* Refugee Council of Australia – Rural and Regional Resettlement

Stanovic D 2005, Refugees and Regional Settlement: Balancing Priorities: A Summary, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Fitzroy, retrieved 30 September 2021, < https://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/6212/1/regional_refugee_summary.pdf>. This summary provides the key points from a report that examines the refugee settlement experience in three regional centres in Victoria – Shepparton, Colac and Warrnambool – with a focus on employment, housing, income and language.

This report documents contemporary trends in rural and regional settlement, looks at the findings of recent evaluations of national and international experience, and proposes some key policy directions for the future.

Home Affairs – Sudanese community in Australia https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis-sudan.PDF

From abstract

‘Factors that seem pivotal in building long-term sustainability for arts and creativity in rural communities include:

• Appreciation of local culture, history and heritage, local people, assets and characteristics;
• Enthusiastic local leadership, positive attitudes local entrepreneurship and investment, and;
• Right timing and a focus on retaining young people through employment, recreational and educational initiatives.’

Johnston V, Vasey K, Markovic M. Social policies and refugee resettlement: Iraqis in Australia. Critical Social Policy. 2009;29(2):191-215. doi:10.1177/0261018308101626

From abstract

In this paper, we analyse national social policies that mediate the experiences of Iraqi refugees in Australia. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews conducted with this population in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria in Australia, and a small town in country Victoria, we delineate how social policies can lead to visible (formal) and invisible (informal) exclusion of refugees. We use two Australian policies; temporary protection and regional resettlement of refugees, to demonstrate how official Australian government policies may negatively affect the integration experience of these new arrivals. Additionally, such policies have unintended consequences for support networks between refugees on different visa categories, and for social relationships between refugees and the broader Australian community.

The collision or interaction between different cultural traditions, radically changing demographics, mainstream cultural activities sees an increasing variety of cultural programs representing the many communities that make up contemporary Australian society. We are passionate about traditional forms and new hybrid models.We are thinking ahead. What will a contemporary Australian cultural practice look like in the future? How will it link to a connected world? What will Australia be like in ten years time? …http://www.multiculturalarts.com.au/pdfs/mav_brochure.pdf

How can art transform your town?… Regional Arts Victoria is thrilled to congratulate the five successful Small Town Transformations towns, who will each receive $350,000 for a significant artistic project with lasting legacy.

The Five Small Town Transformations are:The Chinese Garden – Avoca, The Quarry Ephitheatre – Dookie, The Verj – Natimuk, Neerim Bower: Inspired by Birds – Neerim South, Mallee Up In Lights – Ouyen.

These Small Town Transformations exemplify bold artistic vision, intensive community participation, and strong commitment to creative place-making.

Regional Arts Victoria announces Regional Arts Fund Project and Fellowship Recipients

$200,000 ANNOUNCED FOR REGIONAL ARTISTS AND COMMUNITIES IN VICTORIA

Nine Project Grants and one Fellowship Grant in Victoria have received $200,000 in funding through the Australian Government’s highly competitive Regional Arts Fund, delivered in Victoria by Regional Arts Victoria.

Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cites and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said the project grants would support sustainable economic, social and cultural development throughout Victoria.

Creative Arts Victoria

Upcoming program to support regional galleries, museums and collections

A new Creative Victoria program is being developed to enable more top-notch touring exhibitions to be staged in regional Victoria and protect valuable regional art collections.

The upcoming Regional Collections Access Program will support more exhibitions and partnerships across Victoria, with funding to ensure regional galleries and museums have appropriate facilities to host high-profile loans and to care for their own important collections.

The funding program, which is currently being developed in partnership with industry experts, will respond to the individual needs of galleries, museums and collecting bodies across regional Victoria.

Creative Victoria

Measuring the economic value of cultural and creative industries

Victoria has taken the lead in preparing a new report on measuring the economic value of creative industries, published by the Meeting of Cultural Ministers (MCM).

Although cultural and creative industries are increasingly acknowledged as important components and drivers of growth in the modern, knowledge-based economy, it is difficult to determine their true economic value.

The breadth and complexity of the creative industries make them challenging to define and measure—more so than many other industries which are more neatly characterised.

Adding to this, the definitions and descriptions of creative and cultural industries do not align with the definitions used by the government statistical agency, the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Produced with strong leadership from Victoria, the MCM report navigates the alternative approaches to defining the cultural and creative industries and quantifying their economic value.