#Revive Community Arts

Statement & Recommendations

The below statement with recommendations was written by a national alliance of CACD organisations and independent practitioners (listed below).

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Dear Minister Burke,

We write to you as a national alliance of Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) organisations and independent practitioners working at the forefront of arts, culture and community life across Australia.

Our collective practice – Community Arts and Cultural Development – sits at the intersection of creativity, community and public value, cultivating social cohesion, strengthening resilience, and enabling meaningful cultural participation in communities experiencing both opportunity and increasing complexity.

We welcome the review of the REVIVE National Cultural Policy as a critical moment to ensure that Australia’s cultural framework reflects the full breadth of creative practice shaping our nation. 

Through this submission, we seek to highlight the essential role of Community Arts and Cultural Development as the social and relational cultural practice that enables communities to participate in, shape and sustain cultural life—making REVIVE’s vision of “a place for every story” achievable in practice.  

By relational practice, we refer to long-term, trust-based, community-led creative processes that build connection, participation and collective capacity. Known across Australia through traditions of community arts, community arts and cultural development, socially engaged practice, applied arts and arts for social change, this work has a long and significant history of enabling diverse communities to express, shape and sustain the cultural life of the nation.

Drawing on lived experience across regional, remote and metropolitan communities, and informed by national research and policy priorities, we offer both evidence and practical recommendations to strengthen the next cultural policy’s capacity to deliver on equity, access, participation and cultural democracy.

We look forward to contributing constructively to this process and to working with the government to ensure that no community is left behind in Australia’s cultural future.

Key Recommendations summary

  1. Formal Recognition
    Explicitly recognise Community Arts and Cultural development within the new cultural policy as a distinct and essential field of practice. 
  2. Establish a National CACD Entity
    Embed a national body dedicated to CACD within Creative Australia to lead coordination, advocacy, research and sector development. 
  3. Increased investment in CACD practice
    Supporting local arts initiatives that strengthen social cohesion and foster belonging in Australian communities
  4. Invest in Workforce & Practice Sustainability
    Support training, mentoring, wellbeing and trauma-informed practice frameworks specific to the needs of CACD practice. 
  5. Reform Funding Models
    Shift to long-term, place-based and relational investment models for CACD practice. 
  6. Embed CACD Across Policy Areas
    Position CACD across health, disaster management, climate adaptation, justice, education and regional development. 
  7. Strengthen Research & Evaluation
    Further develop national CACD data, impact measurement and evidence frameworks. 
  8. Equity of Access
    Ensure equitable access to funding, resources and participation nationwide.

Recognising Community Arts and Cultural Development

To deliver on REVIVE’s vision of “a place for every story,” the government must invest in the people, practices and relationships that ensure those often-invisible stories are seen, heard and valued. Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) is that infrastructure and must be recognised, resourced and embedded as the cornerstone of Australia’s cultural future.

What is CACD?

Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) is a nationally embedded, practice-led field of arts and cultural activity that leads to social cohesion, resilience and collective wellbeing.

Through long-term, place-based and relational arts practice, CACD enables communities to:

CACD operates across arts, health, education, justice, community services, disaster management, climate adaptation and social policy—delivering outcomes that extend far beyond traditional cultural metrics.

Our vision of social cohesion is a diverse, connected and socially healthy nation where cultural and creative practice is recognised as essential infrastructure supporting cultural, social, ecological, economic and civic harmony.

The Gap in REVIVE

Despite its national reach and impact, CACD is not explicitly recognised within the current REVIVE policy framework.

This absence limits:

Without CACD, REVIVE risks overlooking the primary mechanism through which many Australians meaningfully engage with arts and culture.

This gap is particularly significant in light of national policy and research priorities that emphasise:

Collectively, these frameworks identify participation, representation and access as central policy challenges—all of which CACD directly addresses in practice.

Structural Under-recognition and Under-resourcing of CACD

Despite its central role in delivering public value, CACD remains structurally under-recognised and under-resourced within national funding frameworks.

Analysis of the Creative Australia Annual Report 2024–25 indicates CACD receives approximately $13–15 million in total investment within an overall funding pool of approximately $237.4 million, representing only ~5–6% of total national arts investment. It sits well below major artforms like Music ~18 and Visual Arts ~14%. On face value, this positions CACD as a minor category within the cultural economy. However, this figure is structurally misleading. 

CACD is not a niche artform—it is a cross-cutting methodology underpinning work across First Nations arts and culture, theatre, music, dance, visual arts, literature, digital media and community-led initiatives. As a result:

This produces a systemic distortion:

Undercounting
Community-engaged practice is dispersed and not consistently identified across funding streams, masking its true scale and reach.

Undervaluation
With only ~5–6% explicitly labelled, CACD appears marginal—reinforcing the perception that it is peripheral rather than foundational, and constraining the case for proportional investment.

Policy Misalignment
This contradicts national commitments to access, participation, equity and cultural democracy embedded across REVIVE and associated frameworks, weakening their implementation. 

Why This Matters

This is not simply a reporting issue—it has material policy consequences.

At a time when Australia is seeking to:

The under-recognition of CACD limits the effectiveness of national cultural policy itself.

Recent mapping work (Where Community Meets Creativity, 2025) demonstrates the breadth of CACD activity across Australia, particularly in:

Yet this scale of activity is not reflected in funding visibility, measurement frameworks, proportional investment or policy architecture.

As outlined in this submission, CACD provides the relational infrastructure that enables communities to connect, adapt and respond—particularly in contexts of social change, climate disruption, and recovery. Without increased, clearly identified and trackable investment, this infrastructure remains fragile, limiting both its impact and its capacity to meet growing national demand for community-driven solutions to complex challenges. 

Policy Implication

If government is serious about cultural inclusion, social cohesion and equitable access, CACD must be:

Until CACD is accurately counted, it will continue to be underfunded. And while it remains underfunded, Australia’s cultural system will continue to fall short of its commitments to equity, participation and inclusion.

What CACD Delivers

Through its community centred creative process, CACD delivers outcomes across multiple policy domains:

Social 

Economic

Civic 

Environmental 

CACD builds the creative relational infrastructure that enables communities to mobilise, adapt and thrive.

How CACD Works

CACD is not a single artform—it is a creative methodology grounded in:

It is:

It prioritises ongoing engagement over one-off delivery, ensuring sustained impact.

Alignment with REVIVE Pillars

CACD strengthens all five pillars of REVIVE:

1. First Nations First

2. A Place for Every Story

3. Centrality of the Artist

4. Strong Cultural Infrastructure

5. Engaging the Audience

Priority Communities

CACD plays a critical role in engaging:

It ensures these communities are not just included in, but actively shaping cultural life reflective of lived experiences.

Key Recommendations

  1. Formal Recognition
    Explicitly recognise CACD within the new cultural policy as a distinct and essential field of creative practice and core cultural infrastructure. 
  2. Establish a National CACD Entity
    Create a national body within Creative Australia to:
    • Advocate for the CACD sector
    • Develop and safeguard CACD practice frameworks
    • Coordinate national collaboration amongst CACD practitioners
    • Lead research, evaluation and data collection to further understand and communicate the impact of CACD
    • Strengthen cross-sector partnerships
    • Amplify community voice in policy
  3. Increased investment in CACD practice
    Invest in local place-based arts initiatives that:
    • Strengthen social cohesion
    • Foster belonging in Australian communities
    • Build local capacity and agency
    • Promote well-being and Inclusion
  1. Invest in Workforce & Practice Sustainability
    Invest in:
    • Training, mentoring and professional development specific to CACD practice
    • Support for emerging and established CACD practitioners 
    • Professional supervision and wellbeing frameworks specific to CACD practice
    • Recognition of frontline, trauma-informed practice
  2. Reform Funding and Measurement Systems
    • Introduce cross-program tracking of CACD-aligned investment
    • Report annually on total community-engaged funding (direct + embedded)
    • Shift from short-term project funding to long-term, place-based investment models for CACD practice
    • Resource the relational and ongoing nature of CACD practice
  1. Embed CACD Across Government Policy
    Position CACD as a cross-government delivery mechanism across:
    • Health and wellbeing
    • Disaster preparedness and recovery
    • Climate adaptation
    • Social services and justice
    • Regional development
    • Education and community development
  2. Strengthen Research & Evaluation
    • Invest in and support activation of national CACD data collection and impact measurement 
    • Build Partnership with research institutions 
    • Align with national datasets (participation, equity, diversity)
    • Ensure CACD informs evidence-based policy
  1. Equity of Access
    Guarantee equitable access to:
    • Funding and resources 
    • Cultural participation opportunities 
    • Networks and infrastructure 

      Particularly for:
    • First Nations communities 
    • Regional and remote communities 
    • Culturally and linguistically diverse communities 
    • Disabled and marginalised groups
    • Children and young people

Why This Matters Now

Australia is facing:

These are not just policy challenges—they are relational challenges.

CACD provides the creative, relational and community-led infrastructure required to respond. Social cohesion is not a fixed outcome — it is an aspirational ongoing goal. CACD practice achieves outcomes across the cultural, social, environmental, economic, and civic policy domains that help move Australian society towards this goal.

Through creativity, cultural practice and collective expression, CACD:

These are relational outcomes that represent the human infrastructure of a healthy society and ones that cannot be achieved by policy alone. 

Conclusion

CACD is how communities come together in times of change, crisis and recovery. Through creativity, aesthetic enrichment, ideas, and cultural practice, CACD builds belonging, appreciation of difference, voice and connection—things policy alone can’t achieve. We need the next iteration of REVIVE to recognise and resource this work so no community is left behind.

To realise the vision of REVIVE, it must be recognised, resourced and embedded as a cornerstone of Australia’s cultural future.

#REVIVECOMMUNITYARTS

The Alliance of CACD orgs & individuals that formulated this submission:

Organisations

Australian Disability Arts Network

Creative Climate

Creative Recovery Network

Diversity Arts Australia

Arts & Cultural Exchange

ActNow Theatre

Beyond Empathy

Community Arts Network WA

CuriousWorks

Crossroad Arts

DADAA

Darwin Community Arts

Footscray Community Arts

Outer Urban Projects

Sharing Stories Foundation

Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company

Vulcana Circus

Western Edge

Wilurarra Creative

Individuals

Alissar Chidiac

Claudia Chidiac

Emmanuel Asante

Moale James-Proud

Nathan Stoneham

Paula Abood

Scotia Monkivitch

Travis Tiddy

India Grierson

Laura Bennett

Signatories / Supporters:

Jenn Blake

Fi Peel

Tuggeranong Arts Centre

Outback Theatre for Young People

Josh Madgwick

Frances Robinson

Roman Berry

MJ O’Neill

Same Drum

Alice Burns-McClintock

Sandi Woo

Tracks Dance

Think+DO Tank Foundation

Eve Pawlik

Create Justice

David Earl Ralph

Outloud

Sophia Marinos

Milk Crate Theatre

Timothy Carroll

Creative Caring

Elizabeth Martin

Kate Baggerson

Everybody NOW!

Jenny Trinh

Shaniece Igano

Angie Cass

Laurel Guymer

DianaTrewenack

Margaret Hunter

John Rattray

Stephanie Peters

Theresa Jolley

Catherine Frith

Deborah Cleland

Company Bad

Jamal Hakim

Fiona Patten

Simone Flavelle

Justin Holland

Pru Wilson

Isabella Rahme

Alyson Evans

Gareth Wreford

Stephanie Pickett

Julie Chenery

Davinia Rizzo

Tiffany Lee-Shoy

Tim Bishop

leisa govan

Carlo Ansaldo

James Mangohig

Jan Osmotherly

Rachael Wallis

Kelly Beneforti

David McMicken AM

Silvano Giordano

Alana James

India Grierson

Laura Bennett

Desak Putu warti

Nicola Charlesworth-Canning

Jane Kennedy

Charlotte Browne

Fiona Fergusson

Kenneth Mills

Geoffrey Lim

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