan), have provided her with a sound understanding of urban planning and design issues particularly in relation to spatial and strategic planning, and cultural, social, economic and environmental sustainability. Through her studies, Linda is exploring ‘suburban sustainability’, and has also published research about Responsible and Equitable Development and corporate responsibility in the urban development industry. She has worked in industry on a variety of research, planning, consultation, editing and writing projects for a range of urban development and community projects. Linda is particularly interested in creative research methods - developed through an engagement with a range of cultural forms and practices - which are focused on creative and interdisciplinary practice as a site of knowledge-making. Applying these processes to community development, cultural development, organisations and placemaking can result in innovative and knowledge-rich place-based outcomes. She is also exploring futures thinking methods and foresight with a view to enriching long term planning and sustainability initiatives. She has served on the Boards of several organisations and for three years chaired the board of a national art, science and technology organisation, the Australian Network for Art and Technology, having served on the Board for a total of four years. Having edited a variety of publications and resources, she is formerly the editor of fineArt forum, an international electronic international art, science and technology electronic magazine, and also edited The Ideas Book, an anthology of presentations and transcripts from the 2001 and 2005 Brisbane Ideas Festivals, published by UQP in 2005. Formerly a member of the State Government Community Forum for Greater Brisbane, she was recently appointed Deputy Chair of the Regional Development Australia Committee for Brisbane, a federal government initiative aiming to bring together all levels of government to enhance the growth and development of regional Australia. She is also a recipient of a Centenary Medal for ‘long and distinguished service to the arts’ awarded by the Federal Government. She has completed studies in media, cultural studies and heritage and is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in urban planning, futures and design. Linda is also a certified ‘Thinking Instructor’ having completed face to face and online training with the School of Thinking in creative thinking and advanced leadership. In 2008, she attended the UK Commission for Architecture and Built Environment’s Urban Design Summer School. While in the UK, she undertook a private study tour focused on placemaking, urban design and the creative sector to gain a better understanding of development, industry, social services and cultural sector collaboration and partnerships including the impact of new technologies, creative/social enterprise and social innovation.