On Thursday, 18 September 2025, around 140 centre managers, placemakers, business associations, and economic development professionals gathered at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne for a full day celebrating main streets: the Centre Managers Summit followed by the Mainstreet Australia Awards.
The Summit delivered fresh insights and practical strategies across every session.
Elizabeth Joldeski opened by exploring what it means to “hold the centre” in times of rising expectations and limited resources. Ryan Smolar brought international perspective on moving from centre manager to ecosystem builder, while Sue Anderson challenged us to rethink retail’s future through experience-led activation. David West demonstrated the power of data-driven decision making, Victoria Police provided invaluable safety insights, and the panel on sustainable funding tackled one of the sector’s most persistent challenges. Patrick Moriarty and Nancy Multari closed the day with essential governance frameworks for building stronger committees.
Summit attendees will receive a comprehensive document featuring key takeaways from each keynote, session, and panel — a practical resource to support your ongoing work in precincts across the country.
This Summit wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of our major sponsor, the City of Melbourne. We’re deeply grateful to all our speakers and panellists who shared their expertise with such generosity and authenticity.
To the centre managers, precinct coordinators, and local government professionals who attended: thank you for showing up, for sharing your challenges and wins, and for being part of a community committed to vibrant main streets. Your passion and resilience are what make this work matter.
To the Mainstreet Australia team, our volunteers, and MC Joyce Watts: your work created the conditions for meaningful connection and learning.
Photos by Lizzy Jacobs Photography
Ryan Smolar (Keynote Speaker): Ryan Smolar is the Director of PlacemakingUS, a national non-profit dedicated to learning and sharing best practices in public space design and implementation. As a notable speaker on the world stage for placemaking, Ryan has taught in-person and online e-courses, and led group learning trips and workshops rooted in global placemaking practices and community engagement strategies. His exploration into the history of city planning, the foundations of placemaking, and the dynamics of public space design extends to its impact on health, climate, equity, and economic development.
Sue Anderson (Keynote Speaker): Sue Anderson brings decades of expertise in transforming retail environments by merging creative innovation with commercial impact. With a deep understanding of the challenges faced in an evolving retail landscape, Sue specialises in designing customer experiences and enhancing visual merchandising strategies to drive engagement, productivity, and profitability. Throughout her career with leading national and international consumer brands, Sue has navigated complex market disruptions, reimagining how retailers connect with their customers. As the co-founder of Co Squared, an applied innovation consultancy, Sue now collaborates with businesses and government sectors to address critical challenges in retail and beyond. Sue excels at facilitating strategic innovation, connecting diverse stakeholders to leverage trends, tools, and technologies that align with business goals and customer needs. Her expertise in retail innovation, business improvement, and change management empowers organisations to turn creativity into actionable results, shaping vibrant, effective, and sustainable retail environments. Through her consultancy, Sue continues to champion solutions that redefine customer experiences and transform the retail space into a platform for purpose, productivity, and growth.
David West (Keynote Speaker): David West is a retail consultant with over 30 years’ experience managing and marketing main streets, large Westfield shopping centres and Rundle Mall in the Adelaide CBD. David has travelled across the UK, USA and NZ including 12 months working in London high streets. David developed Retail Strategies for the Adelaide City Centre, Christchurch City Centre, Jetty Road Glenelg, Fed Square Melbourne, Queanbeyan NSW, Fremantle, Mandurah and Albany in WA. David provides practical retail and business advice to Councils, towns and city centres across Australia and New Zealand to develop management, marketing, streetscape and a sustainable mix of businesses through proactive leasing and management strategies. In 2020, he launched a unique and innovative Retail Adelaide City website to attract new businesses to the Adelaide city centre. He is passionate about well-managed streets, and has written a retail strategy book called ‘Mainstreet Management: Successful Retail Strategies’.
Leanne Deans (Panellist): Leanne brings over thirty years of experience in local government, underpinned by a diverse and varied background. Her expertise spans economic development, strategic planning, and place management. At the former City of Essendon, Leanne played a key role in one of Victoria’s first marketing and business development special rate schemes in Moonee Ponds. At Darebin City Council, she introduced five special rate schemes, developed activity centre strategies, and contributed to major planning and land use frameworks. After working as an economic development and place management consultant, Leanne joined Brimbank City Council to lead the establishment of the Sunshine Rising revitalisation and place management program. In her current role as City Strategy Manager, she oversees economic development, strategic and transport planning and place management with responsibilities for municipal strategic and structure planning, planning scheme amendments, business and industry growth, and the Sunshine and St Albans place management programs. Leanne is passionate about local government and the power of economic development to strengthen communities.
Stephen Sully (Panellist): Through a 40-year professional career Steve Sully has established himself as one of the leading urban strategists in Victoria, with specific skills in Urban Planning, Economic Development, Urban Advocacy and Main Street revitalisation. He is an experienced Local Government Executive and has directed and led numerous metropolitan and regional Local Government planning and economic development divisions and been part of Executive Management Teams. In addition, he established and successfully lead Planning by Design Pty Ltd for 13 years, a business that specialised in preparing business, management and design schemes for traditional main streets across Australia. Steve is a passionate supporter of traditional Main Streets and their business communities. He served on the Mainstreet Australia committee in a variety of roles for over 20 years. He has presented papers at numerous main street conferences and conducted international research into main street management programs.
Stavros Zikou (Panellist): Stavros and his wife Circe founded Marketa over 20 years ago. As the Director of Marketa, a Marketing and Management Consultancy, Stavros is at the forefront of implementing creative and effective marketing initiatives and management systems to Business and Traders Associations. Stavros has a passion for centre management marketing which is rooted in empathy and understanding, stemming from his own experiences growing up in a small business family. With a Bachelor of Business Degree with honours in marketing and human resources, Stavros recognises that effective centre management is not just about marketing, but also about people management and strives to create better experiences for traders by managing partnerships between trader associations and local councils. Marketa currently manages a number of associations across various councils.
Nancy Multari (Keynote Speaker): Nancy Multari is the Founder of Strategise Group and a trusted expert in association governance, economic development, and precinct revitalisation. With over 25 years’ experience in senior local government and consultancy roles, Nancy has helped countless trader associations and business committees navigate governance challenges, succession planning, and leadership transitions. Her keynote will offer practical insights and proven frameworks for building stronger, more sustainable committees.
Patrick Moriarty (Keynote Speaker): Patrick Moriarty is the Managing Partner of Strategic Australia Communications – a governance and strategy firm focusing exclusively in the not for profit field. Since 2018 Patrick has provided ongoing governance advice and support to numerous agencies dealing with not for profit such as Department of Defence, ArtsNT, Australia Council for the Arts, Country Racing Victoria, Victorian Department of Health (Cemeteries and Crematoria), Community Broadcasting Association Australia as well as recently working with grass roots organisations such as Mainstreet, Red Hot Arts, North East Living and Learning Employment Network and Ginninderry Environmental Trust. Patrick also lends his governance knowledge to a FRRR reference panel for its investing in Rural Community Futures program and has recently delivered a report to Football Victoria on it’s Constitutional review and developed a complaints policy for Community Broadcasting Association Australia.
Elizabeth Joldeski (Facilitator): Liz Joldeski is an impact-driven leader with 20+ years’ experience in economic development, government relations, leadership, strategy, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative/strategic industry partnerships. With a talent for planning and establishing collaborative, integrated project, and engagement teams, she has successfully delivered on strategic, commercial, and investment outcomes. As a proven connector and negotiator, Liz creates strong strategic alliances and partnerships to develop and deliver innovative solutions. She is a Graduate member of the AICD, holds a Masters in Public Policy and Management, and a Bachelor of Commerce. Liz brings her passion for small business and lived experience of running and owning family retail and hospitality businesses to her role as Executive Officer at Mainstreet Australia. She also leverages her economic development expertise to ensure retail small businesses receive comprehensive support and resources that drive sustainable growth.
Joyce Watts (MC): Joyce is passionate about the role of main streets to create economic opportunities, foster community connectedness and build resilience. She’s had a varied career as an intellectual property lawyer, an ecommerce store owner, and creative event producer, and currently publishes Melbourne & Regional Victoria’s biggest family travel site TOT: HOT OR NOT. Every year it inspires 1+ million readers to explore Victoria with their families and promotes local tourism. Through her consultancy Bright Smart, Joyce also helps business owners to tell their stories and build emotional connection through copywriting, photography and videography, supporting them to share their stories, communicate their value and create impact through SEO, email marketing, and social media.
Following the Summit, we came together to celebrate the outstanding work happening across Australia and New Zealand. From innovative place activations and creative marketing campaigns to transformative streetscape design and regional renewal, the 2025 Awards showcased the very best of main street management and placemaking.
Special thanks to our Awards judges and photographer Lizzy Jacobs for capturing the evening.
View the full list of 2025 Award winners and finalists and be inspired by the projects and people shaping the future of our main streets.
Best Main Street Place Activation – Council Led (under $100K)
WINNER: Whitehorse City Council – “Box Hill Cultural Food Tours”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
The Box Hill Cultural Food Tours were created by Whitehorse City Council as a part of placemaking efforts to reconnect people with Box Hill’s vibrant food scene during a time of major disruption brought on primarily by the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) development and major commercial developments.
With limited resources, the team delivered a series of sold-out tours that celebrated local culture, supported small businesses, and helped shift public perception of the area. The program reached over 2,800 people, received glowing feedback, and sparked ongoing collaborations with traders and key stakeholders.
Through creative outreach, partnerships, and strong visuals, the tours positioned Box Hill as a proud multicultural destination and offered a fresh, engaging approach to local economic and community development. The program achieved a 97% satisfaction rate, with most participants rating the experience as excellent.
Best Main Street Place Activation – Council Led (over $100K)
WINNER: City of Greater Dandenong – “Our Street NPK”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
The Our Street NPK initiative revitalised Noble Park through a place-based campaign celebrating creativity, culture, and community. Centred on four themes, Colour, Light, Play, and Perform, it delivered vibrant public art, shop front improvements, lighting, family-friendly activations and digital storytelling.
Highlights included community designed murals, public art installations, the renaming of Muderra Way and a digital map showcasing local stories. A grant scheme empowered community led projects.
The initiative also enhanced relationships with the Bunurong Land Council and other cultural groups, positioning Noble Park as a dynamic, inclusive and culturally celebrated destination.
Best Main Street Place Activation – Trader Association with Levy (under $100K)
WINNER: Launceston Central Inc – “The Lounge”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
‘The Lounge’ transformed a vacant CBD shopfront into a cosy community living room for the winter months.
Delivered by Launceston Central, this innovative space was open six days a week for 13 weeks, providing free access for arts, music, and social interaction, addressing winter hibernation and CBD vitality issues.
Engaging 19 city businesses to secure $50,000+ sponsorship, the project attracted 9,200+ visitors, achieved a world-class Net Promoter Score of 91, and involved 25+ local groups and 40+ individuals who actively shaped programming.
The initiative successfully revitalised the CBD, with both the original space and neighbouring premises securing long-term tenants post-project.
Best Main Street Place Activation – Unfunded Organisations
WINNER: Mont Albert Village Business Association in partnership with City of Whitehorse – “Mont Albert Village Activation”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
The Mont Albert Village Activation is a long-term program to revitalise an authentic heritage shopping village. Centred on Hamilton Street and the Mont Albert Plaza, the 120-year-old Mont Albert Shopping Village is one of Eastern Melbourne’s few remaining shopping strips that is not on a busy arterial road.
The Activation is a partnership involving Whitehorse City Council, the Mont Albert Village Business Association and the Mont Albert Village Gardening Group.
The three organisations work together to curate gardens in the Village, promote economic activity, populate public spaces with activities that appeal to all ages, and to realise long term streetscape redevelopment.
Best Main Street Place Activation – Consultant or Supplier
WINNER: TrustMe Ltd in partnership with Auckland Council – “Good News for You”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
Good News For You is an arts-led rejuvenation project hosted in the 100-year-old Strand Arcade of Auckland’s city centre as part of wider ranging efforts combatting the ongoing impact of the post-covid environment and a suite of disruptive large scale infra-structure projects.
Through an activation programme focussed on unlocking access to physical spaces in the city centre and platforming the diverse creative communities of the city, transformative and lasting change was brought about with a massive uptick in tenancies, a swell in visitors and foot traffic and a huge boost to the buildings profile through positive media coverage.
Best Traditional or Digital Marketing – Council
WINNER: Wyndham City Council – “Love your Local”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
Wyndham City’s Love Your Local campaign inspires community pride and economic resilience by encouraging residents to shop locally, support their local activity centres and for businesses to support local suppliers.
Through eye-catching visuals, targeted storytelling, and widespread engagement across social media, digital screens, and on-the-ground collateral, the campaign empowers local businesses to become active ambassadors.
Love Your Local is helping to shift mindsets, strengthen business relationships, and build a thriving, connected economy.
Best Traditional or Digital Marketing – Non-Council (Chamber, NFP, etc.)
WINNER: Hamilton Central Business Association – “Love the Centre”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
In 2022 after the final Covid-19 restrictions were lifted from Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton Central Business Association (HCBA) launched Love the Centre, created with local design agency Daymark, a 4-month campaign with the aim of encouraging people back into town to reconnect with the city centre and what they love about it.
In 2024 after the success of the one-off campaign, HCBA made the decision to make Love the Centre the new central city brand showcasing Hamilton’s central city as a vibrant, attractive destination, “There’s always something to do, see, eat, drink and love when you visit Hamilton’s city centre.”
Best Main Street Streetscape and Design
WINNER: Subiaco City Council – “From Hidden to Happening”
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
Once labelled as ‘dead’ following a significant period of decline, Subiaco is now re-emerging through the City’s ‘From Hidden to Happening’ initiative – an ambitious series of public realm upgrades aimed at boosting visitation and vibrancy.
From transforming car-heavy spaces like Seddon Street into pedestrian-friendly town squares, to delivering creative pop-ups, lighting, seating, and greenscaping through SubiPOP and Greenwalks, the City is reactivating underused spaces with a focus on walkability, flexibility, and enhanced visitation.
These interventions reconnect residents, workers and visitors with Subiaco’s heart, creating vibrant places that support local business, creativity, and daily public life.
Best Regional Main Street or Town Centre
WINNER: Ballarat – City of Ballarat
FINALISTS:
Winning Entry:
The redevelopment of Bridge Mall underpins a holistic renewal of the retail heart of Ballarat as a thriving destination which is the focus and catalyst for major new business investment, renewal, and a repositioning of the perception of this retail high street as representing the best of niche, local and specialised retail that Ballarat and the region has to offer.
Today, 6 months after opening, businesses are thriving, confidence is growing, and the community is reconnecting with the city centre. The project is now a model for regional renewal, demonstrating how place-based strategy can drive economic, social, and civic transformation.
John Henshall Main Street Champion
WINNER: Mr Sebastian Agricola – President, St Albans Business Group Association Inc
This special award, sponsored by our friends at Ethos Urban, a Colliers company, honours the legacy of John Henshall – a beloved economist, urban planner, placemaker, and main street advocate whose work touched communities across Australia and internationally.
This biennial award is peer-selected by the Mainstreet Australia Committee and recognises an individual who embodies John’s values: collaboration, humility, generosity of spirit, and an unwavering belief in the power of local people to transform their place.
The John Henshall Main Street Champion is awarded to someone who:
Anna Edwards: Dr Anna Edwards is a leading expert in night-time economies, urban governance, and economic research. She co-founded Ingenium Research, a consultancy specialising in data-driven insights. As a Research Fellow in Urban Studies at the Melbourne Centre for Cities, she works on the Night Shift project, a study that examines night work in Australia. Her PhD in Urban Analysis and Development / Economic Geography, completed in 2024, focused on night-time economy policymaking and governance in Australian cities. She also holds an MSc in Economic Development Research and Policy and a BA in Business Studies. With experience across government, academia, not-for-profit, and consultancy, Anna advises policymakers and businesses on creating safer, more vibrant 24-hour cities.
Stephen Sully: Through a 40-year professional career Steve Sully has established himself as one of the leading urban strategists in Victoria, with specific skills in Urban Planning, Economic Development, Urban Advocacy and Main Street revitalisation. He is an experienced Local Government Executive and has directed and led numerous metropolitan and regional Local Government planning and economic development divisions and been part of Executive Management Teams. In addition, he established and successfully lead Planning by Design Pty Ltd for 13 years, a business that specialised in preparing business, management and design schemes for traditional main streets across Australia. Steve is a passionate supporter of traditional Main Streets and their business communities. He served on the Mainstreet Australia committee in a variety of roles for over 20 years. He has presented papers at numerous Main Street conferences and conducted international research into Main Street management programs.
Clare Dewhirst: Clare is the founder and director of City Nation Place, the global forum for place branding and place marketing. City Nation Place creates connections and shares best practice between country brands, regional brands, and city brands around the world through articles, interviews, surveys, white papers, a membership group, awards, and conferences. Clare’s interest in the complex area of place branding was sparked whilst working on a series of Nation Branding Masterclass events, led by Simon Anholt, one of the first thought-leaders to speak about and promote the concept of place branding. Having listened to Simon address audiences in Accra, Delhi, Dubai, London and Singapore on how policy, governance, and symbolic actions need to combine with branding and marketing to create a competitive identity and drive economic growth, she continued to follow the growth in this sector. Clare launched the first City Nation Place Global conference in London in 2015: CityNationPlace.com has been steadily building followers – with additional annual conferences for the places of the UK, ad the Americas conference for the places across the USA and Canada. The first City Nation Place Australasia conference took place in February 2025 and Clare looks forward to partnering with Main Street Australia for the second event in 2026.
Martin Ginnane: Martin Ginnane has worked on major projects for the State Government of Victoria, City of Melbourne – The Shopfront Activation Program for the CBD of Melbourne, Business Networking Program for the City of Yarra, Activation and Safety Strategies for the City of Frankston and the City of Port Phillip, Shop Front Activation Strategy for Liebig Street in the City of Warrnambool, Renewal and Activation Strategies for the Corangamite Shire and projects for private companies such as the LK Group, Uniqlo, Costco and ANZ Bank. Ginnane & Associates stakeholder engagement skills especially across Local Government municipalities is highly regarded and with a strong retail and hospitality background we are experts in what drives local businesses, communities and their economies. Ginnane & Associates’ global connections and experience allows us to engage with international trends and thoughts in a manner that is aspirational while at the same time achievable.
Joyce Watts: Joyce is passionate about the role of main streets to create economic opportunities, foster community connectedness and build resilience. She’s had a varied career as an intellectual property lawyer, an ecommerce store owner, and creative event producer, and currently publishes Melbourne & Regional Victoria’s biggest family travel site TOT: HOT OR NOT. Every year it inspires 1+ million readers to explore Victoria with their families and promotes local tourism. Through her consultancy Bright Smart, Joyce also helps business owners to tell their stories and build emotional connection through copywriting, photography and videography, supporting them to share their stories, communicate their value and create impact through SEO, email marketing, and social media.
Chris Patfield: Chris is a dedicated Place Manager of the Parramatta Square Precinct and has experience in operational management of public spaces, capital delivery, place activation and place measurement. Trained as an urban planner, Chris also has relevant experience as a strategic and statutory planner working on many complex projects as a consultant. Now working in the public sector, Chris is a passionate advocate for realising the vision of Parramatta being a global city full of world class experiences and opportunities to gather, create and accelerate.
