Last Friday morning the clouds in Sydney finally parted as guests eagerly waited for the fourth instalment of the 2010 fastBREAK innovation series to begin. By 7:45, The Powerhouse Museum’s Boiler Room Mezzanine was abuzz with anticipation as our five young fastBREAK speakers readied themselves to tackle the question “Are you satisfied?” They did not disappoint.
As usual our May speakers represented a diverse cross section of community thought leaders, each from a different industry, each with diverse and unique backgrounds, experiences and insights to share. Their five rapid-fire responses were followed by some collective conversation and a satisfyingly scrumptious breakfast provided by Black Star Pastry.
For those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets to the fourth sold-out fastBREAK event, it was a morning of innovation, inspiration, energy and diversity. For those who missed out, here are some highlights:
Joanna Erskine: “To be satisfied is to be complacent.”
To be an “emerging” anything means dissatisfaction. You may be on your way to something, but you’re not there yet. This is what Joanna discovered when she graduated from the NIDA Playwright Studio. With no major production on a mainstream stage to speak of, Joanna was a nobody, stranded in an artistic limbo.
In June 2009 Joanna started Cluster, an interactive blog for playwrights which has since become an online hub for the discussion of playwriting issues and a catalyst for activism amongst Australian playwrights. She has since used the platform to express her own dissatisfaction with the lacking presence of female playwrights and directors within the industry, and more recently, a decision made by the judges of the Premiers Literary Prize to not award a playwright prize.
In less than a year, Joanna created not only an online hub for her industry, but a movement and a community within it. In this way Joanna sees dissatisfaction as a good thing, “it’s how things get done.”
Brian Wu: Dissatisfaction is in the DNA of any entrepreneur.
Brian is one half of Sydney-based fashion collective Incu. With a Bachelor of Business, a Masters of Commerce, and an MBA under his belt, Brian worked in the IT industry for years before embarking on this business venture with his twin brother, Vincent.
As avid shoppers the pair travelled to Hong Kong regularly and noticed a gap in the Australian market for stores that were selling innovative, designer fashion. Inspired by their discovery, Brian and Vincent left the corporate world behind in 2002 and opened Incu in Sydney, with hopes of injecting new perspective into the Australian fashion industry. Today they have four stores, three in Sydney and one in Melbourne.
Even though Brian is satisfied with his amazing journey and many achievements, as a business owner, he believes he will never be completely satisfied. Instead, he is always looking for improvements and for new opportunities.
For Brian, dissatisfaction is in the DNA of any entrepreneur, but “if you’re passionate about what you do, you will always enjoy it that little bit more.”
Priscilla Brice-Weller: “One in five Australians are victims of verbal racial abuse. This is not good enough.”
As the Campaign Manager for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), Priscilla was dissatisfied with the lack of follow through that proceeded Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations. Seeing the need for new tactics to address racism and reconciliation within Australia, Priscilla initiated the Respect Campaign, now the most successful campaign within the organisation’s history, with more than 15 000 people signing up.
Today, Priscilla is the Managing Director of new cultural diversity organisation, All Together Now, launching later this year. The organisation hopes to make a substantial and innovative contribution to addressing racism in Australia by raising awareness, increasing empathy, educating, empowering, promoting cultural diversity, building positive social norms and evaluating and learning their own work.
For Priscilla, there is constant improvement precisely because there is constant discontent. As she insists that the Respect and campaign and All Together Now would have never happened had she been satisfied.
L-Fresh: “Be happy at every increment, but don’t stop the process of learning. Continually challenge yourself.”
L-FRESH is an independent hip-hop musician who has toured nationally with some of hip-hop’s finest. He is also currently undertaking his Bachelor of Arts/Law, and works with the The Street University mentoring young people in a wide range of programs, usually based around hip-hop.
For L-FRESH the value of the Street University is that it gives young people who are facing marginalisation and disenfranchisement the space and opportunity to engage, contribute, and think for themselves. It is an organisation that breeds young philosophers, youth who challenge their place in the world and make their own decisions, instead of allowing other to make decisions for them.
As a mentor, L-FRESH teaches his youth to never be satisfied. In a message that would resonate with anyone, but especially with youth, he encourages people to be happy with the goals they achieve, but not to be satisfied, because what each person can be “is an idea which is infinite.”
David Gravina: It may not be possible to be satisfied with all that is going on in the world, but you can be satisfied with your role in it.
In his early career, David worked in design, programming and producing roles for communications agencies in Australia and overseas. He was living for travel, money and fun, but found himself increasingly dissatisfied.
On his return to Australia, David and a team of media mischief makers created Unolympics—a satirical take on the Sydney Olympics. Another collaboration involved projecting an image of a first fleet ship with the words “Boat People” onto the Opera House, garnering mainstream media attention. David found that being involved in these projects gave him a feeling of satisfaction, but like Mick Jagger, he simply couldn’t get enough.
Inspired by the success of these early projects David formed Digital Eskimo, finally aligning his skills with his passion for social change in a substantial way. Digital Eskimo’s work includes a broad mix of innovation, strategy and research projects for a range of NGOs, arts and business clients.
David may not be satisfied with the state of the world as it currently exists, but he is certainly satisfied with himself, and his role in it.
