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Looking to the grassroots of the creative industries for ideas, innovation and growth, the NSW Government has launched an initiative to bring the state’s arts and creative industries under one policy.

Releasing the discussion paper A New Look At Culture, NSW Arts Minister John Graham today advised that the move had been driven by the positive reaction to the Federal Government’s new National Cultural Policy, Revive, released in January.

Minister Graham stated “as the NSW Minister for the Arts, my first commitment was to develop an arts, culture and creative industries policy for the state, and today that discussion is very much based on the fact the federal government has launched the National Cultural Policy, which has been incredibly well received by the sector.

“It’s now time to have that discussion about how that unfolds in NSW.”

With the aim of informing a new strategy for NSW’s arts and cultural sectors - an employer of almost one in 10 people in Greater Sydney - the paper outlines three key considerations for the sector to respond to:

• A new look at people: How can we create better, more inclusive, support and pathways for practitioners in the arts, culture and creative industries?
• A new look at infrastructure: How can we create and improve sustainable access to spaces, programs and other support for all aspects of artistic and cultural activity?
• A new look at audiences: How can we grow local, national and international audiences for cultural experiences, for the benefit of our community and the broader economy?

Starting this month, there will be a series of in-person ‘town hall’ consultations to be held in locations including Bega, Dubbo, Lismore and Tamworth and across Greater Sydney, with meetings in Liverpool, Penrith and Newcastle, as well as online meetings. These will run through until the end of August, encompassing a range of regional centres, while also including a dedicated First Nations event in Sydney.

Following the deadline for written and online submissions on 31st August, a ministerial advisory panel comprising Sydney Opera House Chief Executive, Louise Herron; University of Sydney Chau Chak Wing Museum Director, Michael Dagostino; Sydney Fringe Festival Director and Chief Executive, Kerri Glasscock; UNSW Art and Design Dean Ross Harley and Blackfella Films Director, Darren Dale will undertake a review of the feedback from September to November, before the government delivers the policy before the end of the year.

Two festivals to be scrapped as Destination NSW funding to be reviewed
The review will also include an examination of the ways in which the  marketing and events agency Destination NSW spends its $200 million plus annual budget and also see the immediate axing of two Sydney festivals considered to be under-performing and poor value-for-state money: the pre-Christmas Noel Sydney, and the Cahill Expressway-based ELEVATE festival, described by Minister Graham “the least-known festival in NSW”.

Commenting on this, Minister Graham added “to unlock the potential for a bigger, broader culture in NSW, and to support this vision fiscally, this government proposes a new approach to how our tourism message is delivered; how our culture is projected. Destination NSW will need to provide stronger support to arts and culture.

“It’s time to bring our arts and creative industries together with one policy. Australia’s cultural and creative activity contributes $122.3 billion to Australia’s economy. In Greater Sydney the creative industries account for 9% of the workforce. It should be a bigger part of our state’s story, our economy and sense of self.”

Click here for details of the discussion paper and how to make a submission.

Images: IGNITE at the Sydney Fringe Festival (top, credit: Clare Hawley) and NSW Arts Minister John Graham at the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday (below).

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