Yirra Miya Yarn & Share - March 2023

Yaama and Gawaymbanha ‘welcome’ to Yirra Miya Creative.

We are so, so proud to bring you our very first Yarn & Share under the Yirra Miya Creative name. To say it’s been a journey to get here is an understatement! As you know, we are transitioning in stages and we’re so grateful to take you, along with us for the ride.

So let’s start with an introduction to Yirra Miya (pronounced “Year-da Mia”), which means “growing together” in Wiradjuri language. The name was born when reflecting on our journey as Leticia Anne Designs & Co, and our passion for supporting First Nations businesses, organisations, and young entrepreneurs. It is at the heart of who we are to empower and support each other in our growth.

Yirra Miya celebrates the invaluable contributions of First Nations businesses, art, culture, and knowledge in shaping our communities. Our goal is to create a space for collaboration, to provide a platform for our success and to amplify our voices, so we can grow in strength and self-determination.

To join us on this journey - give us follow! You can find us of course here and on?Instagramand on?Facebook. We would absolutely appreciate the love and support in sharing our socials to encourage mob to find us!

MEET THE TEAM!

Yirra Miya is made up of our First Nations Creative Designer and Director, Leticia, our First Nations Cultural Designer, Lauren, our Graphic & Layout Designer, Lisa, and the newest kid on the block, Shaunie, our First Nations Administrator.

We also work with our Deadly Creatives! We love collaborating with Clare, a First Nations Fine Artist, Noni, a First Nations Photographer, Barbi, a New Zealand Web Designer and Ellie, a Social Media and Email Marketing Specialist.

DESIGN PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Check out below for just a few examples of the designs that we have loved working on recently:

University of Wollongong

Lauren, Wodi Wodi and Walbunja person and Cultural Designer here at Yirra Miya Creative, recently created a cultural artwork for the University of Wollongong to use within their “It’s Go Time” project. The Journeys artwork represents the unique path taken at university and features a collection of symbols used throughout their multi-week orientation events. The symbols include a yarning circle, representing communities coming together to learn and share experiences, a star that represents the Dreaming and guidance from our ancestors and a campsite, which represents people coming together to prepare for a journey and celebrate achievements. It also includes all the campuses on the left hand side, which represents the eastern coastline of our country.

Lauren describes working with UoW as a real ‘pinch me’ moment! Having studied there and feeling a little awkward about joining in on festivities, the artwork was a chance to help highlight and create a culturally safe environment on campus while empowering and encouraging students to be involved in Go Week celebrations.

Check out Lauren’s profile on the UoW page?here!

Yilabara Solutions

Our client Yilabara Solutions is a 100% owned and controlled Aboriginal organisation that delivers a range of employment and training services & supports businesses to meet their corporate social responsibility objectives.

Part of our project with them was to design their cultural elements, which are designs that are created based on five key pillars of importance to your organisation. Storytelling is ??? to creating cultural designs that have meaning - we want to ensure that the story of these elements align with your business! The five pillars are used to create elements that visually represent, connect and empower your business, your staff and your impact in community.

Our cultural illustration packages can be used within:

• internal and external documentation
• promotional materials
• social media
• websites
• and other branding collateral

The cultural elements created for Yilabara Solutions were created to represent:

• Creating Opportunities?- This element represents the mission statement of Yilabara Solutions. It represents the increase of economic independence for Aboriginal people. The symbol in this element are connected community circles to show the improved access to vocational education and training.
• Integrity?- This element represents the integrity of Yilabara Solutions. This element represents that Yilabara Solutions are ethical, honest, passionate and fair. Integrity is at the centre of what Yilabara Solutions are.
• Cultural Identity?- This element represents the importance that cultural identity has at Yilabara Solutions. Yilabara Solutions is a place that is culturally safe and provides opportunities for First Nations people to embrace their identity in everyday life.
• Growth?- This element represents growth within Yilabara Solutions. This symbol is a mountain/sand hill and is a representation of the growth of Yilabara Solutions but also the growth of the impact of Yilabara Solutions.
• Moving Forward?- This element represents the motion of moving forward and is a representation of the journey that has been for Yilabara and the journey to come in the future. This symbol is the kangaroo track and represents that kangaroos can only move forward.

COME SAY HI!

NSW Procurement Specialists Deb Barwick and Luke McIlroy-Ranga are back on the road this month to bring you more free procurement advice. These workshops are designed to enable Small Enterprises to supply their Goods and services to NSW Government.

Leticia will be at the Central Coast session - let’s catch up for a yarn!

Key topics will include:

• Government overview
• Procurement Policy overview
• Procurement Objectives that all Small Businesses should know
• Government Buying Platform/s
• How to use Government buying platforms to Benchmark Your Business
• How to prepare for a tender response and save time (participants will be provided with a tender response checklist/template)
• How to demonstrate eligibility and competitiveness through your responses (Participants will be stepped through examples of responses to key criteria)

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE, FIND OUT MORE AND BOOK NOW!

To see all their upcoming events or to book some one on one advice, check out their website?here

We’re keeping it brief this month because we have so much going on behind the scenes as we make our way through this soft launch of Yirra Miya before coming in ?????? when Leticia returns from maternity leave!

Until then, keep an eye out for our next Blak Business Yarns in a couple of weeks! We have an incredible Blak Business to highlight as well as some deadly opportunities for you to get involved with.

Mandaang Guwu ‘Thank You’ and yarn soon!

The team at Yirra Miya Creative