Our 2026 Annual Program (AVCLP) visited beautiful Bright in late March, exploring the theme of climate and resilience, and what changing conditions reveal about how people and places adapt, respond and continue to shape their future.
Through the morning session, Narelle Martin (Regional Change Agency) considered climate as an interconnected system, and how responses are shaped not only by environmental factors, but by people, language, and the way challenges are framed. The session also explored the role of action and hope in enabling individuals and groups to move forward in the face of ongoing change.
The cohort were joined over lunch by a number of local Alumni, along with Sally Hutchinson from The Resilience Canopy. Together, they moved into the afternoon ‘Resilience Roaming’ experience, exploring Bright in small groups to consider both the visible and less visible elements that contribute to strong, adaptable communities.
In the afternoon, Karen van Huizen shared insights from both emergency response and agricultural practice, highlighting the distinction between acute shocks and chronic stresses, and the shared patterns this reveals about how people adapt within, and alongside, formal systems.
Across the day, the cohort deepened their understanding of how climate is experienced not as a single event, but as a set of ongoing and compounding conditions, and considered the role of leadership in navigating this within their own contexts.
