The Regional Arts Network (RAN) is a state-wide network of arts organisations spread across Western Australia. It initially had no shared digital home and no consistent way to stay connected. When Meeum was engaged to help understand and solve the problem, we began with research, not a solution, and 21 organisations are now active on their new platform every day.
“We were unable to scale the Regional Arts Network using external subscription-based platforms. We needed a cost-effective solution that offered both flexibility and simplicity. The platform developed by Meeum enables multiple regional organisations and arts workers to stay connected and informed, while also allowing users to actively shape how it evolves.”
Alysha Saunders
Manager Strategy & Partnerships – Regional Arts WA
The challenge
Established in 2019 by Regional Arts WA (RAWA), the RAN exists to strengthen member organisations, foster peer-to-peer collaboration, and deliver lasting cultural value to regional communities.
With 20+ member organisations dispersed across vast distances, staying connected was a persistent challenge. The network had been using Microsoft Teams, but a change to the subscription model made it increasingly costly, and it wasn’t working well for members in rural and remote areas. Subsequently, there was no shared home for the network, no single login, no consistent place to post updates, share resources, or keep in touch.
Starting with research
Meeum was engaged through Creative Australia’s Digital Specialist in Residence (DSIR) program and was paired with Regional Arts WA to help the network find a way forward.
We spent the first phase purely in discovery mode, with no predetermined solution and an open question: what does this network actually need?
Over five weeks we conducted stakeholder interviews with RAWA staff, board members, and all of the network organisations. We asked what wasn’t working, what people wished existed, and what they’d realistically use day to day.
We also mapped how people were actually working: what tools they used, what their day-to-day workflows looked like, and where the friction was. The answer to a communications problem isn’t always a new platform. It could have been a better-structured Teams or Slack environment, a shared document library, a regular newsletter, more frequent face-to-face gatherings, or a simple email list that members would read. Understanding the real shape of the problem had to come before any opinion about a solution.
The picture that emerged was consistent across the network. One member described the need for “a strong central hub of easily accessible and shareable documentation”, another for “a simple, warm and inviting digital platform” they could share resources on. They were clear that any solution needed to work well on mobile, require no installation, and have no learning curve. A solid, usable foundation they’d actually log into was worth far more than a feature-rich platform nobody touched.
Listening carefully before building anything is what made those priorities visible.
From all of that, Meeum and RAWA shaped a single question to guide the rest of the project:
“How might we improve digital connections, resource sharing, and information access for the RAN, while boosting visibility and communicating their impact to a wider audience?”
The question had two parts. The visibility piece, connecting the RAN to the broader public, was addressed through a more detailed public-facing area on the RAWA website. Meeum rebuilt that site in 2025, which is covered in the Regional Arts WA website case study. The internal communications challenge is what this case study covers.
Prototype and validation
Rather than going straight to a full build, Meeum developed a working prototype and presented it to the membership at a live workshop in December 2024. Members responded on the day using a shared digital board, posting thoughts, questions, and reactions in real time.
The response was enthusiastic. But the session was just as valuable for what it surfaced about what people didn’t want. One member flagged a concern about over-notification: too many updates from across the network and they’d disengage entirely. Another pushed for keeping the internal site as simple as possible. A third noted that Teams login problems across multiple devices had been a persistent barrier, and that a simpler single login would change things.
Those responses shaped the final build directly. Some features were refined, others scaled back. A clearer picture emerged of exactly what the platform needed to do, and what it didn’t. That process gave RAWA the confidence to commit further investment, and the prototype became the foundation for the full build.
What we built
Meeum designed and built a private, members-only intranet on WordPress with BuddyBoss Platform, featuring a bespoke custom theme developed to reflect the network’s identity. The platform gives every member a single login and a shared digital home.
From there, members can post to a live activity feed, share documents and resources, post and browse events, access archived meeting recordings and minutes, participate in topic-based forums, send direct messages, and connect with other members across the network.
Each member has an individual profile and belongs to a group representing their organisation. Notification preferences are fully customisable, addressing directly what members told us they needed: visibility into what’s happening across the network, without feeling overwhelmed by it. For members in busy organisations, email notifications mean they can stay across activity without logging in every day.
The platform sits on a dedicated subdomain of the Regional Arts WA website, keeping it clearly within the network’s existing digital presence while remaining entirely private to members.
The result
The platform launched to immediate enthusiasm. With 21 organisations now active and membership continuing to grow, members are posting events, sharing resources, asking for recommendations, and helping each other troubleshoot challenges across Australia’s largest state.
What started as a research question about fragmented communication has become a platform members actively use every day.
Now a digital veteran, Sam Hemphill initially trained as a drummer and high school teacher and spent 10 years as a touring musician and tour manager.
During that time, he ...