Our team
We are a team of experienced and emerging Art of Hosting practitioners, coming together from the South East of NSW, across Eastern Australia and Turtle Island Canada, to host you and offer our experience, learning and practice.
It is a partnership between the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, Vinnies and Campfire Co-op. All of us have been in collaborative practice and learning for many months to prepare and host this training. We all look forward to welcoming you, your curiosity and your contributions. |
Mel GeltchI'm a participatory designer, host and harvester of meaningful conversations and collaborative work. I am a steward of the Art of Hosting, and committed to building capacity in this practice wherever it is invited.
I care deeply about co-creating workplaces, communities and systems where people can participate and thrive, and that contribute to a healthier and more peaceful planet. I’m a co-founder of Campfire Co-op, practicing a more human way of doing business, and doing purposeful work to help improve human systems. I feel fortunate to live on Yuin country, place of the Djirringanj language speaking people, at Mystery Bay on the NSW Far South Coast. |
Peter PigottI live in Berry on the NSW South Coast, Yuin Country. I have spent the past 15 years working as a Landcare Facilitator and, recently, in bushfire recovery with Resilience NSW.
The Art of Hosting practices underpin what I do - bringing human-centred ways of working in these complex and uncertain times. I bring hosting practice to leadership, collaboration, and engagement capacity building with communities and organisations, and in contemporary rites of passage work with young people. I am passionate about working with people in participatory and generative ways that build islands of sanity where conversation, connection and relationship thrive. |
Samantha SladeReconnecting with (re)generative ways of working and governing is my calling, both the inner work and the practical aspects.
Co-founder of Percolab, an international federation of worker owned Coops functioning as labs, I support organisations to live into a courageous purpose, share power, and decolonize. I wrote the book Going Horizontal, and created the card game Listen For… to offer tangible pathways to realise the potential I see in business to be a microcosm of the world we dream of. I'm a steward of Art of Hosting practice and actively engaged in the future of work, the future of cities and the international commons movements. I live in Montreal, Canada and this is my first visit to Australia. |
Nick TakavadiiI love it when people are truly collaborating!
In 2006 I stumbled into the Art of Hosting at Kufunda Learning Village in Zimbabwe. I have since been embedding participatory and adaptive leadership practices in my personal life and in my work in agile software development, community and organisational development, and in supporting incarcerated humans in their healing and personal life transformation journeys. I currently live in Mianjin (aka Brisbane) and work through Campfire Co-op where we offer guidance to those embarking on the much needed movement towards personal and collective generative ways of working. |
Ronan O'ConnorLiving now on Yuin country Southern NSW, I have been involved in intentional communities both land based and urban in Europe and Australia.
My background varies between environmental work, particularly biodynamics, tree production, regeneration; and work in adult education, while the last decade has been work in community health. This community health work included child, adolescent and adult addiction treatment, child protection, aged care and disability. I am continually fascinated by the choices we make to either strive for an unfolding future individually and/or collectively or not. What is it that supports or hinders us? Henry GoodallI live with my family in Meroo Meadow (‘Place of Lightning’) in Dharawal Country, Yuin Lands on the South Coast of New South Wales. I was born and grew up in Gundungurra and Wiradjuri country in SW NSW - I am a fresh-water Aussie.
I feel lucky to have lived in nurturing, multi-generational communities in rural and regional Australia. I have spent many years working on the land and exploring the bush, guiding and learning from others. These opportunities have led me via sitting in circle, to experiential and environmental education to participatory leadership and Art of Hosting practice to now be working in helping our rural and regional communities recover after fire and floods. I love bringing Art of Hosting practice to all aspects of my work, family and personal life. |
Monique CarsonI live in the beautiful community of Ulladulla, on Yuin country, with my husband and 3 children.
We enjoy a great array of sports and the outdoors. I have a corporate finance background and love working with people in the NFP sector, helping to evoke courage, resources and practical techniques to bring their great ideas into reality. I have been involved in the Gather ‘Round program and experienced how the Art of Hosting practices allows wonderful opportunities to form connections, learn from others, and appreciate different perspectives. As well as helping to find caring and considered solutions to life’s complexities. Carolyn ArdlerI live on Yuin country in Moruya Heads with my husband, daughter. We embrace the community and nature that surrounds our home.
My role as South Coast Program Manager for the Investing in Rural Communities Futures program with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal brings me great pleasure, and has lead me to this journey with Art of Hosting. For the past 6 years, I have focussed on place based initiatives across NSW where I strongly believe community holds its own solutions. The opportunity to be a local host to grow capacity in myself and community in participatory leadership and practice is one I am very grateful to have encountered. |
Janis GordonI live on Yuin country in Basin View close to the foreshores of St Georges Basin which the traditional owners knew as Bherwerrae or Bherwherree.
My background is in Marketing and Vocational Education management and I thrive on seeing people develop and grow. I have had the privilege of working alongside community in accessing the support they need since the Black Summer bushfires and continue this work today. I take inspiration from others and am passionate about working alongside people and allowing their voices to be heard. The Art of Hosting practices have expanded my ability to move the conversation from “what if” to “why not” and I look forward to walking this journey with you. |
Nicole SmedeI am a proud Worimi woman, living on Gumea Dharawal Country along the banks of Bungali (The Shoalhaven River).
I am a multidisciplinary artist, educator and collaborator, passionate about creating and nurturing connection and relationship between Country, community and its people. The journeys we travel and stories we hold deeply excite my spirit and I firmly believe we have the capacity to create great things when we listen deeply and work together. |