The Seahorse #49

Issue 49, April 2024

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MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

This newsletter marks the beginning of a new era for the Foundation with Craig Drummond's recent appointment as Chairman. We welcome Craig to this position and acknowledge Charles Goode's incredible 37 years of dedicated service to the Foundation and the broader philanthropic sector inAustralia.

Few cultural, scientific, or public institutions in our country have not engaged with Charles Goode during his tenure as Chairman of the Foundation.

Craig Drummond offered his own personal thanks, saying, "Charles Goode has made an extraordinary contribution to theAustralian community as Chairman of one of this country's oldest philanthropic foundations. I have greatly admired Charles and sought his counsel over many years."

In welcoming Craig Drummond to the role of Chair, Charles Goode said, "I am extremely proud of everything the Foundation has accomplished during my time as Governor and Chairman. It has been a privilege to work with such a wide range of organisations in our

society, witnessing the rise of so many leaders across our cultural, health research and social sectors and the development of institutions that so excellently serve our community and help us all to reach our potential."

One of these organisations isArts Centre Melbourne, which recently announced The Ian Potter Foundation's $15 million contribution towards refurbishing the State Theatre as part of the MelbourneArts PrecinctTransformation.This is the single largest philanthropic donation to anAustralian performing arts centre to date and brings the Foundation's relationship withArts Centre Melbourne full circle.

Many will be aware that Sir Ian Potter was one of the founding members of the NationalArt Gallery and Cultural Centre Building Committee, formed in 1957 to plan and deliver what would become the National Gallery of Victoria andArts Centre Melbourne.

From its inception in 1964, The Ian Potter Foundation became a frequent contributor to the Arts Centre building project, donating the equivalent of $1 million between 1964 and 1976 to help ensure the project stayed afloat.

Sir Ian understood the importance of a vibrant arts and cultural scene to a cohesive and egalitarian society. One in which everyAustralian might benefit from access to outstanding cultural institutions supporting creative artists to produce contemporary, relevant art.

In the latest funding round, the Board awarded $3 million to Good360 for capacity building as the organisation embarks on a growth strategy focused on redistributing $1 billion in unsold goods to charities by 2030. Similarly, theAustralian Land ConservationAlliance was awarded $2 million for capacity building to enable it to achieve its 2030 Strategy to increase investment in nature conservation on private lands. Both organisations are embarking on periods of significant growth to support their respective sectors achieve significant waste reduction and nature conservation targets.

In this round, the Board also approved a $300,000 grant for the Wilya Janta project, an innovativeAboriginal cultural housing design initiative established by Indigenous and nonIndigenous founders. Wilya Janta aims to re-invent the remote housing design and construction process, putting the tenant at the centre of the design process to build culturally appropriate homes.The Foundation is supporting Wilya Janta's Tennant Creek Pilot, which comprises two demonstration homes to be built using competitive and innovative construction processes. This is combined with local knowledge of climateresilient and culturally appropriate design offering remote housing innovation, costeffectiveness, and scalability This initiative is an extraordinary opportunity to influence future infrastructure policy to ensure remote housing is fit-for-purpose and financially and environmentally viable.

We are also pleased to announce a $2.5 million major grant to the Menzies School of Health Research for the Building the Local Health Workforce in the NorthernTerritory initiative.This grant was nominally awarded inApril 2023, subject to further funding being obtained.The Menzies School of Health Research has now confirmed it has obtained the necessary additional funding.

More details on these grants can be found in our Grants Round-Up

Lastly, I wish to introduce a new staff member, Coral East, to theAdministration & HR Manager role. Coral joined us in March, taking over from Gail Lewry, who retired after 17 years at the Foundation. We thank Gail for her contribution to the Foundation during a time of significant growth and development.

Arts Centre Melbourne Reimagined

State Theatre renovation

Arts Centre Melbourne's iconic and heritage-listed lyric theatre is now closed to begin its major refurbishment as part of the MelbourneArts PrecinctTransformation.

Following its refurbishment, the theatre will re-open as the Ian Potter State Theatre in recognition of the $15 million donation from The Ian Potter Foundation.

The upgrades to the State Theatre will introduce aisles in the Stalls and Circle and provide accessible seating across all levels.Audiences will experience greater comfort, and artists will benefit from technology upgrades in sound and lighting, bringing this cultural icon into the 21st century

This restoration will also protect the heritage elements of the auditorium, including the red and gold colour palette and the iconic stage curtain.

GRANTS ROUND UP

$7.6 million across 9 grants

InApril, the Foundation awarded $7.6 million in grants.

These comprised major grants totalling $5 million, two Community Wellbeing grants totalling $750,000, an Early Childhood Development grant for $456,000, andArts funding totalling $1,344,584, including funding to The Ian Potter Cultural Trust for EmergingArtists grants.

FUNDING ROUNDS

Dates for the 2025 Funding Rounds will be available on our website from late May 2024. Round 1 2025 will be 'by invitation' only. Please ensure you continually check our website, as dates may change.

Upcoming Funding Rounds

Round ProgramAreas

Dates

3 (2024) Arts Community Wellbeing EOI calls open until 7 June Grants announced December 2024 1 (2025) By invitation Grants announcedApril 2025

Funding

Rounds

GRANTEE ENGAGEMENT

Workshops & resources

New Grantee Welcome Workshops

New grantees are invited to an in-person Welcome Workshop in Melbourne in early May. You will receive an email inviting staff to attend.There will be an opportunity to discuss the development of your Theory of Change or Program Logic in more detail after the workshop.

For those unable to attend, please let our Research and Evaluation team know, and they will arrange a separate catch-up.

If any of our current grant partners have new staff who would like to attend one of these workshops, please contact your program manager or XimenaAvalos Mendez to arrange an invite.

ACYWA Demonstration

TheAustralian Child and Youth WellbeingAtlas (ACYWA) accelerates the national access to and use of spatial data to understand inequities and improve the wellbeing, health and learning of children and young people.

By democratising access to data, this unique new data asset empowers communities, researchers and non-government, state and federal organisations to identify priorities for child health research and initiatives in meaningful and cost-effective ways.

We recently hosted a webinar presented byAssociate Professor Rebecca Glauert (Project Lead) and Marketa Reeves Project Manager from the University of WesternAustralia to demonstrate theAustralian Child andYouth WellbeingAtlas.

Arecording of this webinar is available on the Foundation's YouTube channel.

Benefolk Workplace Wellbeing Strategy masterclass

Benefolk is focused on supportingAustralia’s social sector. It connects not-for-profits, charities and impact-focused businesses to professional services and resources to improve the mental well-being of their workers. On June 5, Benefolk is running an affordable masterclass - Workplace Wellbeing Strategy - Build a Plan

In this 60-minute masterclass, workplace wellbeing specialist Leanne Hart will run through Benefolk’s Wellbeing Strategy toolkit to help NFP managers review their organisation’s existing strategies and/or add new strategies to prevent and protect their team and volunteers from harm.

The session will also include a tour of The Community Well resource hub, where you can access resources, tools, assessments and policies to support wellbeing, leadership and governance in 2024.

GRANTEE HONOURED

Professor David Lindenmayer

Professor David Lindenmayer has been awarded the prestigious Macfarlane Burnet Medal by theAustralian Academy of Science.

Named after Nobel laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, this is the highest honour inAustralian biological sciences.

Professor Lindenmayer is an international authority on conservation and landscape

GRANTEE AWARD

ReConnect wins national award

In earlyApril, The Reconnect Project was awarded the National Banksia SustainabilityAward for Circular Economy The National Banksia SustainabilityAwards celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of

ecology. He has discovered novel ways in which key drivers of landscape change interact to affect biodiversity, ecological processes and ecosystem condition.

His research led toANU initiating the highly successful Sustainable Farms project, which the Foundation has supported since 2017 through a series of grants totalling $2.9 million.

individuals, organisations, and communities across the nation.

As the longest-running and most prestigious sustainability awards in Australia, celebrating excellence across 14 categories, highlighting the diversity of sustainability practices right across the country.

GRANTEE RECOGNITION

NHMRC's 10 of the Best

Congratulations to Professor Catherine Chamberlain and Professor Rhonda Marriott on being included in the 14th edition of NHMRC’s 10 of the Best.

Professor Chamberlain is the research lead on the Healing the past by nurturing the future project based at the University of Melbourne and supported by a Public Health Research grant from the Foundation awarded in 2021.

Professor Rhonda Marriott is the Director of the NgangkYira Institute for Change and Professor inAboriginal Health at Murdoch University The Foundation awarded NgangkYira Institute for Change a $1.86M major grant in 2022 in support of the Family EmpowermentAcross Life –INdigenous Growth (FEALING) Program.

The Circular EconomyAward celebrates excellence in circular product innovation and/or incorporating circularity in sustainable business leadership. ReCo nnect is a small charity so receiving this award is a significant achievement, acknowledging its impact - on all levelsenvironmental, social justice and inclusive employment.

GRANTEE AWARD Social Studio

IPF NEWS

New Staff

The Social Studio collaborated with visual artist KayAbude and Melbourne fashion labelAlpha60 to create a capsule collection of garments and accessories See more

Congratulations to The Social Studio on winning Best in Category – Fashion Design in the 2023 Victorian Premier’s DesignAwards announced in March 2024.

We'd like to introduce our new Administration & HR Manager, Coral East who joined the Foundation in March. In this role, she supports the Foundation with governance, operational and database administration, and HR duties.

She has over 16 years of experience working in the not-for-profit arts, social justice and sustainability sectors.

featuring Kay's striking artwork and modifiedAlpha60 silhouettes. Made in Collingwood, production off-cuts were salvaged and turned into limited-edition zero-waste bags and hats.

Manufactured byThe Social Studio's inhouse production team, 100% of proceeds from the collaboration support the Studio's work and training initiatives for refugee and migrant creatives.

Learn more

We produce this quarterly e-newsletter to keep our friends and associates up to date with all the news and recent grants made by The Ian Potter Foundation.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Forward Facebook Twitter Google Plus

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