Tania de Jong AM, founder of The Song Room and Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2006, is thrilled to announce the launch of a new not-for-profit organisation, Creativity Australia.

Our ability to be creative is an enormous challenge in times of major social and economic upheavals. Our already high pressured lives are likely to get even more stressful. There’s a growing need for innovative wellbeing programs that connect with people’s innate talents for imagination, creativity and passion.

Creativity Australia will develop and deliver innovative mental health and wellbeing programmes, and it will advocate creative leadership and thinking in all walks of life. It will join with business, academic, educational, community and charity groups, government and philanthropists to help organizations and community groups to encourage Australians to tap into and unlock their full potential.

There’s already a lot of interest in the Creativity Australia vision. Active supporters include Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Allan Fels, Sam Lipski, Hugh Morgan, Evan Thornley, Janine Kirk and Bruce Woodley.

By fostering opportunities for personal and team innovation and creativity, Creativity Australia will provide a new and exciting path to personal wellbeing, acceptance, social inclusion and highly satisfied, productive members of our great Australian community.

“With One Voice” will be one of Creativity Australia’s major programs developing choirs for small to large organisations. Singing in choirs promotes cooperation, wellbeing, teamwork and, of course, harmony. Its goals include improving personal wellbeing and morale, fostering team spirit and belief, building connections throughout and across organisations, and simply inspiring creativity and innovation. It will culminate with an annual Battle of Corporate Choirs, a battle of musical wits.

Not only will these choirs compete with each other, they will also be encouraged to take their singing and their creativity to the wider community, and work with socially and economically disadvantaged fellow members of our Australian community.

“Our society is fragmented and our ability to communicate with other people and express ourselves is limited. This undermines our fundamental human values, sense of family and community. Creativity Australia is about inspiring more productive individuals, organisations and communities.”

Tania de Jong AM

For more information about Creativity Australia, please visit the website at www.creativityaustralia.com.au

MTA is thrilled to announce that Pot-Pourri was named Australian Event Entertainer of the Year 2007 in the BT Publishing E-Awards for Event Excellence in an awards ceremony during RSVP in Sydney on 2 July.

Awarded for their consistently outstanding performances and constant innovation in corporate, community and charity entertainment, the award represents a significant acknowledgement and commendation from the Business and Tourism industry.

Tania de Jong is pictured receiving the award from the Publisher Helen Batt-Rawden.

For more information about Pot-Pourri, please visit their website at www.pot-pourri.com.au

Tania de Jong has received an AM in the Queen's Birthday Honours for service to the arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities.

She is pictured at Government House with her mother Eva de Jong-Duldig and Governor de Kretser AC.

To see the full list of Honours, visit the website of The Australian Newspaper.

Tania de Jong is now an official blogger on The Ruby Connection, for Westpac Business.

Tania's first blog post is available here.