Overview

The City of Greater Geelong is delighted to present the Arts and Cultural Strategy 2021-2031, a framework and vision that will guide and strengthen arts and culture in Geelong for the next 10 years.

The Strategy aims to create a more sustainable and thriving region through investing in arts and culture, supporting creative communities and helping the industry to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

More than 1700 voices have contributed to the development of this Strategy. The Strategy focuses the City's attention on priorities for the sector and the community's aspirations and leadership. It is supported by a four-year implementation plan with measurable actions that align to our community's clever and creative vision and community plan priorities.

We invite you to view the Arts & Cultural Strategy here or in the document library on the right hand side of this page.

Arts and Cultural Strategy Key Initiatives include:

• The Launch of a major annual live music program and establishment of Live Music Precincts in the CBD and regional districts as beacons for local and visiting artists and audiences
• Investment in professional development, artist residencies, cross-sector networking, capacity-building for artists and creative enterprises
• An Arts and Culture Reference Group to advise on sector challenges and opportunities, including the employment and retention of local creative talent
• Formally engage a First Nations People’s Arts Advisor to guide and support Council’s arts and cultural policies, processes, and programs
• Support for diverse communities of Geelong to inform a lively program of festivals and events reflecting our cultures across the municipality

We invite you to view the Arts and Cultural Strategy Overview 2021 - 2025 and Key Initiatives here or in the document library on the right hand side of this page.

A key focus and priority for the Arts and Cultural Strategy is also the places and spaces where creativity happens. Cultural infrastructure plays an important role encouraging creative expression and enabling more social connection between community members.

At the recent UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), Cities of Design subnetwork meeting hosted virtually by Geelong on 12-14 October 2021, communities from across all 40 design cities participated in and learned about a range of projects taking place across the network.

One of the themes for discussion was REIMAGINE – CULTURE, CREATIVITY AND SOCIAL which explored the role that design plays in reimagining creative spaces and the importance of connecting to a city’s cultural identity. Hear from cultural leaders in Geelong in the video below:

The personal information requested on this form is being collected by City of Greater Geelong for the purpose of the draft Arts & Cultural Strategy and any other directly related purpose. If the personal information is not collected, we may not be able to contact you for further questions or solutions.

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With thanks to photographers whose images appear on this site: Chrissie Francis, Andrew Curtis, Ivan Kemp, Matt Houston, Leiko Manalang, Pam Hutchinson, Ed Sloane Photography, David Harris, Cormac Hanrahan, Reg Ryan, Mike Dugdale and Patrick Callow.

Full image credits and details below.