The Australian Film, Television and Radio School’s (AFTRS) Digital Futures Summit 2026 – Regenerate – was an invitation to reimagine the screen and audio industries as living ecosystems. In this framing, regeneration is not merely about sustainability or resilience; it is about active restoration, ecological enhancement and systemic transformation.
With this upcoming edition of Creative Matters, the AFTRS guest editorial team opens up this inquiry to all art forms in professional, educational and research contexts, asking us to consider our practices as an interconnected web of creative, technological, cultural and human systems; and how we might restore and enhance the health of these webs/systems/organisms?
This is a call to rethink growth, to reframe success, and to reimagine the future of storytelling as a force for renewal. What do we need to create, dismantle, and reconfigure to promote sustainable systems for new growth? How do we regenerate the university sector and creative industries – not just for survival, but for flourishing?
Some areas of exploration might be—
Active Restoration: How can our practices be actively focused on repairing and uplifting creative environments and social conditions?
Ecological Enhancement: How might our digital infrastructures renew, nourish, and provide habitat—both metaphorically and literally?
Social and Community Focus: How do we foster community well-being and strengthen the ties between people, place, and story? What role do shared responsibility and stewardship play in regenerating our creative ecosystems?
Systemic Change: What new models, structures, and relationships are needed to catalyse transformation? How can regenerative thinking reshape our understanding of growth, success, and value in arts educational and professional contexts?
Holistic and Interconnected View: Regeneration demands a shift from linear thinking to relational, contextual, and process-oriented approaches. How do we embrace complexity and interdependence in our creative and institutional practices?
Beyond Traditional Sustainability: Regenerative futures are not built on preservation alone—they are cultivated through innovation, imagination, and care. How do we design for positive cultural, social and ecological outcomes, not just reduced impact?
SUBMISSION FORMATS + GUIDELINES
800 word written pieces
Audio + Video up to 12 minutes
Creative submissions encouraged with the addition of a research statement of up to 400 words.
Please write to us to discuss alternatives to the above editor@ddca.edu.au