ABOUT CULTURE
Rationale for a Cultural Plan
Culture is an area in which all governments, including local government, are investing significant and steadily increasing funds and resources. Camden Council is one of the largest and most generous contributors to this area's cultural development. Cultural services and their delivery can be and is required to be, integrated into a cultural plan linked closely to Council's broader priorities and objectives.
The importance of cultural development at the local level is acknowledged within the Local Government Act 1993. All local councils in New South Wales are required to prepare a cultural plan.
This document presents Camden's Cultural Plan prepared in consultation with our local community and within the guidelines prepared by Arts NSW.
What is culture?
In its Cultural Planning Guidelines for Local Government, the State Government arts funding body, Arts NSW, states that:
“Culture in its widest sense is about what matters to people and communities. It is about relationships, shared memories and experiences. It is about identity, history and a sense of place. It is about the different cultural and religious backgrounds found in most communities. It is about the things we consider valuable for passing on to future generations. It is our way of connecting the present with the past and the future.”
Culture arises from the community even when the community may not be fully aware of it. It encompasses our entire mode of life, our ethics, our institutions, our manners, and our routines, not only interpreting our world but shaping it. In its broadest sense culture can be defined as the arts and other applications of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. It embraces the customs, arts, social institutions and achievements of a particular nation, people or social group.
Three dimensions of culture
Culture can be seen to have three dimensions. In a given community it represents:
• A sense of place, values and identity;
• The material products of creative processes; and
• An engagement with and participation in creative processes.
What is cultural planning and why is it important?
Arts NSW emphasises the purpose and importance of cultural planning at the local community level. Local cultural planning deals with a local community’s unique values and experiences. It is a way of helping local Council integrate and focus its efforts in all the areas that affect the quality of people’s lives. It is a way of linking those efforts with our broader management plans and strategies.
Cultural planning is not a matter of directing culture. It is about providing opportunities and removing obstacles to people’s cultural expression, creativity and sense of place.
Cultural planning is more than the efficient management of physical assets and resources such as libraries, museums and parks. It aims at a strategic alignment of Council’s cultural assets, resources and services with its overall directions and priorities.
With effective cultural planning, Council gains a clearer sense of our community’s aspirations and values. This in turn informs policy-making and planning decisions for the whole community.
Cultural planning can provide a way of integrating and connecting the various strategic plans within Council. When harnessed to local government’s strategic objectives, cultural planning can help Council tackle social exclusion, contribute to urban regeneration, create employment opportunities, build safer communities, improve community wellbeing and encourage healthier lifestyles.