We recognise the social and economic benefit of building a vibrant creative arts and cultural community. Our existing cultural program and assets are embraced by our community and attract many visitors to our region. Festivals and events are significant assets on our local calendar, and research indicates that culture and heritage are among our top ten unique tourism selling points.
We are committed to ensuring arts; heritage and culture play a strong role in the development of our region’s future, our identity and sense of place. We play a major part in delivering cultural services across our region, and are actively supported by an ever-growing number of community organisations, events and activities that contribute to our diverse, resilient and connected community.
This Cultural Plan identifies the overarching vision and specific goals, strategies and actions that will drive and support cultural development within our region for the period 2021-2025 and years to come. The Plan outlines the resources needed to ensure maintenance and development of the area’s cultural and heritage resources; help develop a thriving creative industry; and encourage, support and enable participation in artistic expression and cultural experimentation to inspire innovation and a sense of wonder.
The Plan is designed to be a “living” document that can evolve with changing times, priorities and trends as needed. We also recognise that evaluation will require specific measures of Council led initiatives plus qualitative participatory measures. The implementation of the future actions identified in this Plan is dependent on their inclusion in Council’s Delivery Program and Annual Operation Plan.