Strategy and operating model reset for a grassroots arts and tech precinct

Brookvale Arts District (BAD) is a not-for-profit connecting artists, creatives and tech professionals in Brookvale, NSW. Despite strong grassroots traction, it was stretched thin — two part-time contributors and a handful of volunteers trying to do everything at once: events, a business directory, artist support, an online shop, even infrastructure proposals like community buses and zebra crossings. The result was unclear priorities, low morale, and an unsustainable reliance on grants.

I led a strategic engagement across four phases, starting with interviews with founding members and local stakeholders, a review of BAD's digital assets and documents, and a discovery workshop to surface the tensions underneath the ad-hoc growth. From there I helped the team co-create a purpose statement, introduced a simple prioritisation framework for weighing existing and proposed initiatives, and built a roadmap across three horizons — connect, monetise and replicate.

I repositioned BAD around three pillars — community, stories and activations — with a volunteer-led operating model, defined roles, and an operating cadence and content workflow to bring consistency to the team. I also mapped monetisation options (subscriptions, advertising, marketplaces, advisory services for other precincts), piloted a precinct-wide events calendar, and set up a fortnightly Instagram Insights report so the team could make more data-informed calls.

The business directory grew from around 40 to more than 500 entries, and BAD secured a $100,000 grant through the NSW Uptown Program — leaving it with a clearer direction, a stronger operating rhythm, and the foundations of a model it can now replicate in other precincts.