Regional Arts Victoria has joined forces with the Victorian Government, the Great South Coast Regional Partnership, Corangamite Shire, Glenelg Shire, Moyne Shire, Southern Grampians Shire, City of Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road Tourism Board to begin developing a strategy to support creative industries in the Great South Coast of Victoria.
The strategy will build on the long-term partnership already in place between these groups, and provide a roadmap for supporting creative industry practitioners, organisations and supporters in the south west of the state.
Launching the next phase of consultation for the strategy, Regional Arts Victoria CEO Joe Toohey highlighted the opportunity for people living and working in the area to take a leading role in shaping outcomes for the creative industries that impact locally.
“In all of our work over many years in south west of Victoria, we have never found this region to be short of ideas,” says Mr Toohey. “What a strategic approach like this allows us to do is determine how we can work together to turn these ideas into action.”
The need for a regional-level strategy for the creative industries in the Great South Coast was identified by the community at the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Great South Coast Regional Assemblies held by the Great South Coast Regional Partnership. Through the Partnership, the community identified opportunities for enhancing regional liveability, community well-being and the region’s tourism offering through the growth of the region’s creative industries, and their linkages to tourism and Indigenous culture.
This project is supported through each of the local government partners, as well as through contributions from Creative Victoria and Regional Development Victoria.
More information about the Strategy, including how you can contribute, can be found at strategy.rav.net.au/south-coast.
As part of the consultation process, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria will co-host an open invitation session in Warrnambool on Tuesday August 20, with details available at the website. Regional Arts Victoria is the peak body for regional artists and arts organisations in Victoria and the leading organisation for regional creative practice in Victoria. Through partnerships, programming and projects, we develop creative practice all over our state.