All around Australia, artists are sparking social change, working with communities to tell their stories, tackle big issues and create common ground.

You're probably familiar with Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD), a specialist art form, where professional artist facilitators work with communities to co-create projects with purpose. However, many Australians are not. Research shows that of all the artforms, our population has a particularly limited understanding of the benefits of CACD.

This new resource launching today collates a selection of local case studies to showcase the inspiring work led by CACD artists. As Australia grapples with a civic crisis, their work has never been more needed.

Click the button below and scroll through the digital resource: 'When Art Sparks Change' or download the PDF detailing the web content.

Digital Resource

Image: Georges Riverkeeper, STARTTS & Jiva Parthipan’s *The River Project*

Head to the resource to see why we think CACD projects deserve a bigger profile, and dive into:

How Milk Crate Theatre used devised theatre to facilitate social inclusion for people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness
How All The Queens Men curated a lavish party to facilitate pride, celebration and visibility for LGBTIQ+ elders
How Carclew addressed isolation amongst youth in regional South Australia through facilitating the opportunity for emerging young writers to develop their own monologues
How Jiva Parthipan and the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) engaged with place-making and cross-cultural understanding through a creative experience along the Georges River in Casula NSW

Spoiler: the impacts are profound.

If you’re a CACD practitioner, artist or arts organisation looking to create your own case studies, check out our template for some recommendations on format and flow.

If you have any thoughts or questions about this resource, or about how digital storytelling can spread the message about good causes, get in touch with us via info@thepatternmakers.com.au

Image: Robert Catto, Milk Crate Theatre’s DUST.

Acknowledgements

This resource is dedicated to CACD practitioners everywhere, working to address disadvantage and bring Australians together.

It has been created by research agency Patternmakers, with assistance from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

Thank you to the practitioners who participated in the creation of this resource and to the many partners involved in each of the projects profiled.