OUR CREATIVE STORY... Revive for the Coast

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Emma Mcbride

THE work of our creative sector, including those right here on the Central Coast is essential. It’s essential to our community, what it is to be Australian and to our economy.

Take Jopuka Productions for example, the Central Coast’s leading youtharts body.

Jopuka Productions was established in 2016 and in their own words, “aims to make regional youth theatre as diverse as the community they serve, giving all young people equal opportunity.”

They provide a space for young people to express themselves in a safe and welcoming environment. But more than that, they create a place for inclusivity and community.

After extensive engagement and with the support of the Australian creative sector, the Albanese Labor Government has announced Australia’s cultural policy: Revive. A place for every story, a story for every place.

Revive will establish Creative Australia, as our main investment and advisory body for the sector, a reimagined and expanded Australia Council for the Arts.

We’re reinstating funding so that Creative Australia can deliver for independent artists and small and medium companies. Creative Australia will cover the whole sector funded, philanthropic and commercial.

This is not about government stepping in and telling local artists what to do or what to say, it’s the exact opposite.

It’s about supporting our creatives. It’s about giving our artists the room and space to express themselves how they see fit. It is about providing them with the financial security to create.

At the end of the day, it’s about ensuring that groups like Jopuka Productions can continue to thrive.

There’ll be Music Australia, which will make sure Australian music is heard by more people and Writers Australia, so that Australian books are read more widely.

We will also establish a Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces, to provide advice on issues of pay and safety in the sector.

Revive will change the trajectory of culture in Australia, so we become a country where there is a place for every story and a story for every place.

It will provide a broad and comprehensive roadmap for Australia’s arts and culture and touch on all areas of government, from cultural diplomacy in foreign affairs to health and education.

In our community, it will mean our stories, the stories of Coasties, will be heard for years to come.

Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide PreventionAssistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health. Visit: www. emmamcbride.com.au