Home

Arts and cultural enhancement policy

With its concentration of artists and its many arts and community festivals, Townsville is a centre for the creative industries, but we need a more coherent public vision if we are to realise our potential as the recognised arts hub for Northern Australia. All levels of government need to include cultural values as core criteria, along with economic, environmental and social values, in their city planning and development deliberations. In particular, Community Voices see the need for a creative art precinct in West Flinders Street, with an emphasis on community engagement and participation in the arts. This would help address:
  • the lack of infrastructure for arts groups and opportunities for local artists;
  • help express North Queensland's unique and diverse cultural values, and raise the profile and accessibility of arts in the region;
  • contribute to Townsville's tourism sector; and
  • provide employment for North Queenslanders.
We also support the formation of partnerships between artists and arts organisations with traditionally non-arts groups, such as Arts and Health North Queensland (AHNQ). This achieves the following:
  • promotes opportunities for participation in art and opportunities for artists;
  • increases the presence of art in everyday life; and
  • promotes an environment that values and celebrates difference.
In addition, Community Voices would like to see the decentralisation and devolving of arts funding through more support for such groups as ACROC (Arts and Culture Regional Organization of Councils (a North Queensland coalition) and the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF). At present, regional areas get a disproportional and very small amount of federal arts funding, which mainly goes to large population centres like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Arts Council has only one representative for all the regional areas of Australia and there is a clear need for greater regional representation. There is also a need for more arts infrastructure funding in North Queensland. Currently, arts groups in the south of the State, up to Rockhampton, have access to grants of up to $150,000 through casino funds, whereas in the North the largest grant available is $5,000.