HHUG (Holding Hands Under Ground Incorporated) is a registered not-for-profit association, with a mission to design, deliver and support projects for regenerative full system change.
The phrase “holding hands under ground” is inspired by the song lyrics of Australian musician Mama Kin, and refers to the way trees interconnect their roots to create large-scale networks of care and support.
HHUG was established in February 2020 to be the organisational host of Renew Fest, the annual regenerative full system change festival held at Mullumbimby Showgrounds in May (postponed this year and last year due to impacts from the 2022 flood crisis).
Renew Fest brings together people from all works of life, and spans all domains of regenerative living including renewable energy, food, housing, biodiversity protection, mental health, social governance and ethical economics. Each festival features over one hundred presenters, thinkers and artists, dozens of community organisations and ethical businesses, hundreds of volunteers, and up to several thousand festival participants. Find out more at www.renewfest.org.au
Since then, HHUG has designed, developed and delivered a range of other projects related to full system change, regenerative living, and disaster and crisis management.
HHUG’s other existing and past projects include the Northern Rivers Bushfire, Flood and Disaster Convergence (2021-2023, funded by a grant from the Bushfire Community Resilience and Recovery fund via Resilience NSW), the Transformations of Crisis story-telling project (to be released in June 2023, funded by NRCF) and previously the Byron Shire Resilience and Regeneration Roadshow as a joint project with Resilient Byron (2021, funded by NRCF).
HHUG was the host and coordinator of the 2022 Community-Led Flood Crisis Operations, Mullumbimby and Northern Rivers. This was a huge undertaking that was phenomenally profound and awes inspiring at a grassroots level to be a part. It was also shockingly eye-opening with regards to the devastating gaps in the emergency services with catastrophic events of this scale and the gross power abuse within government even at a local level when something like this occurs. Somehow we were very naive to the fact that such gross misconduct could and would we wielded our biggest little, seemingly progressive, town of Mullumbimby. This experience has and is greatly transforming all that HHUG will create and offer going forward.
WHO WE ARE
HHUG is co-directed by Ella Rose Goninan and Luke Jaaniste. HHUG has a management board, and consults with a series of expert advisory circles (spanning Indigenous, Community-led, Research, Disaster Management and Organisational domains).
HHUG believes in the power of multi-stakeholder interconnections, and works collaboratively with all tiers of government, emergency and service agencies, business, NGOs, community organisations and individual community members.
Ella Rose Goninan and Dr Luke Jaaniste have long-term experience and expertise in the arts, community activism, event management, organisational startups, social and organisational governance, peer-to-peer mental health support processes, community arts engagement, research methodology and systems mapping.
Ella is the founder and director of Renew Fest, the co-founder and president of COREM (Community Owned Renewable Energy Mullumbimby), a director and previous project worker of the national peak body Community Power Agency, founder and director of First Light Mental Health Peer Support Network, and has worked within and assisted the management teams of Bentley Protectors Camp, Bruns Eco Village (BEV), Newkind Festival/Conference, and the Bob Brown Foundation Stop Adani Convoy. Ella has trained and practiced in sociocracy, Biodynamic Craniosacral and is a Sword Dancer who has studied Japanese sword arts.
Luke is the Operations Manager of Renew Fest, Director of the Northern Rivers Bushfire, Flood and Disaster Convergence, an international award-winning infographics and systems mapper, and has academic experience in research methodology, creative arts research, embodied thinking and innovation policy. He is currently a member of the Embodied Critical Thinking group hosted by the University of Iceland, and has held postdoctoral positions at the Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation, and QUT's Creative Industries Faculty. Luke is also a musician and artist, whose ongoing collaborations include Theatre of Thunder and the Black Rainbow collective.