Every strategy should reflect the unique strengths, opportunities and challenges of the community it serves. This commitment informed the engagement approach and was supported by the Isaac Council.

To ensure local voices were genuinely captured, Nicole spent two weeks travelling throughout the Isaac region, visiting  townships and delivering a series of creative community engagement workshops. These sessions provided opportunities for people to come together, connect with one another and engage in creative activities, while also sharing their hopes and vision for the future of arts and culture in the region.

Rather than relying solely on traditional consultation methods, the workshops created a relaxed and welcoming environment where people could contribute openly and authentically. The result was a strategy informed not only by data and planning principles, but by the lived experiences, ideas and aspirations of the community itself.