Page 4109 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 September 2017
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Arts—community engagement
MS CHEYNE: My question is to the Minister for the Arts and Community Events. Noting the importance of the arts to the social and economic fabric of the ACT and to individual and community identity, can the minister please advise the Assembly about how and on what matters the government consults the ACT community about the arts?
MR RAMSAY: I thank Ms Cheyne for the question. Engaging with the community, artists and arts organisations is an ongoing part of the government’s recognition of the value of the arts for the ACT and it informs policy and programs to encourage participation in and access to the arts. In recent years community consultation on the arts has contributed on matters such as arts policy, funding, infrastructure, social inclusion, public art and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
Consultation takes various forms, including surveys, drop-in sessions, street stalls, workshops, open forums, facilitated roundtables and one-on-one interviews. Of course these conversations happen when I attend arts events, visit arts facilities and meet with artists and arts groups. Consultation with ACT artists and arts organisations earlier this year resulted in the social inclusion in the arts plan which I was pleased to launch last month and which has resulted in an impressive account of the progressive and inclusive practices of ACT arts organisations.
In 2015, over 300 Canberrans contributed to the development of the ACT arts policy, which sets a vision for the arts sector in Canberra. With an ever-evolving arts scene here in the ACT, it is important to frame our arts policy in ambitious, flexible terms and to keep our arts community—practitioners, organisations and consumers—engaged dynamically and responsively.
This year I have been delighted to see that 82 Canberrans have had a say about the replacement of public art that was stolen from Hughes shops. Indeed, although it did not hit the heights of social media generated yesterday on the conversations in this chamber, my social media stats did go off the charts with interest on this topic. I look forward to hearing the outcomes of that consultation process soon.
Another important consultation process on the horizon is, of course, the new theatre for the Canberra region. The government is seeking community views on what sort of facility the ACT needs.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, can you inform the Assembly of the progress of consultation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement with arts in the ACT?
MR RAMSAY: I thank Ms Cheyne for the supplementary question. The government’s arts policy emphasises the promotion and support of the artistic practice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the ACT and the surrounding region. Consequently there has been extensive consultation with this community about how best to provide this support in ways that are meaningful, sustainable and culturally appropriate.
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