August 31, 2020
The South Burnett will have a new statistical resource to draw upon when putting together funding applications when artist Olivia Everitt finishes her latest project.
Olivia is preparing a cultural “map” of the region which will provide a snapshot of exactly what cultural resources are present.
She is sending out survey forms to individuals and groups, covering everyone from performing artists (musicians, singers, dancers etc) to painters, sculptors and craftspeople.
Theatre groups, choirs, orchestras and even heritage groups are on Olivia’s list … in fact, all the creative and cultural industries in the region.
She aims to collect baseline data including the number of active artists, sales and fundraising activities.
The final report will record the scope of artistic and cultural practices, as well as the resources and facilities, within the region.
Olivia understands some people may not want to share all this information so every question on the survey forms is optional however she emphasises the information collected will be de-identified and simply added to a pool of data.
The result will identify trends and dominant sectors as well as possible gaps.
It can be used as a foundation for further cultural planning work, community arts development and advocacy activities.
“The report will be publicly accessible for everyone to use, for example, individual artists when they are preparing a grant application or Council during policy preparation and planning,” Olivia said.
“It will be a snapshot in time.”
Olivia started work on the project – which is being funded through an Arts Queensland (Individuals Fund) grant – in July and aims to have the final report ready in December.
She is working under the mentorship and guidance of Lesley Buckley, the Senior Cultural Planner for Cairns Regional Council.
Olivia has been sending out emails with the survey form attached to groups and individuals she has already identified but also has hard copies which she can drop off to committee meetings and individuals.
The cut-off time for replies to the survey is October 11.
- More information about the project and links to the survey forms are on Olivia’s website
