Member Profile - Sally Stevenson

Culture Bank Wollongong Member Profile : Sally Stevenson

I’ve been a Board member of Our Community Project since 2023, recently completed 12 years as Executive Director of the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, and am now working with the Palestinian Australia New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA).
 
Over the past 40 years, I have worked in community development and public health, both in Australia and internationally. One lesson has remained constant: strong communities are built when local people are empowered to shape their own futures, tell their own stories, and create spaces where people feel connected and belong.
 
That is why I support Culture Bank. Community-led decision-making and grassroots initiatives strengthen social connection, creativity and resilience. This has always mattered, but it is especially important now, when we are experiencing increasing division, isolation and fragmentation.
 
Culture Bank provides a simple but powerful way for you to invest in the cultural life of our region. It supports small, community-driven projects that often grow into lasting community assets, nurturing local artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, performers and creative thinkers who enrich the Illawarra.
 
Culture Bank also reflects the unique spirit of Port Kembla, sitting within a broader ecosystem of social innovation, community building and grassroots action. It draws on the area's proud traditions of activism, multiculturalism and collective effort to create positive change.
 
I encourage you to join us as a member. It’s an easy and deeply rewarding way to support our community, strengthen local culture, and help the arts flourish across the Illawarra.