D'Art Report: Cultural Development in Rural and Remote Regions

D'Art Topics in Arts Policy no.23, December 2006

IFACCA and Regional Arts Australia

The topic was initiated by an international network concerned with identifying good practice in facilitating arts, creative industry and/or cultural development in rural and remote areas. The network included groups from Scotland, England, USA, and Australia.

The bulk of the D'Art report is an annotated bibliography (an ‘audit’) of research and information on cultural development in rural and remote areas. The audit, which covers publications, conferences and events and other resources (including projects, organisations and networks), was distributed at the conference ‘How are we going? Directions for the arts in the creative age’, Byron Bay, Australia, 4 August 2005. The D'Art report identifies the key themes of the resources in the audit to be:
- Funding and financing the arts; 
- Accessing new markets for art product;
- Partnerships to support the arts;
- Increasing work and employment opportunities for people in rural and remote communities; and
- Increasing cultural and social well being and improving quality of life for regional and rural communities.

The report finds that while much of the focus for research on the arts in rural and remote areas is about sustainable economic development, it is the value of the arts for cultural and social well being that predominates in forums and conferences.