NatureArt Lab Wins ACT's Best of Business Award for Promoting Sustainability! - By Vivienne Pearce OAM, Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE)

Congratulations to Julia Landford, NatureArt Lab’s founder and AAEEACT Vice- President and Executive member since 2018, on your recent award.

In 2019 Julia won the ‘ACT Environmental Educator for excellence in environmental education and sustainability’ Award. Her influence, supported by AAEEACT Executive, has been pivotal in raising the profile and the importance of the Arts in the study of Nature amongst AAEE educators and the broader community. While environmental science gives us important information on the how and why of environmental matters, the Arts speak to the community and are an important mechanism for educating young and old and those from diverse backgrounds. Art is a universal language and effective way to study nature.

NatureArt Lab has been judged the ACT’s state winner in the 2022 Telstra Best of Business Awards in the category of sustainability. The Telstra Best of Business awards are regarded as one of the most prestigious business awards in Australia, with a gruelling judging process and over 24,000 nominations this year. 

NatureArt Lab reached state finalist in not one, but an astounding four out of eight categories. Recognised as leading the field in: Accelerating Women, Building Communities, Championing Health and Promoting Sustainability. 

Winning the category for promoting sustainability is special for Julia. She is overjoyed to be recognised as a business that strives to promote sustainable change in the world around us. Julia’s goal of engaging with nature through art is to drive environmental education through citizen science and environmental custodianship within Australia. 

“NatureArt Lab has developed in leaps and bounds since it was established in 2017, and we’ve learnt so much and met so many wonderful people over this time. The award process has been incredibly rigorous, and it’s allowed me to reflect on what we’ve achieved with our wonderful team. I’m really excited about the opportunity this recognition presents to share the important benefits of nature connections with our community.”   Julia Landford, NatureArt Lab Founder

Julia has been an active contributor to all aspects of AAEE programs including provision of art-science workshops, education displays at key events in Canberra including National Science Week at the Academy of Science, Early Childhood sector Learning events and providing artwork for the Conservation Council’s 2021 campaign to retain threatened grasslands in ACT. Julia in 2021 presented for a national AAEE Learning Circle about the importance of Nature Journaling and attracted enormous interest from teachers and educators nationally.

NatureArt Lab has made a substantial contribution to building understanding about the importance of nature and environmental education as an engaging way to study our natural environment and increase knowledge and understanding around biodiversity and its critical importance to the wellbeing of all societies inhabiting our planet. 

State Winners will go on to represent their state on the national stage where they will pitch their businesses to a new panel of Judging luminaries. This award journey has given Julia the platform to acknowledge that this privately run social enterprise is far more than meets the eye. Not just a family-run art school - the health, wellness, and community benefits of coming together to connect to nature through art are well documented. The exceptional team of tutors with shared values in nature provide students with the positive effects of immersing themselves in art and nature through an inclusive and supportive community. Benefits that have been unarguably brought to light as essential to wellbeing throughout the past two years of dealing with COVID19. 

 AAEE wishes Julia and NatureArt Lab success at the national awards.