Thresholds

Luke Edwards is a Melbourne-based educator, facilitator, musician and writer, exploring ways of integrating the best science, theology and spirituality to the pursuit of being human today in a way that serves the greater good. Currently with Edmund Rice Education Australia's Liberating Education project, Luke has also served with Catholic Earthcare Australia and the EarthSong Council.

Amber Hiscott is a wildly imaginative, award-winning glass artist. Hailing from Wales, she has an international reputation for her extensive portfolio of site-specific architectural and sculptural work in the public domain. Amber's inspiration flows from her love of the natural world and fascination with evolution. In 2019 she installed the "Cosmic Windows", inspired by the work of Thomas Berry, for Green Mountain Monastery, Vermont, USA.

Margaret Broadbent rsm is a Melbourne-based Sister of Mercy and artist who carries within the mystical vision of Viriditas, Hildegard’s “greening power” of all things. After wanting to be an artist from the age of 6, Margaret’s dream was put on hold while she joined the Sisters of Mercy in the post-Vatican II era and became a teacher. Years in the wilderness of the Great Sandy Desert with an aboriginal community, solitary time in the Cathedral Ranges, and adventures into Russian Iconography were transformative experiences that are still taking expression in her artwork today. Margaret told us about a new phase for her life as an artist she is entering now, explorations into the Tree of Life.

Dr Michelle Maloney is the co-founder and national convenor of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA). With more than 25 years’ experience creating and managing social justice, community development and ecological justice programs, including ten years working with First Nations Peoples in Queensland, Michelle drives the strategy and governance of AELA and has also completed a PhD in Law at Griffith University. Her work includes maintaining the extensive partnerships and networks that AELA has with the legal, academic, indigenous and environmental advocacy communities as well as designing and managing AELA programs and events, including AELA’s Rights of Nature Tribunals.

Ayya Soma is a Buddhist monastic, public presenter and retreat facilitator now based at the New Jersey monastery she co-founded, Empty Cloud. She took up this path just 2 years ago, after realising her successful global career in journalism and creative strategy left her feeling still unhappy despite her success. Through her initiative Buddhist Insights and her free weekly retreats open to all, Ayya Soma now offers the tools and practices for tuning in to ourselves, each other and the Earth community in a way that helps us glimpse reality again, and courageously respond to the global crises we are in.