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!

The Sunshine Coast Council Division 2 Public Art Development Strategy has now been delivered! What a great project. Thank you to my colleagues who worked with me on this, Jamie McLean and Dr Lisa Chandler. Together we delivered a bottler. Enjoyed working on the coast for a change but for now it’s back inland a little with strategic planning projects in Samford and Toowoomba. Looking forward to the next stimulating few months in the arts and cultural trenches.

Work is now underway on the new strategic and business plans for Creative Samford Inc. CSI is a Not for Profit arts Association which provides a focus for arts and cultural development for the good burghers of this idyllic hinterland region. A pretty robust planning session with the hardworking Board members provided the grist for a thorough strategic review. This will all help to shore up the strategic foundations of the Association and point towards a more sustainable future.Thanks everyone for your contribution and commitment. It’ll be great when it all comes together.

Greetings Goodthinkers.
Haven’t posted for a while but not because things haven’t been happening. It’s been head down………. Here’s an update.

Current Projects

• Strategic Review & Business Plan:  Creative Samford Inc.
• Measuring the Return on Investment in Arts, Culture and Heritage:                             SSC University /SSC Council
• Public Art Development Strategy:  Sunshine Coast Council, Division 2

Coming Projects

• Cultural Services Strategic Review: Toowoomba Regional Council
• Arts Business Workshop Series: Gympie Regional Council
• Sundry Arts Business/Arts Management Workshops

So, plenty on but always have room for more.
Hope your year is going well. Let me know if I can help.

Stephen

A brief but very pleasant trip to Gympie this week to launch the Creative Backpack series of arts business workshops for the region. A Council initiative, this workshop series will equip visual artists to set up and run their arts businesses, encourage them to be a little more business savvy and help them  to identify and take advantage of business opportunities. It’s not all about business, just about balancing creative practice with business practice for fun and profit. Happily over the next few months I’ll be working with the local artists to help set them on the path of developing a successful micro art ventures. Look forward to it.

12 intrepid Brisbane artists and artsworkers bravely fronted up on Sunday morning for a day’s intensive training on How to: Prepare and Write a Business Plan. The day went extremely well with much enthusiasm, plenty of concentration and heaps of questions. Despite the toughest of business topics everyone seemed to go away with a better understanding of how a business plan can help to make a difference to running a sustainable arts business. Thanks to workshop host Flying Arts Alliance.

A happy return to the Gladstone region last week. Three days of workshops, project consultations and an inspiring public art forum. Great to meet with so many of the region’s committed and creative artists and community champions. This trip I got to spend time in Miriam Vale and Yarwun as well as funky downtown Glad Vegas. Council and its staff continue to drive the community and cultural vitality of this region with splendid success. The Gladstone Region has an arts and cultural energy and ambition to envy. Good luck everyone; keep up the wonderful work. And thanks GRC.

Happily back in the heartland of Queensland heritage in Charters Towers for the weekend. A brilliant balance of now and then. No better example than the Excelsior Library – formally a classic Queensland pub. Here I spent a happy two days with community champions from Pentland, Homestead, Ravenswood and Greenvale raking over the principles and practice of good Association governance and the dizzy delights of managing finances and preparing budgets. A great couple of days punctuated by the community announcement about Charters Tower’s exciting role in the Commonwealth Games torch relay. Thanks everyone and congratulations on the wonderful work you do in your communities. Thanks also to the Charters Towers Regional Council for the invitation.

If last week was sublime Tropicana in Cooktown, this week was equally sublime in the far West of the State in the heart of Channel Country: Windorah, Barcoo Shire. 316 kilometres South West of Longreach; population about 80. Barcoo Shire covers an area of 61,974 square kilometres and hosts a total population of 350 people. It’s vast, red and beautiful. And still they came. The good denizens of Barcoo drove in from Stonehenge, Jundah and Windorah for a couple of days intensive training on the Regional Arts Development Fund and the good oil on writing winning funding applications. A great time in the pulsating red heart of the State with a group of wonderfully enthusiastic community champions. All power to you. Thank you all for your energy, good humour and great catering! And thank you Barcoo Shire.

Public art will be the focus of a new plan for highlighting the past, present and future of the Caloundra region on the Sunshine Coast. Sponsored by the Sunshine Coast Council, the plan is a new project for the Goodthinking Group following recent success in Flinders Shire. Public Art can add considerable social, cultural, civic and economic value to the community and we look forward to working with stakeholders to deliver a plan that will provide the direction for a public art program that will stimulate, challenge, entertain and engage residents and visitors.

Image: Sustainable. Hue Chee Fong + L M Noonan