EXPLORE, IMAGINE & CREATE A FUTURE YOU WANT TO SEE.
In the space between what is and what could be, transformation begins to flourish. Steve Pozel brings decades of experience in creativity and design-led innovation to guide organisations through this territory of possibility. As an innovation strategist and executive coach, he equips teams with rigorous tools while nurturing the imagination and courage needed to forge new paths.
As a creative director, Steve produces major projects and special programs for leading cultural organisations worldwide.
THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN INNOVATION STRATEGY,
CREATIVITY & THE CONTEMPLATIVE
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CREATIVE IMPACT & EXPLORATION
The arts have always been a laboratory for reimagining what's possible. As Creative Director for major cultural institutions across Canada and Australia, Steve has crafted experiences that bridge tradition and innovation. From the Art Gallery of New South Wales to the Sydney Opera House, from London's Design Festival to Beijing's creative quarter, he has helped organisations transform how they engage with audiences and ideas.
Since 2016, Steve has pioneered interpretative programs that bring fresh perspective to cultural spaces, creating dialogues between art, innovation, and human experience. This work continues to inform his approach to innovation strategy—seeing creativity not as a rare gift, but as a practice that can be nurtured and directed with purpose.
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INNOVATION STRATEGY
Innovation thrives at the intersection of methodical practice and imaginative leap. Through carefully crafted innovation labs and sprints, Steve blends design thinking, agile methodologies, and lean development practices to help teams discover transformative opportunities. This approach isn't just about learning new tools—it's about embedding the mindsets and capabilities that make innovation sustainable.
His coaching practice challenges comfortable assumptions while building creative confidence. By bringing together diverse approaches in tailored programs, he creates the conditions for both individual growth and collective breakthrough.
ACROSS THE INNOVATIVE, CREATIVE & CONTEMPLATIVE
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INNOVATION: Australian Design Centre
During his fifteen-year tenure as CEO and Creative Director (2000-2015), Steve transformed the Australian Design Centre into a catalyst for design innovation. Under his leadership, the Centre gained international recognition for its pioneering approach to exhibitions, digital storytelling, and public engagement, establishing itself as Australia's foremost platform for design excellence.
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ART OF DEEP LOOKING: A CONTEMPLATIVE PLATFORM
Art of Deep Looking represents a convergence of ancient wisdom and contemporary art appreciation. This platform offers carefully curated programs that bring mindful awareness to encounters with art, architecture, and nature. Drawing on contemplative traditions millennia in the making, these experiences create space for precision of attention and depth of presence.
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INDIGENOUS COLLABORATION & PLACEMAKING
Steve's deep commitment to Indigenous creativity has shaped landmark projects across two decades. From the ambitious placemaking initiatives at Barangaroo (2017-2019) to ground-breaking exhibitions at the Australian Design Centre (2000-2015), his collaborations with Indigenous artists, designers, and curators have brought vital perspectives to public spaces and cultural institutions both nationally and internationally.
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VIVID IDEAS FESTIVAL: CONTEMPLATIVE EXPERIENCES
For three consecutive years (2022-2024), Steve has forged unique experiential programs for VIVID Ideas that merge contemplative practice with creative discovery. These innovative sessions invite participants to explore art, architecture, and nature through the lenses of slow looking and deep listening, creating moments of profound engagement within Sydney's premier ideas festival.
ILLUME art mindfully
primary project 2025 - 2026
CREATIVE & THE CONTEMPLATIVE
At the intersection of art and mindfulness, Steve Pozel has developed ILLUME—an innovative digital platform that transforms how we experience great works of art. This ground-breaking app guides viewers through contemplative encounters with masterpieces from the world's leading museums, including MoMA, the Uffizi Gallery, Rijksmuseum, the National Gallery in London and Sydney’s Art Gallery of NSW.
ILLUME creates intimate moments with iconic works by artists like Vermeer, Caravaggio, Kandinsky, Artemisia, van Gogh, Mondrian, Malevich, Morisot, Cézanne and Hilma af Klint, offering a unique approach to art appreciation that combines mindfulness practices with deep artistic engagement.
Whether standing before an original work or exploring from home, users discover new ways of seeing and sensing through contemplative experiences.
Learn more about how ILLUME is reshaping the relationship between mindfulness and artistic appreciation by going to the App directly.
Contact.
Located on Darug and Gundungurra Country
Steve Pozel Projects is based in Australia, within the Blue Mountains area just outside of Sydney, in the town of Mount Victoria.
Steve Pozel Projects is proud to be located within the Country of Darug and Gundungurra People.
I acknowledge and pay my respect to the Traditional Custodians the Darug and Gundungurra People, and to Elders past and present.
For Darug and Gundungurra People, Ngurra (Country) takes in everything within physical, cultural and spiritual landscape - the landforms, waters, air, trees, rocks, plants, animals, foods, medicines, minerals, stories and special places. It includes cultural practice, kinship, knowledge, songs, stories and art, as well as spiritual beings, and people: past, present and future.
I recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as the oldest continuing culture in the world. I celebrate in the diversity of language, culture, custom, ceremony and knowledge (Lore) of First Peoples as Traditional Owners, custodians and communities with an ongoing connection across land, sea and waterways.
I also acknowledge that the lands on which I live and work are unceded – always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.