The Cultural Development Network cooperates with a range of organisations in all its activities, bringing benefits for both parties. Current networks include:
Creative Victoria is the state government body responsible for the arts, supporting a diverse mix of arts and cultural activity across the state. CDN and Victorian Government through Creative Victoria worked together to support Castanet network. CDN took a major role in Creative Victoria’s arts and disability research project, in 2010, and Creative Victoria contributes to support for CDN’s annual operations in Victoria and has previously supported many of CDN’s initiatives including conferences Expanding Cultures and Generations. In 2016 Creative Victoria adopted CDN’s schema of outcomes for their Organisation Investment Program reporting.
The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body, supporting Australia’s arts through funding, strengthening and developing the arts sector. CDN and the Australia Council collaborate on a range of projects. Previous joint initiatives have included the Arts Central project, the National Local Government Cultural Forum and Generations.
RMIT University Melbourne, currently houses CDN, where the two organisations collaborate on research about local cultural development. CDN has worked with researchers within the Centre for Social and Global Research, evaluating the social and cultural outcomes of a creative cultural project lead by Wurinbeena Ltd and Indigenous Elders in East Gippsland. Other major projects have included Art Central project, a shire-wide arts mentorship program that brought together professional artists from the region into a residency with the local arts community. CDN has also partnered with the Global Cities Research Institute at RMIT University on joint projects including Generations, an arts and civic engagement project, where CDN undertook project management and GCRI led research and evaluation, which were reported in this document. Both organisations contributed to the project’s culmination, the national Generations Conference.
United Cities and Local Government 
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a peak international body for cities, local and regional governments, and municipal associations throughout the world. UCLG represents the interests of local governments on the world stage. In the field of culture, UCLG promotes the understanding of culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development, through capacity-building, peer-learning, research and advocacy. CDN shares UCLG’s goal of the recognition of culture as a fundamental aspect of public policy, along with other policy areas relating to society, economy and environment. The two organisations collaborate to promote cultural development in local government in Australia, and the Asia-Pacific.
Through the UCLG Committee on Culture, CDN and UCLG have agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (2019-2021) that shares and supports the tools and frameworks of both organisations that collectively increase the capability of local governments to build vibrant and rich cultural lives for their residents. UCLG Committee on Culture manages the following programmes that are also available to councils in Australia, through this memorandum.
ENCATC is a network of more than 100 member institutions and professionals in over 40 countries active in education, training and research within the broad field of cultural management and policy. ENCATC members have an impact on the education of thousands of cultural managers worldwide. ENCATC represents, advocates, and promotes cultural management and cultural policy education, professionalizes the cultural sector to make it sustainable, and creates a platform for discussion and exchange at European and international level.
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) is the global network of arts councils and ministries of culture, with member institutions in over 70 countries. The IFACCA Secretariat provides services, information and resources to member institutions and their staff – from senior executives and policy makers, to researchers, grant makers and administrators – as well as the wider community. IFACCA’s activities fall into three areas of work: Networking, Knowledge and Data, and Capacity Development.
Australian Local Government Association
The Australian Local Government Association is a federation of state territory local government associations, representing 560 councils across the country. ALGA offers leadership on policy for cultural development in local government across Australia. ALGA collaborated with CDN to co-ordinate the National Local Government Cultural Forum. In 2011, the two organisations co-presented the international conference Culture: A New Way of Thinking for Local Government, Melbourne.
The Creative Arts Therapies Research Unit (CATRU) aims to support the further development of creative arts therapy disciplines in Melbourne and wider Australia through research and research training. The Research Unit collaborates with CDN on research in the areas of cultural evaluation and government policy and planning for the arts. This is delivered through ongoing joint research with one of the Units Researchers, Dr. Kim Dunphy.
Former networks:
National Local Government Cultural Forum
The National Local Government Cultural Forum was a twice yearly meeting for local government and other stakeholders to articulate a national perspective on developing stronger cultural development practice in local government across Australia. The Cultural Forum brang together representatives from local government: the seven state and territory local government associations represented by staff of the policy units; the eight Australian capital cities who offer practical application and leadership, plus the national peak body for local government, Australian Local Government Association (ALGA). The other members were major national stakeholders of the Australia Council for the Arts – Community Partnerships and the Commonwealth Ministry for the Arts. Cultural Development Network initiated the Forum, acted as Secretariat and undertook the work of the Forum.
CDN is grateful for the support of the City of Melbourne in the provision of office space and administrative support in the first decade of the organisation’s life between 2002 and 2012. During that time, CDN and the City’s Arts and Participation Program produced the ArtsTalk series, a program of free public forums around topics of interest to cultural development workers. The organisations continues to collaborate in hosting LG Pro Special Interest Group for local government cultural development professionals. City of Melbourne is also represented on the National Local Government Cultural Forum and the Municipal Association of Victoria’s Arts and Culture Committee, initially established as a joint project of CDN & MAV.
CDN has partnered with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation on a number of initiatives over several years. Previous joint initiatives and projects have included the Castanet community arts initiative, the LEAP project and Community Consent and the Arts project.