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A Flourishing Future for Canberra.

The Arts + Music = Tourism

Commitments from Kurrajong Candidates Sara Poguet & Ben Johnston

  • The reopening of Telstra Tower with a premium food and beverage offering alongside an immersive interactive educational experience. Enhanced education tourism is a big opportunity for revenue growth.
  • Boost Canberra’s night-time economy by expanding live music offerings and creating a thriving cultural scene.
  • Commence Canberra’s night-time economy activation now by reducing liquor licence fees by 80%, providing free late night public transport and funding a nighttime festival to showcase what the Night Time Economy looks like in the new City Entertainment Precinct. 
  • The immediate implementation of a requirement for 5 noise complaints (all from different households) to be received before a formal process is considered. This is a policy recently adopted in NSW.
  • The establishment of a Night time Economy Commissioner to drive the economic and cultural benefits of an enhanced nightlife. 
  • The establishment of a Canberra Arts Trail with a strategic and cohesive marketing campaign that aligned grassroots artistic events to Canberra’s established events program.
  • Increased funding for grassroots arts organisations.
  • A policy requiring a percentage of local productions and co-productions to be delivered at all government funded theatres to make our Arts facilities available and accessible to everyone.
  • Increased funding for public school art facilities and staffing combined with the introduction of an “Artist in Residency” program to foster the arts as a viable career choice and valued profession. 
  • A “One percent for art policy”. One percent of the total budget of a development must be spent on the incorporation of local artists into the project. This policy will bring together a community of local artists that can collaborate with the developer to have a broad range of creative capabilities embedded into the building and landscape.

What we stand for 

  • Valuing the arts and artists by creating sustainable ecosystems for art and music in all its forms.
  • Using arts and culture as a key driver for tourism in the ACT.
  • Improving arts facilities in ACT government schools.
  • Weaving arts and beauty into the fabric of Canberra
  • Ensuring the art of our multicultural and diverse community is equally and appropriately represented.

Why we need change

  • The number of professional artists has been steadily declining in the ACT unable to make a living from their craft.
  • The ACT is lagging behind in the development of a comprehensive Night Time Economy plan.
  • Our built environment needs to be more visually appealing. There are too many new buildings that are purely functional.
  • Our Arts facilities are severely under-utilised due to the current high venue charges and red tape.
  • It is well documented that the arts are good for people's mental health and wellbeing, whether through their own creative expression or through experiencing the creative work of and with others. The Arts strengthen and unite diverse communities and cultures.
  • The current severe underfunding to school art facilities is resulting in an inability to offer a broad range of art classes.
  • Too much of the arts funds are being invested into the facilities and not to the development of artists.
  • Effective policy making to support artists requires an in-depth understanding  of the nature of professional artistic practice. A survey of individual  practising artists is the most practical way to obtain comprehensive and objective data on the conditions of professional artistic practice across all art forms.*


*Artists as Workers An Economic Study of artists in Australia