Regional Arts NSW

ARC Linkage Grant: Cultural Asset Mapping

RANSW partnered with the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Wollongong, the University of New England and 10 other community partners for a successful ARC Linkages Project announced on 26 September 2007. The $2.5 million project 'Cultural Asset Mapping for Planning and Development in Regional Australia' will run from 2008 to 2012.

At a time when regional societies are changing markedly, this project examines ways many areas in Australia might revitalise their economies and communities by engaging in new approaches to the arts and creative activity. For consumers and producers alike, many regions in Australia offer opportunities for enhanced cultural activity and productivity and quality of life. But these opportunities have not yet been thoroughly observed, described or analysed. The project addresses this serious gap in knowledge and will give policy-makers, planners and communities crucial information they need to decide their futures.

The project aims to:

Document and analyse the cultural assets of a selected set of regions using a range of auditing and cultural mapping techniques.
Identify barriers to more integrated and effective development of the cultural industries and arts in regions through qualitative research and the active engagement of regional stakeholders in the research process.
Build long lasting capacity for expansion and effective stewardship of cultural activities via extensive knowledge transfer, policy development and implementation.
Contribute significantly to the international understanding of the relationship between cultural industries/arts, regional development and cultural policy, by reflecting on existing literatures, advancing research techniques and reporting on substantive empirical research.

Collaborating partner organisations include the Australia Council for the Arts, Local Government & Shires Association of NSW, Canberra Arts Marketing, the cities of Wollongong, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga and Armidale, and shires of Uralla and the Central Darling.