PRINCIPLES
1. Artistic expression and creativity are fundamental to vibrant and healthy communities.
2. Everyone should have access to and the right to participate in, and experience all forms of the arts including broad participation in, and understanding and appreciation of the arts.
3. Artists play a significant role in society by encouraging exploration, expression and communication of ideas and cultural identity.
4. Freedom of expression is fundamental to the arts.
5. First Nations artists and their work represent cultures and heritage which are unique to Australia and must be supported, respected and appropriately protected through legislation, policy and funding priorities.
6. Education has a key role in fostering appreciation and understanding of the arts, as well as the skills necessary for artistic practice.
7. Specialist artistic education and training programs provide a unique learning environment for aspiring artists and should be well funded and resourced.
8. Cultural heritage is to be interpreted broadly to reflect the diverse nature of the history of Victoria from pre-European settlement to the present-day, inclusive of indigenous, immigrant and contemporary Australians.
9. The protection of our heritage is not limited to the preservation of buildings and physical structures, but includes the recognition and conservation of intangible heritage such as the memories and stories of elders, including First Nations elders, which in turn fosters our sense of place and community.
10. The funding and financing of developments and projects involving our shared heritage by Government, non-government, private sector and private individuals, is in the public interest.
11. Libraries, museums and other collecting institutions are essential repositories of cultural heritage and must be maintained and developed.
AIMS
GENERAL
1. Victorian arts and culture to maintain its unique character and diverse nature through support and promotion of local content and the development of local projects.
2. Policies and programs that encourage an integrated approach and cross-portfolio awareness of broad social and economic benefits.
3. Operating models for State owned arts venues which focus on serving the Victorian public by providing a diverse and accessible range of performances and exhibitions, and which support artistic organisations to hire venues at reasonable cost.
4. Development of the Southbank Arts Precinct to improve connections between the state's major arts institutions and to reactivate and revitalise the precinct.
Community Development and the Arts
5. Increase the funding and promotion of public libraries as centres of community interaction.
6. The incorporation of arts perspectives into urban planning, especially the inclusion of cultural infrastructure in the development of greenfield sites.
7. The encouragement of arts practice, and from a range of cultural and linguistic traditions, by adequately resourcing community based cross-cultural projects designed to enhance reconciliation, understanding and tolerance.
8. The establishment, growth and renewal of suburban and regional cultural infrastructure, performing arts centres, galleries, museums and community arts facilities.
9. A committee drawn from Victorian First Nations communities to facilitate recognition and resourcing of their specific arts practices and cultural activities.
10. Further measures to increase access to participation and attendance of arts events/festivals, particularly for marginalised groups and those living with disability, by providing ongoing funding to peak bodies such as Arts Access Victoria.
11. Greater engagement with local government in the development of arts and cultural policies.
12. Increased access to arts and cultural experiences in rural and regional areas and areas of social and economic disadvantage, with metropolitan arts companies to participate in touring, co-productions and exchange programs across the regions.
13. Increased funding for community radio and television.
14. The encouragement of queer and diverse arts practice by adequately resourcing LGBTIQA+ arts projects
SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS
15. Safe, non-exploitative working conditions and fair pay in the arts industries.
16. A stronger and more resilient arts industry in Victoria, including the provision of ongoing and well-resourced public arts programs and a vibrant and economically viable local live music industry.
17. Government support of democratic and properly constituted arts organisations that facilitate networking, advocate for artists and inform government policy making.
18. Proper regulation of literary agents, actors’ agents and the equivalent in all art forms.
19. The expansion of schemes to service low-to medium budget film makers and ensure film production receives government support.
20. Government funding to support regular research into issues affecting the Victorian arts sector.
21. Government to commission and purchase public works from a wide range of art forms.
22. Consistent arts community and industry consultation processes.
23. Festivals and events which showcase Australian and international art, and encourage interest in the arts.
24. A vibrant and economically viable local live music industry through removal of barriers which affect a venue’s ability to host live music.
25. Improvement in employment opportunities, working conditions and prospects for artists by:
- a. Expanding artists’ programs in schools, health services, correctional institutions, community groups and workplaces;
- b. Supporting the development of national and international art and artist exchanges;
- c. Enabling artists, curators, performers, actors or other industry professionals to access artistic, professional and business training for better career development;
- d. Ensuring grant application processes are simple to access, independently evaluated and free from political manipulation;
- e. Setting minimum standards to ensure the involvement of artists and their representative organisations in development and evaluation of arts policy and programs;
- f. Ensuring conditions recommended by relevant professional arts organisations prevail in public art developments;
- g. Ensuring the provision of government funding for artist-run initiatives, exhibitions, performance spaces, and publishing ventures;
- h. Facilitating early engagement of artists in the planning stages of public and private developments and infrastructure projects;
- i. Housing considerations of practising artists to be better catered for into urban planning; and
- j. The provision of low rent working spaces for practising artists in under-utilised buildings.
26. More programs to support emerging artists, such as the introduction of a fixed income support scheme and better access to small business start-up grants and schemes.
27. To support the expansion of programs with a focus on emerging artists.
EDUCATION AND THE ARTS
28. All teachers at arts training institutions being qualified to teach and, where possible and appropriate, also practicing as industry professionals.
29. Students in schools to have access to a wide variety of arts programs, taught by qualified teachers in the relevant arts practice.
30. Arts training institutions which offer students the opportunity to work with established artists in apprenticeship or mentorship schemes.
CULTURAL HERITAGE
31. Greater engagement with First Nations communities in the management of Indigenous cultural heritage and the return of Indigenous sacred objects and ancestral remains to the First Nations peoples who have responsibility for them.
32. Tourism, planning and marketing well integrated with the management of key heritage assets, including proposed heritage assets.
33. Heritage registers in Victoria broadened and revised to include intangible cultural heritage such as genius loci, crafts, folklore, oral histories and traditions, and living cultural assets such as flora and fauna.
34. Adequate funding for State funded libraries, museums, galleries and archives for the development, maintenance, storage, conservation and exhibition of collections, and for the employment of sufficient numbers of properly trained staff, particularly curatorial and conservation staff.
35. Extension of collections, services and facilities, including IT facilities, at local libraries particular those in regional Victoria, by increasing the proportion of State funding vis-à-vis local government funding.
36. A strengthened legal framework and state-wide strategy that properly identifies and protects cultural heritage.
37. Consideration of all genders' and LGBTIQA+ history in heritage analyses of the built environment, material culture and archival records.
Arts and Culture Policy as amended by State Council on 19th March 2022