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Welcome to The Tasmanian Approach by The Project Lab. Sharing the latest instalment of our bite-sized reports on how Tasmania and Tasmanian businesses are responding to today’s most pressing issues.
In today’s edition, we’re exploring how businesses and organisations are leveraging Tasmania’s vibrant creative community to navigate the months of the off-season.
“One of our key values at Brand Tasmania is ‘nobody succeeds alone’,” says Fransina Kennedy, Partnership Engagement Coordinator at Brand Tasmania. “That’s even truer in Tasmania. We’re surrounded by the sea. We have to band together to get things done.”
Fransina has been helping support Tasmanian businesses for over fifteen years. She’s previously worked with establishing Tasmanian trade throughout Asia and, for the last six years, has been helping Tasmanian businesses on-the-ground as part of Brand Tasmania. At any given point of the year, Fransina is typically helping Tasmanian professionals better understand, articulate, and share the unique Tasmanian story of their business.
“Helping businesses uncover and tell their unique Tasmanian story gives them the tools to show their value and stay connected – whether it’s peak or off-season,” Fransina says. “We run on a twelve-month calendar. So, we’ve got workshops to help guide businesses throughout the year. You can opt in to learning about specific tourism events and how your business can work with them or you can just upskill generally for the off-season.”
Tasmania has a global reputation as a community of practical and collaborative storytellers. The Venice Architecture Biennale called on Tasmanian storytellers to interrogate the colonial legacy of Queenstown via interactive multimedia installation in 2023. This is further evidence of how artistic approaches are tackling real-world challenges. In 2024, Tasmanian artist Emma Bugg helped the University of Melbourne to explore the ethical implications of reviving the extinct thylacine.
Similarly, creative storytelling has been at the heart of some of Tasmania’s greatest local successes. Glenorchy’s water infrastructurehas engaged the public through transformation into large-scale artworks of education and beauty. Currently enjoying its fifth year, Tourism Tasmania’s off-season campaign has helped bring increasing numbers of visitors in the winter months through quintessentially Tasmanian creative ideas like ‘Odd Jobs’ and ‘Tasmanian Winter’.
“I remember, in my first year with Brand Tasmania,” Fransina says. “This man we were helping said: ‘The great thing about Tasmania is – you could be in the middle of nowhere completely lost and, just stopping at a random house or garage, you’ll find someone with an amazing business or craft, making things and selling them to the rest of the world’. I’ve never forgotten that. I feel very privileged to work alongside Tasmanian businesses every day.”
Even as many creative communities are facing funding challenges around the world, Tasmania’s creative sector continues to grow with investment – whether through community institutions like MONA and Stompin or via new initiatives like the State Library’s free writing rooms and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s new Conducting Academy.
Another standout winter event is Beaker Street Festival – a week-long celebration where science meets storytelling, and curious minds gather in bars, galleries and natural spaces across Tasmania to explore big ideas, share knowledge, and warm up the season with scientifically-infused wonder.
Whether you’re a small business looking to adapt, or an organisation facing a complex challenge, embracing Tasmania’s approach to creative storytelling may make all the difference.
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