Wyndham City
community arts strategy
www.wyndham.vic.gov.au
Wyndham City
Our Aim Our Objectives Access for all Working in partnership Leading the way Building a sense of place Planning ahead Introduction About Community Arts What is the Community Arts Strategy? Putting the strategy together The Arts in Wyndham Where we’re at now Where we’d like to get to How we’re going to get there Objective 1: Access for all Objective 2: Working in partnership Objective 3: Leading the way Objective 4: Building a sense of place Objective 5: Planning ahead Ensuring our success Where to next? How will we make sure we get it right Thank you For more information Community Arts Strategy: Summary Action Table
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community arts strategy
our objectives Wyndham’s Community Arts Strategy has five objectives that will support our aim and drive the Strategy’s implementation: Access for all 1. We will reduce the barriers for artists and community members to participate in community arts activity
our aim Wyndham will be a place where all people can participate in creative activity that nurtures the expression of our own unique identity in the spirit of compassion, joy, understanding and a shared sense of community.
Working in Partnership 2. We will work with our artists and industry partners to deliver fun, educational, and shared community arts experiences for all Wyndham residents Leading the Way 3. We will demonstrate leadership in the way we commission and deliver community arts services Building a sense of place 4. We will promote the City of Wyndham as a central destination for Community Arts by building a sense of place Planning ahead 5. We will plan ahead to ensure the sustainability of community arts services as Wyndham continues to grow.
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Wyndham is a city in transition. It is experiencing unparalleled growth and with that growth comes many challenges and opportunities. Wyndham City Council is committed to meeting these in ways that are proactive, sustainable and add value to our community. Over the last decade, Wyndham’s population has grown by over 50,000 people and is forecast to double over the next twenty years. Consequently, we are witnessing a period of rapid infrastructure expansion. This means building new roads, schools, offices, homes, community centres and recreational facilities that are the foundations for a well-serviced community. As we continue to plan for Wyndham’s development we also need also to focus on building the community’s social capital, that is, creating opportunities for activities that connect us as human beings and that enhance the social bonds between us. The Community Arts Strategy is one path to achieving this. When we think of the value of arts in society we often focus on its ‘entertainment’ value. We might flick on the television, go see a film, or read a book. In this way, we’re often the spectator, ‘consuming’ the arts. But what happens when we start to unlock our own creative expression by becoming more active participants
in the arts? Unlocking and expressing our own creative potential with the help of arts workers is what community arts is about. The Quality Community Plan recognised the importance of “developing a sense of community through joint activity and communal responsibility” and understood how this is linked to people’s wellbeing. The arts was identified as one of the key ‘vision areas’ for Wyndham and a number of goals have been expressed to create a reputation for Wyndham as an arts and cultural destination. The Community Arts Strategy will build on these objectives by drawing on Wyndham’s geographic uniqueness, the diversity of its people, and the strength of collaborative arts practice to establish a hub of creative community activity. Our intent is that this Community Arts Strategy will provide opportunities for Wyndham’s residents to make a positive contribution to community building by finding new ways to reflect upon and share our stories.
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introduction About Community Arts Unlike other forms of enjoying the arts, Community Arts provides people with the opportunity to express themselves in ways that are meaningful to them and to feel a sense of ownership of the projects they are a part of. Community Arts can take many forms but generally involves members of a community being active participants in cultural activities. The community often works with professional arts workers who provide expertise to facilitate the cultural activities that the community wants to take part in. Community arts projects commonly include activities such as the performing arts (theatre, dance, circus and physical theatre etc), music (classical and contemporary), art in public spaces, writing, film, visual arts (photography, craft, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, etc) and education programs. Works produced through community arts are expressed through community celebrations, special events, festivals, concerts, performances, orally – through storytelling, publications and screenings. Some community arts processes are just that, a process, which results in no identifiable ‘art work’. Often just taking
part, having fun, learning something new and mixing with different people is more important than an end result.
for us to relate to one other regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, or religious beliefs; and
Community Arts has an opportunity to raise awareness of important health issues such as mental health, family, violence, alcohol, etc.
s THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ROLE OF professional artists acting as facilitators to help communities’ and individuals’ creative expression.
What Is the Community Arts Strategy?
Putting the Strategy Together
Wyndham’s Community Arts Strategy is a long term plan that sets out the Council’s commitment to providing its residents with creative opportunities. The Strategy recognises that it is the people of Wyndham who give this city its heart. It is also recognition that, as we continue to grow, our community will face many challenges that we will need to meet together. Sharing Community Arts activity is one way to communicate our needs to each other.
The City of Wyndham asked arts and culture advisors to prepare a background report reviewing the current level of community arts in Wyndham and how we might build on this. Its preparation included an extended period of consultation with Wyndham residents and key partners.
The Community Arts Strategy is an acknowledgement of: s THE VALUE OF ARTS AND CULTURE AS A TOOL TO support community strengthening; s THE POSITIVE IMPACT ON INDIVIDUALS WHO participate in community arts practice; s THE UNDERSTANDING THAT COMMUNITY ARTS is one way to ensure that all voices in our community are heard and a way
Through in-person discussions, community workshops and an online survey, residents, local arts organisations, Councillors, Council staff, funding bodies and neighbouring municipalities were invited to contribute their ideas to the process. The background report considered all of this information, in addition to other research, and a number of findings and recommendations were made. These recommendations formed the basis for this Community Arts Strategy.
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Where We’re At Now Wyndham’s vibrancy is evident when we look at the array of arts and cultural activity that is currently available in our City. In any given year we have numerous festivals, award ceremonies, and other public programs that provide Wyndham residents with opportunities to actively participate in arts and culture. Wyndham has an innovative, well established ‘percent for art’ public art program that directs one per cent of the cost of major building projects towards public art. It has seen the flourishing of public art throughout the City and has made a vital contribution to the way residents experience the arts. Some of the more recent works include Jigsaw by Grant Finck (Tarneit Community Centre) and constellation by Deborah Edwards (Quantin Binnah Community Centre). The Wyndham Arts Register has over 200 individuals and businesses that are involved in the arts through drama, music, literature, dance, visual arts, multimedia, photography, crafts, and graphic design. Wyndham is also home to artist studio space where practicing artists vitally contribute to the Wyndham arts community, developing work for exhibitions and facilitating workshops, classes and programs. Through the commitment of its artists, Wyndham has developed a prominent visual arts community and the enthusiasm of our younger residents has made our City well known for its progressive live music scene.
Wyndham has also invested in infrastructure to support the creation and presentation of arts and cultural events. In 2001, the Wyndham Cultural Centre was opened and has quickly become the focal point for all major arts and cultural activity in the City. Wyndham also supports arts and cultural activity through venues such as the Leisure and Events Centre, Wyndham Art Works, the Youth Resource Centre, community centres and the libraries network. Local parks and gardens, and business centres are also well utilised for community celebrations, festivals and special events such as the Sounds in the Wynd, Weerama and Youth Fest.
Where We’d Like To Get To Wyndham is a city that is characterised by its unprecedented growth and the diversity of its residents. This is both an opportunity and a challenge.
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the arts in wyndham Growth Our resident population of over 140,000 is projected to double in twenty years. The people of Wyndham will remain young, relative to Melbourne generally. Families with young children and teenagers will dominate the demographic mix.
Diversity Wyndham’s population has not only doubled since the early 90s, it has also diversified. Communities including Greek, Italian, Maltese and Spanish have long histories of living, working and celebrating in Wyndham. More recently, people from China, Cambodia, Sudan, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Samoa and Vietnam have added to the cultural mix. This growing cultural diversity is an opportunity for the people of Wyndham to share our stories and strengthen our community through arts practice. Wyndham needs to keep pace with the changes it is experiencing or it risks becoming a disconnected city, failing to capitalise on its cultural strengths. While the current levels of arts and cultural activity have generally met the existing
demand, we recognise that there is a need for further investment in community arts if we are to demonstrate leadership in the way we plan for our future. Everyone in Wyndham has a story to share and each new resident brings with them a new story. We may not get to hear them often enough but these stories are our cultural assets and they are what make us unique. They can be expressed in many ways; through speech, dance, painting, drawing, song, acrobatics, music, or digital media. We don’t need to be artists to be creative but sometimes we need an artist’s guiding hand to help us to express ourselves in ways that we may not always have the opportunity to do.
How We’re Going To Get There To make sure we meet our aims, we have developed five objectives to guide the implementation of the Community Arts Strategy. Under each of these objectives are a number of initiatives that, with your participation, will help us to achieve our goals. Some of the initiatives can be implemented in the short term and others will involve the support of our partners and require a longer delivery timeframe. All of the initiatives are part of a vision to build a City that celebrates its people and their creativity.
Investing in community arts means there will be more ways for our residents to participate in creative activity. It may be as part of a program run through your local library or community centre, or through a one off workshop at the Cultural Centre. We’d like to see Wyndham become a place where everyone has an opportunity to be creative and a place where creative people are acknowledged and celebrated. That’s where we’d like to get to.
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objective 1: Access for all
objective 2: Working in Partnership
We will reduce the barriers for artists and community members to participate in community arts activity.
We will work with our artists and industry partners to deliver fun, educational, and shared community arts experiences for all Wyndham residents.
To achieve this objective we will:
objective 1
objective 2
To achieve this objective we will:
1. Fund a grant writing support program for local artists and schools. 2. Promote funding opportunities for artists through the Community Grants program by brokering partnerships between professional artists and community centres 3. Undertake a cost benefit analysis with stakeholders, including the broader community, to investigate opportunities to modify the current subsidy rate for the Wyndham Cultural Centre with the aim of broadening access for community arts purposes 4. Develop a communications strategy to ensure that opportunities to participate in community arts activity are well publicised 5. Fund the installation of hanging equipment in Council facilities identified as having sufficient hanging space to support the presentation of community visual artwork and consider other hanging space opportunities.
Access for all
Working in Partnership
1. Establish Special Interest Groups to guide and support the rollout of the Community Arts Strategy 2. Establish an Interdepartmental taskforce to guide and support the roll out of the Community Arts Strategy 3. Optimise the relationship with community centres by scoping funding opportunities and driving the development of community arts programs 4. Develop ongoing relationships with potential funding partners and encourage future support of community arts activity in Wyndham 5. Map and activate key delivery partners to help build a responsive network that can support community arts activity in Wyndham including: library services, churches, community centres, schools, and youth services 6. Develop a database to identify and strengthen community arts networks in the Western Region 7. Partner with industry recognized artists in the development of keynote community arts programs.
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objective 3: Leading the Way
objective 4: Building a Sense of Place
We will demonstrate leadership in the way we commission and deliver community arts services
We will promote the City of Wyndham as a destination for Community Arts by building a sense of place.
To achieve this objective we will: 1. Build on local strengths by supporting the development of a performing arts/dance/music program for people of all ages 2. Undertake an Expressions of Interest process to pilot community arts projects to be delivered by arts organisations and/or a professional artist 3. Engage a professional artist to devise a pilot program for a large-scale community art project 4. Work with local businesses and artists to showcase community arts product in their premises 5. Develop a diverse artist/company-in-residence program at the Wyndham Cultural Centre and Youth Resource Centre.
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objective 3
objective 4
To achieve this objective we will:
Leading the way
Building a sense of place
1. Pilot a community arts celebration day at the Cultural Centre as part of Weerama Festival, and consider opportunities for the inclusion of community arts celebrations at other Wyndham community festivals 2. Develop strong relationships with leaders in new and emerging communities to increase participation in community arts practice 3. Publish an annual progress report against milestones of the Community Arts Strategy 4. Investigate opportunities to include community arts programming as part of Place Making initiatives in the Werribee City Centre, to contribute to the activation and enhancement of major civic spaces such as the Wedge Street Piazza and Wyndham Park 5. Prepare a publication outlining the successes and achievements of the Community Arts Strategy and make it widely available to the public.
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objective 5: Planning Ahead We will plan ahead to ensure the sustainability of community arts services as Wyndham continues to grow. To achieve this objective we will:
objective 5
ensuring our success How Will We Make Sure We Get It Right
1. Implement a monitoring and review cycle to ensure the effective delivery of the Community Arts Strategy 2. Undertake a feasibility study into the development of a multi-purpose Community Arts Venue/s for Wyndham 3. Review and publish a refreshed Community Arts Strategy.
Planning ahead
Where To Next? The Community Arts Strategy is the template for the City’s vision for community arts over the short, medium and long term. It will be rolled out over the next decade. We’ll be setting up Special Interest Groups to help guide the Strategy’s implementation. It will be made up of a number people with skills and experience in community arts, artists, venue management and business including membership from the general public.
The implementation of this Community Arts Strategy will only be successful with the support of our key partners and the participation of Wyndham’s residents. We’ll be regularly monitoring our progress and make sure that we’re on track to meet our objectives. Every year we’ll publish an update on how we’re going on the Council’s website www.wyndham.vic.gov.au
Thank You Wyndham City Council would like to acknowledge all of the people who participated in the development of the Community Arts Strategy.
For more information If you would like to know more about the Strategy, or require the strategy in an alternative language, please telephone 9742 0904. This Strategy was developed by Geografia and Cultural Value for Wyndham City Council.
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summary action table Title
Access for All
Objective
We will reduce the barriers for artists and community members to participate in community arts activity
Initiative
1. Fund a grant writing support program for local artists and schools
Timescale
S
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives
Resources
2.2 2.3 1.2
Arts Officer/ $5,000
2. Promote funding opportunities for artists through the Community Grants program by brokering partnerships between professional artists and Community Centres
1.2 1.3
3. Undertake a cost benefit analysis with stakeholders, including the broader community, to investigate opportunities to modify the current subsidy rate for the Wyndham Cultural Centre with the aim of broadening access for community arts purposes
5.4 1.2
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S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
Title
Objective
Initiative
Timescale
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives
Resources
Access for All
We will reduce the barriers for artists and community members to participate in community arts activity
4. Develop a communications strategy to ensure that opportunities to participate in community arts activity are well publicised
S
5.4
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer/ Public Relations
5. Fund the installation of hanging equipment in Council facilities identified as having sufficient hanging space to support the presentation of community visual artwork and consider other hanging space opportunities
S
5.4 1.2
Arts Officer/ $5,000
1. Establish Special Interest Groups to guide and support the rollout of the Community Arts Strategy
S
1.2 1.3
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer
2. Establish an Interdepartmental taskforce to guide and support the roll out of the Community Arts Strategy
S
7.3
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator
Arts Officer
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/Cultural Centre Manager
Working in Partnership
We will work with our artists and industry partners to deliver fun, educational, and shared community arts experiences for all Wyndham residents
S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
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Title
Working in Partnership
Objective
We will work with our artists and industry partners to deliver fun, educational, and shared community arts experiences for all Wyndham residents
Initiative
3. Optimise the relationship with community centres by scoping funding opportunities and driving the development of community arts programs
Timescale
S
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives 1.2 7.3
Resources
Arts Officer
S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
4. Develop ongoing relationships with potential funding partners and encourage future support of community arts activity in Wyndham
S
5. Map and activate key delivery partners to help build a responsive network that can support community arts activity in Wyndham including: library services, churches, community centres, schools, and youth services
S
6. Develop a database to identify and strengthen community arts networks in the Western Region
S
7. Partner with industry recognized artists in the development of keynote community arts programs
S
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5.4 7.4
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer
2.3 1.2
Arts Officer
2.3 1.2
1.1 1.4
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer
Title
Objective
Initiative
Timescale
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives
Resources
Leading the Way
We will demonstrate leadership in the way we commission and deliver community arts services
1. Build on local strengths by supporting the development of a performing arts/dance/ music program for people of all ages
M
1.2 7.3
Arts Officer/ Youth Planners/Community Centres Officer/ $25,000
2. Undertake an Expressions of Interest process to pilot community arts projects to be delivered by arts organisations and/or professional artists
S
5.4 1.2
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Arts Officer/ $5,000
3. Engage a professional artist to devise a pilot program for a large-scale community art project
M
5.4 1.2
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/Arts Officer/seeking funding/$40,000
4. Work with local businesses and artists to showcase community arts product in their premises
S
5.4 1.2
Arts Officer
5. Develop a diverse artist/ company in residence program at the Wyndham Cultural Centre and the Youth Resource Centre
S
5.4 1.2
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/Cultural Centre Manager/ Arts Officer/Seek funding/$10,000
S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
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Title
Objective
Initiative
Timescale
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives
Resources
Building a Sense of Place
We will promote the City of Wyndham as a destination for Community Arts by building a sense of place
1. Pilot a community arts celebration day at the Cultural Centre as part of Weerama Festival, and consider opportunities for the inclusion of community arts celebrations at other Wyndham community festivals
S
5.4 1.2
Arts Officer
2. Develop strong relationships with leaders in new and emerging communities to increase participation in community arts practice
S
3. Publish an annual progress report against milestones of the Community Arts Strategy
S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
5.4 1.2
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/Arts Officer
S
5.4 7.3
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Public Relations
S 4. Investigate opportunities to include community arts programming as part of Place Making initiatives in the Werribee City Centre, to contribute to the activation and enhancement of major civic spaces such as the Wedge Street Piazza and Wyndham Park
1.4 3.2
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Place Manager
5. Prepare a publication L outlining the successes and achievements of the Community Arts Strategy and make it widely available to the public
5.4
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Title
Objective
Initiative
Timescale
Aligned with Council Plan Objectives
Resources
Planning Ahead
We will plan ahead to ensure the sustainability of community arts services as Wyndham continues to grow
1. Implement a monitoring and review cycle to ensure the effective delivery of the Community Arts Strategy
S
1.1 7.3
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator
2. Undertake a feasibility study into the development of a multi-purpose Community Arts Venue/s for Wyndham
S
5.4 6.1
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator
3. Review and publish a refreshed Community Arts Strategy
L
1.1 7.3
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/Arts Officer/$50,000
S: Short Term (0-2 years) M: Medium Term (3-5 years) L: Long Term (6+ years)
Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator/ Public Relations $5,000
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www.wyndham.vic.gov.au