Throughout 2021 the RAASI team asked research participants in central western Queensland and north west Tasmania to describe the role that arts, culture and creativity play in their community.
These two digital stories highlight their responses.
Social inclusion and wellbeing
In both research sites, participants identified collective wellbeing, pride, hope, belonging and social cohesion as some of the outcomes of arts and cultural engagement. Art, culture and creativity is “a conduit for empathy”, a way of bridging understanding between disparate groups, and “another extension of our community social interactions”. Hear more from the communities in the video below.
Sustainable Futures and Thriveability
Community members said place-based art, culture and creativity provided innovative avenues for solving complex problems and critical tools for creating and representing community identity, and preserving local history and heritage. Our research participants noted that local towns are dominated by jobs that are highly agricultural and industrial, but that engagement in art, culture and creativity provided young people with examples of other possible ways to live their futures. Hear more below.