Community partnerships

Community Partnerships supports community arts and cultural development practice through a range of programs and initiatives.

Community arts and cultural development (CACD) practice encompasses collaborations between professional artists and communities based on a desire to achieve innovative artistic and cultural development outcomes.

Community Partnerships focuses its support in a number of specific areas which include regional Australia, disability, young people, cultural diversity, emerging communities, Indigenous people, remote Indigenous communities and specific critical social and cultural issues requiring focused attention.

The Community Partnerships Committee has pursued increased collaborations and partnerships with the artists and arts organisations from across other arts practice areas, that develop new ways of working through engaging community members as protagonists in the creation process.

Community Partnerships also has responsibility for delivering the Australia Council’s initiatives in the Arts and Education and in particular manages the Artists in Residence program through collaborations with the States and Territories. Read more

Image: Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE)

Urban Jungle, 2008.

National Sector Development Discussion Paper

In November 2011, the Community Partnerships Committee decided to review its investment in National Sector Development supporting the Community Arts and Cultural Development sector.

The Committee have published this discussion paper to gain feedback and input from the sector regarding National Sector Development. The Committee will be holding a roundtable forum with invited representatives from the sector on 20 April 2012 which will be live streamed on the web and are inviting the sector to partake in this discussion via the website and twitter.

Responses to the discussion paper can made in the following ways:

Comments can be left below the discussion paper
Via twitter using the #CACDNSD hashtag
Email - l.mendelssohn@australiacouncil.gov.au

The final deadline for responses to the paper is April 2012.

Creative Communities Case Studies

We have prepared a collection of case-studies of the projects developed under the Creative Communities Partnership Initiative.

You can view the case-studies by state - over 30 projects available.
Find out more

A DIGITAL DIVIDE? DIGITAL TOOLS IN CACD PRACTICE

Using digital media is increasingly popular in Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) practice. But is the increasing use of digital media in itself an innovation? Where does the balance of technology skills and storytelling sit best for community? Is it different at all to long standing methods of collaboration in the CACD sector?

Whilst the proliferation of digital tools has in many ways democratised the means of making, has it changed the way the CACD artists engage and work with communities? Have emphases shifted? Is there a presumption of skills-building in using technology as a means to sharing stories, and how does this impact upon existing power relationships between community participants and facilitators? Have the central notions of ‘participation’, ‘engagement’ and ‘shared space’ been transformed through the use of these tools?

The Australia Council asked five artists/arts organisations to reflect on the use of digital media in their own practices.

Here are their responses

Latest News and Projects

Idil Abdullahi, Detail of Erased, 2012, Henna, Photography

Community Partnerships Committee members

Jeremy Smith, Deputy Chair (WA), Senior Advisor, Community Investment, Rio Tinto
Claudia Chidiac (NSW), Creative Producer, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
Marline Zaibak (VIC), Program Manager, Anti Racism Action Band
Sally Marsden (TAS), Director, King Island Cultural Centre
Lorna Martin (NT), Director, Injalak Arts and Crafts Association