Since June 2023, RAV has been working across creative communities in the G21 region – City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast, Queenscliff and Bellarine, Colac Otways and Golden Plains – to deliver the first stage of the Making Change: Creative Industries Strategy.
In 2024, the project has assisted five community-led organisations in Barwon Heads, Colac, Torquay, Inverleigh/Bannockburn, Linton and Queenscliffe in an ‘organisational uplift mentoring program’ to alleviate volunteer burnout, assist with planning and provide creative pathways for their communities.
“Making Change has been crucial in bringing the creative sector development activities of the region together … The strategy has fostered a culture of aspiration and change for regional artists and the organisations who work with them.” – Rhys Holden, CEO Geelong Arts Centre
In an example of the project’s focus on enabling partnerships and collaboration between creative individuals and organisations across the region, Making Change facilitated a partnership between Back to Back Theatre, Colac’s supported arts studio Studio 92 and Colac Performing Arts Centre (COPACC) to offer a mobile version of Back to Back’s CAMP workshops. This new experiment resulted in 24 Colac-based artists with and without disability participating in the workshops in their own town and provided Back to Back with the insight necessary to develop a new CAMP model.
So far, the Making Change project has connected with almost 1000 regional creatives and has facilitated over 70 new initiatives and collaborations. 82% of participants at ‘Changemaker’ events identified a sense of belonging, positive mental health and an extended social network as the top 3 impacts on them and their community.
Image: Colac Camp 2024, photograph: Timothy Marriage Photography
Posted 18 December 2024