Our Yarn
Desert Pea Media is a cross-cultural, charitable organisation - consisting of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff, contractors and Board members. We strongly believe that this two-way approach brings significant strength to the organisation and the work that we do in communities. We consider our work to be ‘Reconciliation in Action’: a direct response to the generations of disadvantage faced every day by Australian Original Nations people.
As an organisation, DPM is committed to listening to, learning from, and being guided by Original Nations cultural knowledge and principles. We utilise contemporary systems, technologies, and techniques to work with mob, and support community-driven knowledge sharing that can empower and educate all Australian people and cultures. Sharing stories, healing the past and building a positive future for everyone. For more info about our process - check OUR WAY.
The DPM journey has been a long, dusty road. DPM was founded in 2002, and in 2022 we celebrate our 20 Year Anniversary. Over two decades we have delivered more than 180 projects in over 80 remote and regional communities (we’ve actually lost count). We have more that 4 million views on our Youtube Channel, and we continue to learn, share and create with communities around Australia. Check OUR WORK for more info.
In the past few years, Desert Pea Media has experienced a period of growth and maturity, and we have shifted from a small, young and passionate organisation to a medium, more mature and even more passionate one. We’ve been self-critical, we’ve innovated, refined our process, evaluated our work and shifted gears so that we can increase our impact, and be a valuable part of the cultural shift that Australia desperately needs.
In some ways, the DPM yarn is only just beginning.
Cultural Framework
With the ongoing growth of DPM and the organisation’s increasing maturity and complexity, we have now formalised our Cultural Framework - an internal governance document that serves to embed, safeguard and share our knowledge and experience. Through the framework, we communicate our cultural practice and process, ensuring that our relationships with Original Nations people, country and culture are safe and respectful into the future. Here are some key points from the document:
Through a sequence of evaluative and strategic planning processes during 2019-2021, Desert Pea Media has developed the above Cultural Framework, a critical Theory of Change, a suite of refined Policies & Procedures and re-designed staff structure. These developments indicate organisational maturity and awareness of how to ‘do the work’ better.
With this new operational framework, DPM is seeking active partnerships for longer, more sustained engagements with communities. This approach will enable more holistic and effective social/cultural impacts through integrated community engagement and community-led decision making.
