Our Peoples Foundation (Community Organisation)
About the Foundation
Our Peoples Foundation (OPF) is a First Nations-led, registered charity founded by Daen Sansbury-Smith, building upon years of creative, community, and cultural work through Adjadura Studio, Blak Crow, and Clever Fulla.
OPF was established to ensure that the stories, language, and knowledge of Aboriginal communities are documented, protected, and returned through community-controlled creative and educational programs. The foundation operates at the intersection of art, technology, and cultural governance, designing projects that centre Indigenous Data Sovereignty, intergenerational learning, and the continuation of culture through new forms of media.
Purpose & Vision
OPF exists to empower communities to tell their own stories, building pathways for cultural continuity through creativity, research, and education.
It leads projects that blend film, design, augmented reality, archives, and environmental care, ensuring that every piece of work — from a community film to an AR-enabled garment — contributes to a living cultural archive.
These archives remain under community control, guided by cultural protocols, traditional custodians, and the principle that knowledge belongs to the people and the Country it comes from.
Through partnerships with communities, Elders, universities, and cultural institutions, OPF creates a model for co-equitable collaboration — one that uplifts local voices while providing tools, training, and infrastructure for self-determined creative practice.
From the Founder — Daen Sansbury-Smith
The Foundation grew from the natural evolution of my work.
For years, I was producing art, film, and design projects that brought community stories to life — but I realised we needed something lasting, something our people could own and lead.
OPF is that structure.
It’s where professional creative practice meets cultural purpose — where stories like Taking Mum Home and community projects like the Narungga Cultural Burns can sit side by side with AR fashion, murals, and digital archives.
It’s about making sure our voices, our art, and our knowledge are preserved on our own terms — and shared in ways that strengthen who we are and who we’re becoming.
Focus Areas
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Cultural Continuity & Knowledge Preservation — recording, archiving, and returning cultural materials to communities.
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Creative Technology & Innovation — film, AR, VR, and multimedia storytelling.
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Education & Capacity Building — workshops, mentorships, and community training in media and design.
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Caring for Country & Cultural Tourism — land custodianship, interpretation, and site-based storytelling led by Elders.
Partners & Recognition
OPF operates through partnerships with Elders, community organisations, universities, councils, and creative collaborators nationally.
It continues to expand across South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania, developing new collaborations with schools, corporations, and philanthropic foundations committed to First Nations self-determination.
Through OPF, Daen and his collaborators are ensuring that creative practice becomes a tool for cultural continuation— sustaining the past, empowering the present, and protecting knowledge for generations to come.