Cultural brokerage and regional arts: developing an enabler model for cultural and economic sustainability. An update

Many rural and remote communities in Australia could be considered 'unsustainable' because of the loss of human, financial and consequent social capital and degradation of the natural resource base that provides both the setting for the community and, in many cases, the economic foundation. The problems they face, such as lack of services, unemployment, maintaining professional workers in the region and youth suicide have been extensively explored, yet studies of the role of the arts and associated organizations as brokers of culture through pedagogical activities are few. This paper describes stage one of a project that proposes arts activities as a means of stimulating community development through the interface between cultural brokerage, cultural pedagogy, and the sustainable outcomes that might emerge from their application in rural and remote areas of Queensland. The project is investigating ways in which performing and visual arts activities might contribute to sustainable communities. The interdisciplinary research approach was developed in a partnership between Flying Arts, The Queensland Murray Darling Committee and the University of Southern Queensland.