AUGUST 2026 - JANUARY 2027 •
program cost ON APPLICATION
CATAPULT
6-month Mentoring Virtual Residency Program
The people who end up in CATAPULT are the ones who keep going, for years and decades to build something genuinely real. They are experienced, thoughtful, ambitious and good at doing hard things.
They notice their energy and focus are not the same over time, but their ambition hasn't waned. The creative or professional life they feel is possible can feel just out of reach, as though they keep circling it without quite arriving there.
What brings them to CATAPULT is the pull. The sense that something more is possible. A yearning that won't quite go away.
Most programs give you content to implement when it ends. CATAPULT works differently.
By the time six months is up, the change is already lived-in.
Applications close on June 21 at 11:59pm.
Clarity Strategy Purpose Longevity
The CATAPULT Distinction
You can't un-see it once you see it.
A high achiever and a high performer can look identical from the outside: same output, same ambition, same results on paper. But they're running completely different identities.
HIGH ACHIEVER
High achievers push through and quietly absorb the cost. They have been good at this for years, but the returns are diminishing. The effort is the same as before but their energy isn't.
HIGH PERFORMER
The high performer produces just as much, sometimes more. High-performers learn to let go of what is not theirs to carry. They listen differently, close loops rather than accumulate them. They have capacity left over, not because they work differently. They have space to think, to create, action and lead.
Intact.
Change is now an inevitable part of life, work and the world. How we handle uncertainty, competing priorities, the changing environment without losing ourselves is the difference between getting it done and being effective alongside remaining intact.
CATAPULT widens your ability to handle change in ways that work for you not through sheer will.
Build your own playbook
Gain capacity (it's not just through rest)
Articulate your purpose in a way that excites you
Become a person you trust to make good decisions
Understand your mental models
Build measurable proper resilience (not the 'be strong' myth but the advance despite adversity definition)
Capacity can be drained by invisible things such as obligations, expectations or fearing the implications of choosing. Conversely, it can be expanded by the things that genuinely light you up; meaningful, quality work and making a difference.
Many programs focus on providing more information and content.
CATAPULT works with what you already have. It’s an inside-out program designed to help you implement from day one, with six months of real-time support.
'I'm falling in love with my
art-form all over again.'
— CATAPULT ALUMNI
'I feel like I'm waking up.'
— CATAPULT ALUMNI
FOR LEADERS & ARTISTS
Is This You?
CATAPULT is for mid-career and established leaders and artists who:
Lead or create at a high level but feel there's something that is not shifting, despite effort and genuine commitment.
CATAPULT moves faster than you might expect because when genuine change underneath, everything built on top shifts too. That is very different than having another process or plan to implement.
CATAPULT is not another thing to fit in because it's designed to happen in the cracks of life.
You override your own judgement more often than you'd like to admit
Something feels unsustainable, and you've been getting on with it anyway
You're holding competing responsibilities and absorbing the cost without quite accounting for it
You've had real success and still feel the goal posts shifting
Applications close on June 21 at 11:59pm.
Interviews are taken as applications come in, so apply early.
What Shifts
CATAPULT doesn't offer you another system to adopt. It helps you see the patterns that have been quietly running the show. The ones that were useful once, and aren't useful now.
The things that change look different for each person.
In practice, it tends to look like this:
FROM HIGH ACHIEVER
TO HIGH PERFORMER
Out of the circular patterns that have been costing you energy, confidence, and creative life.
FROM UNDERSTANDING YOUR VALUE TO DEEPLY KNOWING IT
Building work that aligns with who you actually are, not the version that fits everyone else.
FROM PUSHING THROUGH
TO HAVING CAPACITY LEFT
More impact, more energy, more clarity, less hoo-ha.
FROM A STRATEGY THAT IS A GENERIC FIT TO ONE THAT IS SNUG.
Designed around your life, your wiring, your particular version of ambitious.
FROM DECISIONS BY DEADLINES
TO DELIBERATE DECISIONS WITH CLARITY
Protecting your time like it's gold, because it is.
FROM OVERRIDING TO QUIET TENACITY
Speaking up, saying no, making clear choices without overthinking and being able to stay with what's yours.
'I can't believe how much has changed — and how quickly I've normalised it. I've almost forgotten it was a change, because it's just so much easier to live like this now.'
— CATAPULT ALUMNI
'I am very excited to go into this new chapter with a newfound sense of playfulness and lightness, and the appetite for risk that I always knew I had but wasn't often able to find.'
— CATAPULT ALUMNI
The Noise Shifted
'It became something clear.
I'd been getting in a tangle about how to articulate my work, but the noise in my head would always win. I think I was waiting for a moment of crystallisation that just never arrived.
Katy found a thread in that noise and invited me to follow it.
What I walked away with was clarity at a level I'd not experienced before... it's now the identity of my work. It's woven into everything, and I feel calm and grounded in my approach. And it was with gentleness and precision. Katy's wisdom and insight did what I hadn't been able to do on my own.'
— Louise, HR Leadership coach
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
'Katy is one of those rare individuals who sees the deeper meaning in the everyday - and has the ability to get to the heart of the matter and the person, with gentle and genuine care.'
- CRAIG, Creative Director
'Katy brings a profound humanness and relatability that is rare. I really appreciated the way she was able to deconstruct any hurdle, conceptually and practically.'
- KATE, SCULPTOR
'I protect my creative time like it's gold. The surprising part?
People respect it!'
- CATAPULT Alumni
'I began the CATAPULT journey hoping to gain clarity around the next steps of my career - but what I gained is much more valuable. I am more connected to who I am as an artist, what drives me, and where my practice is leading. I now know why I create and feel empowered to own my unique artistic contribution to the world. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.'
- RACHEL,Conductor and Educator
'Now I know my worth isn't up for debate.'
- CATAPULT Alumni
'I honestly can't recommend this program more. I felt so held and supported by Katy through some huge life moments - she was always there. It's more than a development program. This changed my life in so many ways. I finally have a toolkit to work through the ups and downs of life and know how to get where I want to be.'
- CLASS A, Hip Hop artist & writer
'A safe and respectful place to practise being brave and wholeheartedly aim for your own version of success.'
- CATAPULT Alumni
Inside CATAPULT
Six months. Your practice and your life is front of mind for the full duration.
At the centre of everything: one-to-one mentoring sessions with Katy, shaped around you; your pace, your challenges, your particular version of stuck. And a walkie-talkie app, open every day, for the moments between sessions when something lands, shifts, or needs attention.
Everything else is in service of that relationship.
The Core Relationship
One-to-one mentoring sessions: where the real shifts happen.
Group mentoring: a curated small cohort of like-minded people.
24/7 walkie-talkie support: Katy's attention on your practice for the full six months. The conversation is open continuously. Not monthly 'catch-ups'.
Lifetime access to all session recordings: through the CATAPULT Hub. Revisit anytime, even after the program finishes.
Low Time/High Impact - 2-4 hours/month and it happens in the cracks of life. In fact, it gives you time back.
Strategy, Curriculum + Bonuses
Individualised program
North Star Architecture Strategy Workshop: half-day strategy and momentum workshop.
CATAPULT skills and resources: examples - negotiation and advocacy, recognising and breaking the knowing-doing gap, valuing and communicating your value, the inside-out/low time-high impact approach ++ (based on the needs of the cohort)
Bonus #1: THRIVE - 30 bite-sized videos for ongoing access between sessions and beyond.
Bonus #2: Assess and measure your resilience across 6-months, Ask Katy for more details.
Community & Beyond
Katy's guest to all Catapult Conversations events in 2026: webinars, online workshops, conversations...
Invitation to The Catapult Collective on completion: a community of CATAPULT alumni.
'Katy deciphers the hard stuff quickly. She truly listens and creates a safe space to delve deeply — with a voice of calm, clarity, care, strategic wisdom, and truth-telling.'
— CATAPULT ALUMNI, VICTORIA
About Katy Abbott
Dr Katy Abbott started composing at 27, late, by most accounts. She completed her PhD with three children, including twins. She left a tenured university position because of a pull towards supporting leaders and artists in this particular way. Katy has five solo albums on ABC Classics, been commissioned by Australia's major orchestras and ensembles, and spent 2024 as Composer-in-Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
She has mentored over 60 people through CATAPULT and hundreds more through industry.
Her particular skill - the thing people consistently describe - is hearing what sits beneath the surface. Not what someone is presenting, but what they're reaching for underneath it. She doesn't hand over a to-do list. She illuminates what is already there and helps people act on it, with practical and strategic tools that work.
She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she remains an Honorary Senior Fellow.
Her composition work is at katyabbott.com.
'Thank you for your gentle and steadfast support. Your inside-out approach - tapping the power to be found when the artist and the person are integrated - has helped my energy to flow in directions for which it is meant. And that's invaluable.'
— Musician, QLD.
CATAPULT has been running for five years...
More than 60 leaders and artists have come through the program.
How To Apply
01
You apply
A short form. 10-minutes max.
02
A short conversation
We will be in touch to arrange an interview. It's an honest conversation to make sure CATAPULT is genuinely the right fit for you.
03
Your place is confirmed
Katy works at this depth with a small number of people at any one time. When the cohort is full, it's full.
Applications close 21 June 11:59pm.
Common Questions
What happens after I apply?
Katy will be in touch within a few days to arrange a short conversation. It's a chance to work out, together, whether CATAPULT is right for you. The application is the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it.
How much time does it take?
Around two to five hours per month. CATAPULT is a low-time, high-impact program designed to happen in the cracks of your life, not to add more content to be absorbed, integrated, and executed.
Is this for artists only?
No. CATAPULT is for mid-career and established leaders and artists. If you lead something: a team, an organisation, a creative practice, and this page resonated, it's worth applying.
What is the cost of the program?
CATAPULT is a premium, individualised program. Program costs, details and payment options, including instalments are shared as part of the application conversation. If cost is a question, please bring it. It's a reasonable one. The program is tax deductible if work related.
What if I'm not sure I'm ready?
That feeling is worth paying attention to and worth talking about. If the Program resonates, apply. The conversation will tell you both what you need to know.
If you've read this far, something landed. And that's worth paying attention to.
The application is short. The conversation that follows is the real beginning. And if the timing isn't right, you'll leave that conversation knowing something useful - which is, in its own way, a very CATAPULT thing.
Big Leaps. Gently.
Applications close on June 21 at 11:59pm.
Interviews are arranged as applications come in, so apply early.
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