CONVERGE creative enterprise development program

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Consultation has concluded

We are thrilled to commence CONVERGE with a stellar team of local artists in a soon-to-be announced pop-up residency space!

CONVERGE is an innovative creative enterprise development program, designed to revitalise Lismore’s business centre and elevate the economic and artistic strength of our local creative industries.

We look forward to inviting our community and visitors to public programs for CONVERGE coming up later in the year - details coming soon!

Congratulations to CONVERGE participants:


Michelle Gilroy - a Lismore artist painting a new body of work, comprised of self-portraits that highlight lived experience, as a person with a disability.

'It's' - transcending cosmic boundaries, a fusion of Scott Sinclair and Aaron McGarry's celestial talents. Their collaborative synergy channels the harmonious balance of the cosmos, defying artistic convention with materials and processes that resonate across galaxies.

Karenza Ebejer - a socially engaged video artist and documentary filmmaker. Her films focus on relationship to place, culture and identity and work is often made in creative collaboration with participants.

Matt O’Brien - Framed by the grand narratives of the artists encounters with the epic Australian ‘landscape’, Matt's work contributes a simulacrum of this, rather focussing on how the connection to past present and future dialogs in making work can create intimate dialogues between the individual and country. His site-responsive process aims to connect artist, work, and country together.

Adrienne Kenafake - a multi-disciplinary Australian artist based in Northern NSW. Working across the mediums of sculpture, performance and installation she explores the potential of objects as physical, psychological and extrasensory archives of emotion, story and place

Antoinette O’Brien - a multi-disciplinary artist with a strong focus on figurative ceramics. She is deeply committed to community and responds to it through her work, which also considers place, sky, sea and soil as integral.

Paul Walker - an independent dancer, performance artist and community arts worker based on Bundjalung Country in Northern NSW. For over 20 years, Paul has been performing, teaching and making dance, physical theatre, live art, interactive performances, cabaret and drawing.

Annie Monks - a Bundjalung Country based visual artist. Annie is passionate about exploring healing through the arts. She draws her inspiration from relationships to community and Country

Chris Lego - works across many mediums, in self-publishing a zine, Screenprinting as the Department of Nothing, making small wearable sculptures and collages and painting. He also makes events, party decor and DJs a unique and sometimes chaotic mix of music.

Stefanie Miriklis - raised in the Northern Rivers, her practice based in paper, painting and printmaking now focuses on found objects and mosaic. Through this medium she transforms memory and sentiment into thought provoking visual ingredients that address the intimate implications of societal adaptation and abrupt climate change.


You can see the CONVERGE artist announcement here, and we look forward to sharing further news and public programs as we progress.

We are thrilled to commence CONVERGE with a stellar team of local artists in a soon-to-be announced pop-up residency space!

CONVERGE is an innovative creative enterprise development program, designed to revitalise Lismore’s business centre and elevate the economic and artistic strength of our local creative industries.

We look forward to inviting our community and visitors to public programs for CONVERGE coming up later in the year - details coming soon!

Congratulations to CONVERGE participants:


Michelle Gilroy - a Lismore artist painting a new body of work, comprised of self-portraits that highlight lived experience, as a person with a disability.

'It's' - transcending cosmic boundaries, a fusion of Scott Sinclair and Aaron McGarry's celestial talents. Their collaborative synergy channels the harmonious balance of the cosmos, defying artistic convention with materials and processes that resonate across galaxies.

Karenza Ebejer - a socially engaged video artist and documentary filmmaker. Her films focus on relationship to place, culture and identity and work is often made in creative collaboration with participants.

Matt O’Brien - Framed by the grand narratives of the artists encounters with the epic Australian ‘landscape’, Matt's work contributes a simulacrum of this, rather focussing on how the connection to past present and future dialogs in making work can create intimate dialogues between the individual and country. His site-responsive process aims to connect artist, work, and country together.

Adrienne Kenafake - a multi-disciplinary Australian artist based in Northern NSW. Working across the mediums of sculpture, performance and installation she explores the potential of objects as physical, psychological and extrasensory archives of emotion, story and place

Antoinette O’Brien - a multi-disciplinary artist with a strong focus on figurative ceramics. She is deeply committed to community and responds to it through her work, which also considers place, sky, sea and soil as integral.

Paul Walker - an independent dancer, performance artist and community arts worker based on Bundjalung Country in Northern NSW. For over 20 years, Paul has been performing, teaching and making dance, physical theatre, live art, interactive performances, cabaret and drawing.

Annie Monks - a Bundjalung Country based visual artist. Annie is passionate about exploring healing through the arts. She draws her inspiration from relationships to community and Country

Chris Lego - works across many mediums, in self-publishing a zine, Screenprinting as the Department of Nothing, making small wearable sculptures and collages and painting. He also makes events, party decor and DJs a unique and sometimes chaotic mix of music.

Stefanie Miriklis - raised in the Northern Rivers, her practice based in paper, painting and printmaking now focuses on found objects and mosaic. Through this medium she transforms memory and sentiment into thought provoking visual ingredients that address the intimate implications of societal adaptation and abrupt climate change.


You can see the CONVERGE artist announcement here, and we look forward to sharing further news and public programs as we progress.

Consultation has concluded

  • About CONVERGE

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    About CONVERGE

    As a disaster recovery initiative, CONVERGE is designed to bring new life and energy to Lismore’s CBD. It plays a part in the continued growth of Lismore as a thriving cultural hub, celebrating its unique character, community, and world-class creative industry.

    Temporarily enriching vacant commercial spaces, we aim for CONVERGE to provide participating creatives with:

    • A working environment for making and developing projects
    • A series of professional development and entrepreneurial programs
    • Community interaction and engagement
    • Opportunities to exhibit artworks and present outcomes to the public.

    Throughout the program, CONVERGE participants will access professional and creative input organised by Lismore City Council in partnership with key arts, business and education stakeholders. Housed within a secure, temporary, high-visibility CBD space, CONVERGE aims to nurture a strong nucleus of creative skill along with the business knowledge to support participants toward future economic success. With an ‘open-door’ ethos between participants, the space, community, and industry professionals, CONVERGE aspires to have a ripple effect beyond the confines of its ‘bricks and mortar’ premise.

    CONVERGE runs from June to December 2024.

    This project is run by Lismore City Council with funding from the NSW Reconstruction Authority.


    About the Expression of Interest process

    Expressions of Interest were invited from emerging and established artists, performers, creatives and entrepreneurs who are local to the Lismore Local Government Area, and interested in this incubator program within a collective working space. Expressions of interest closed 15 April 2024.

    The CONVERGE selection process was extremely competitive - thank you to all the extraordinary creatives who expressed interest.

    A panel assessed eligible CONVERGE Expressions of Interest according to the Selection Criteria for Participants.

    Successful applicants are provided access and programs within the CONVERGE residency space within the Lismore CBD. We aim for the CONVERGE venue to include various creative, collaborative, administrative and gallery / public presentation spaces.

    At various times, in respectful ways aligned with participants’ projects, CONVERGE will integrate with the public through exhibitions and studio open days. Care is taken to nurture a safe and supportive working environment, that motivates and inspires highest potential creative outcomes.

    Throughout the program, various speakers, facilitators and guests will be arranged by the CONVERGE Project Team to assist participants with business acumen and professional development.

    CONVERGE will provide space and knowledge. Materials are to be supplied by each participant relevant to individual need and artform. There are no fees charged or paid to CONVERGE participants.

    We look forward to sharing updates about CONVERGE venue, program and participants, as details are confirmed.

    Selection Criteria for Participants - considered in relation to other CONVERGE applicants, collaborative possibilities, available space and public programming opportunities:

    • Capacity for creative development and delivering outcomes
    • Value of CONVERGE participation to applicant’s professional and business development
    • Overall quality of the application and support material.