Conversations with thinkers, lovers and makers in a post-COVID world

Tuesdays in June from 1pm - 2pm

Put CERES' weekly conversation hour in your calendar. Get inspired by local legends of permaculture, new economics, regen-ag and climate change education.

In June we’re launching the program with moderated Q&A panels featuring local legends with globally relevant ideas about regenerative futures.

This week we’re talking transformation and resurgence - localisation and new economies.

Panel Moderator: CINNAMON EVANS (CERES CEO)

Speakers: NICK VERGINIS (Social Enterprise Network Victoria), JO BARRAKET (Director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne), BERRY LIBERMAN (Editor in chief, Dumbo Feather).

Jo Barraket is passionate about the value of diverse societies and community-led approaches to social change. By day, Jo is Director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne and is Australia’s premier researcher of social enterprise. She has extensive experience in nonprofit governance, social enterprise policy and practice, and measuring social impacts. Jo is a passionate veggie gardener and thinks CERES is the most relaxing place in Melbourne, and possibly the universe. When not looking at the veggie plots or doing her shopping at CERES, Jo can occasionally be found meditating on the chickens.

Nick Verginis is the SENVIC CEO responsible for realising the SENVIC Strategic Plan 2019-2020 and building a thriving social enterprise community in Victoria. He is an innovative, energetic and strategic executive with a proven record of successfully leading and managing dynamic and diverse workforces across the public, private and community sector in Victoria and the United Kingdom. Nick thrives in cross-sector collaborations and brings over 20 years experience in the independent arts sector, not-for-profit and small social enterprises. He is currently Chair of Melbourne Fringe that delivers the city’s most vibrant and culturally democratic 2.5 weeks of the year and recently launched ‘Common Rooms’, the new venue at Trades Hall in Carlton that uses social enterprise to provide a space where uncommon people belong. He holds a Master in Public Policy and Management and Bachelors of Law and Arts from the University of Melbourne, and in 2018 completed the Executive Fellow Program with the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

Berry Liberman is a passionate advocate for sustainability, she’s co-founder of the Small Giants impact investment firm, she’s the editor-in-chief of Dumbo Feather and, most importantly, she tells it how it is. Berry and her husband Danny Almagor founded Small Giants in 2007 to support a new breed of businesses that are focussed on empathy and building strong communities. They fund and manage a portfolio of companies as tools for social and environmental impact, to shift away from blind faith in economics, and instead embrace ecology as the path to living a life of passion and purpose.

Warm your hearts, bring your lunch and reimagine a better future post-COVID!