You can smell it. Straight off the plane. G + T – Glorious Tropicana. Cairns was all sunny and bright light as I worked my way south to where the mountains meet the sea. This weekend a cultural mission to Mission Beach. Greyness descended the closer I drew to my exotic destination. The misty rain just seemed to make the grandeur grander. And so followed a day in conference with the Champions of Cultural Champions of the Cassowary Coast, discussing all things cultural from vitality to public value to regional development to relationships, networking and the exciting ideas that can come from creative collaboration. Thank you CCRC for a forum well planned and well timed. Great things ahead. And thank you FAA for facilitating the gig.

Following on from the revelations of recent cultural research projects my attentions move on to the Toowoomba Region which is planning for a very cultural future. In the wake of compelling research on the links between cultural vitality and the modern economic development, my new research project will look at cultural service delivery throughout the region. This will fuel the development of a service delivery model that will support and harness arts and culture to enhance community vitality and quality of place – key elements of a modern economy. Looking to the future of regional development on the back of investment in arts, culture and heritage; way to go.

Happy to have been a part of the research team from the University of the Sunshine Coast working on a new model for measuring the community impact of investment in arts, culture and heritage. The research is in and it shows that with good planning, in addition to measuring project performance (outputs), it’s quite possible to measure the community impact (outcomes) of investment in arts culture and heritage. The research builds on the growing body of knowledge in this area of enquiry and develops and tests a practical model for impact assessment. The project was a collaborative initiative of the University of the Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council. A great project with long legs. Thanks team.

The answer of course is Yes. Investment in arts, culture and heritage brings myriad benefits to communities: personal, social, cultural, civic, environmental, economic. And this is measurable!