ReGenerating Community Conference
Sept 2 - 4, 2009 RMIT University, Melbourne
Conference Overview
The ReGenerating Community Conference addressed ways in which global issues are being addressed locally through collaborations between artists, communities and local government. Issues of community identity in an environment of globalised culture; issues of energy production in the context of climate change; issues of indigenous sovereignty on leasehold land; issues of country becoming city and changing identity; issues of aging; issues of schooling; issues of imaging futures, issues of having a future...
People are switching off. Who can switch them on to determining positive futures? How can community relationships be built across the divide of the governed and the governing? Can communities choose the change they want, shaping their environments in unique ways? How and where is this happening?
This conference presented local governments' creation of new models of civic engagement. Arts were the focus. Examples of arts based projects tackling the big issues through community cultural engagement were the springboard for discussion by leading national and international speakers, commentators, community leaders, officials, politicians, academics and artists.
Conference themes:
• addressing global issues locally through collaborations between artists, communities & local government
• the links between creative communities and civic engagement
• the ways creative processes can mobilize communities for positive social change
• cultural citizenship and cultural rights, as an aspect of a broader human rights agenda
The Generations project and five participating municipal councils were:
- Charters Towers Regional Council
- City of Greater Geelong
- City of Liverpool
- Latrobe City
- Rural City of Wangaratta
Cultural Development Network and RMIT Globalism Research Centre were hosts for a conference that was... regenerating.
