a startup society
We have startup companies; now a startup society is forged in response to change - connecting builders around imagination, self-agency, and purposeful work.
why FREMANTLE
Fremantle has character, natural beauty, historic and social capital, and underutilised spaces. Neuhaus attracts a globally connected builder hub and investment in creativity, to place.
POP-UP: JUNE 2026
The Freo Neuhaus inaugural cohort in collaboration with Arrayah. Join an optimistic 14-day residency prototyping the future of creativity and self-agency in response to AI-driven change.
STARTUP SOCIETY MISSION
Freo Neuhaus is building the conditions for human creativity to prosper by seeding a startup society in Fremantle.History shows that every new wave of technology expands what’s possible and raises the stakes for everyone else. AI is doing that at speed, across work, culture, and power. Its upside is enormous, but the cost of passive AI adoption is existential for many. Creativity is what makes us Human.New movements often begin with a school: a school of thought and entrepreneurship. Neuhaus leads with what’s possible, building and planning with civic-minded creatives at the forefront.We bring artists, civic builders, and technologists to live and work side by side in Fremantle, with imagination, agency, self-improvement and purposeful work at the centre.Neuhaus joins the network societies ecosystem as an Australian home node, without becoming an enclave. We can activate underused space in constructive ways and make it easy for people to land and plug in, with value flowing back into Fremantle’s people, spaces, and economy through focused cohorts, peer learning, and public-facing work to attract startup investment.Who we are
This projects is auspiced by Digital Playhouse Foundation Ltd, an ACNC registered charity (PBI) founded in Australia’s First Digital Currency Town (2018), modelled on the Australian 19C School of Arts & Mechanics Institutes movement. Digital Playhouse brings the global to local through adaptation of skills to new technologies and borderless community building.Contact us
[email protected]
(Electra Frost - co-founder, public officer)
FREMANTLE, WA, AUSTRALIA
FRONTIER PORT
Fremantle is a port town, and it behaves like one. It was the frontier settlement for Western Australia’s state capital, Perth, and it’s been a point of arrival for new waves of people and new forms of work, with multiple communities living inside the same small geography.STRONG COMMUNITY
That layered history, Indigenous roots, early settlement and trade, immigration waves, fishing, arts scenes and niche subcultures, means Fremantle has unusually strong community literacy for Australia. It knows how to absorb newcomers without losing itself.BEST LOCATION
Add the simple draw of the place: beautiful swimmable beaches and sunsets, a great climate, walkable streets, and an ecosystem of artists, startups, entertainment, and coworking spaces that makes it easy to land and plug in. It’s also unusually well connected to Asia, with a cheap direct flight to Singapore in around five hours, which makes Fremantle attractive for digital nomads who move between global hubs.LEGACY
Mechanics’ Institutes and Schools of Arts were built by local community movements in the early industrial revolutions, bringing new technology to the masses so people could adapt and respond to change. These buildings hold our our legacy as institutions of self-improvement and adult learning.NEUHAUS FIT
Freo Neuhaus picks up that thread as an Australian home node for network societies, bringing global builders into a town with the right social infrastructure, and creating the conditions for locals and visiting talent to respond to waves of change together, with value flowing back into Fremantle’s people, spaces, and economy.
JUNE 2026 LAUNCH
The Pop-Up Neighbourhood in collaboration with Arrayah is the Freo Neuhaus inaugural cohort, a 14-day pop-up residency for builders who create intentional spaces to break out of routine and build toward something better. As a pilot for Freo Neuhaus, this is just the beginning.You’ll be co-living and collaborating with around 100 locals and global contributors, focused on projects, peer learning, and possibility.Streams we'll present our projects on:
1. Art
2. Tech
3. Research
- with lots of crossover!Accomm/packages options:
1. Frontier: Share a twin room. shared bathroom ($TBC).
2. Frontier solo: Own room, shared bathroom ($TBC).
3. Fancy: Own room and bathroom ($TBC)
- All options to include communal breakfast, local cafe discounts, co-working and presenting spaces, group fitness sessions and bicycles.No hierarchy.
No rigid schedule.
Just turn up to make your work real, and develop your ideas into actionable blueprints for what the future you want can look like.If you’re a founder, researcher, educator, creative technologist, or civic-minded doer who aligns with our purpose, we want you here.Come build with us to prototype history’s next cultural engine, in Freo!