Common Ground First Nations

Picture: Common Ground's Creators Circle gathering in remote Cape York on Kuku Yalanji Country, June 2023

Common Ground is a First Nations not-for-profit and collective of First Nations people changing systems through storytelling.

Common Ground launched in 2019 as a small collection of curated and original content found on their website. Common Ground has continued to evolve as a place of storytelling and education, to create opportunities for First Nations people to be authors on their terms.

Common Ground has an all-First Nations team and board of directors. While the team is small, they have an extensive network of First Nations contributors who help shape Common Ground every day.

Common Ground’s work touches on intersections of advocacy, education, creative storytelling and systems change, driving change in a unique way. The organisation seeks ways to influence systemic change – often aimed at shifting mindsets and behaviours – through innovative and creative projects that harness the power of storytelling.

Common Ground is working to shape futures that centre First Nations people, Country and truth-telling in everything. Their projects – from Dreamy to the Creators Circle – draw from First Nations community strength, creativity and innovation to achieve incredible reach and impact. Their annual project, First Nations Bedtime Stories, sees Common Ground work with different First Nations creatives and communities to film five stories, distributing money to communities to record their stories in their own way. This project shifts power and resources to communities and builds on tens of thousands of years of strong, community-driven storytelling.

First Nations people have always been innovators, and Common Ground is building on a journey 80,000 years in the making.