4/3/2026 

Last month on a hot February day in Tamworth the NSW Arts Minister John Graham launched our first state plan for regional arts. Attached to the NSW policy for the arts, culture and creative industries Creative Communities, the new regional strategy was originally promised for late 2024. We had to wait much longer than that, but fortunately Heartland: a plan for regional arts, culture and creative industries benefits from not being rushed through, offering a comprehensive view of regional priorities and identifying many cross-government opportunities.

Heartland provides a range of programs spread across six areas of strategic focus. These areas cover First Nations development; partnerships and networks; creative spaces, regional creative careers, showcasing regional creative innovation and storytelling and amplifying arts and cultural tourism. The decision to focus on these areas is sound, with a range of actions stemming from them that are – for the most part – sensible and achievable goals that can be worked on over the ten-year lifespan of Heartland. A particularly positive note is that the government has committed funds and has managed to garner financial input from across various parts of government, not only from the arts purse.

I admit that I was somewhat bemused by a process for the plan that put together a working party that did not invite the CEO of Regional Arts NSW in, but it was done at a time when the whole relationship between RANSW and the government was in a state of flux. I was glad to see strong representation of the RADO network and to see the process chaired by former RADO Executive – now heading up the Museum of the Riverina – and current RANSW Board member, Tim Kurylowvicz. Another of our Board members, Lorrayne Fishenden who is CEO of the Aboriginal Regional Arts Alliance, also sat on the working group, and I was consulted by Create NSW as the plan developed. The plan has identified a number of areas in which RANSW will be the key delivery partner. I believe that this reflects the way in which our relationship with the NSW Government and Create NSW has shifted substantially, and we are now in a much better place than we have been for many years.

Like any plan, Heartland will only be a successful if we commit to it, and when I write ‘we’, I refer to our whole sector, from government, peak bodies, arts organisations, arts practitioners to the community sector. Regional NSW has its own distinct ways of working in the arts, a strange hybrid of professional work that sits alongside and constantly integrates with community practice, producing work that we are proud of and which has an important role in the broader ecology of arts in NSW and Australia.

– Tracey Callinan, Regional Arts NSW CEO