The National General Assembly of Local Government is convened by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) for local councils across Australia to develop and express a united voice on the core issues affecting local government and their communities.

Since the early 1990s the Australia Council and ALGA have worked to promote and secure support for the community arts and cultural development as a core function of local government. Jennifer Bott, Chief Executive Officer of the Australia Council introduced Dr. Hugh Mackay's keynote address, "Is the tide turning for communities?" The following is Jennifer Bott's speech.

Jennifer Bott - 2004 National General Assembly of Local Government

Earlier this year, a well-known psychologist observed that contrary to what many older Australians believe, having an entire generation of younger Australians walking round with mobile phones clamped to their ears is actually a good thing - and even better is all the text messaging they do!

Hugh Mackay has spent the past three decades studying the attitudes and behaviour of the Australian community, and the message he draws from the mobile phone culture is pretty clear: if we want to live with some sense of identity and security in an ever-changing world, we'll have to work at getting back together - with friends, with colleagues, with communities.

And I think we are starting to see that - not only among the young - but across the spectrum of ages, and communities. It's true that global pressures can have negative impacts, but one unintentional outcome is that they are concurrently producing a heightened desire for community - for more local involvement, local activity, local solutions we can relate to. In the arts, that trend has been producing some remarkable outcomes.

Since the early 1990s, the Australia Council and ALGA have worked to promote and secure support for community arts and cultural development as a core function of local government. We are hoping to work together even more closely in the future. The arts are central to Australian identity, and nowhere more so than in Australia's local communities, where they reflect all the energy, courage and resilience that make Australians such a unique people. The Australia Council is the Government's arts funding and support agency, so it's deeply in our interest to encourage locally-produced arts in all their forms.

This year, for example, the Australia Council is funding an independent agency - the Cultural Development Network - to work on the feasibility stage of a national program, Community Sustainability and Cultural Vitality. The aim is develop closer strategic integration between local government support for the arts and social development programs. It may surprise many of you to know just how heavily local government is involved in arts spending - in fact it puts up 18 per cent of all arts funding in Australia, a big portion of the mix.

Culture is big business - arts and related industries are worth around $8 billion plus to the Australian economy every year, and a lot of that flows into smart communities that are embracing the so-called Bilbao Effect, which says 'If you expand culture, they will come' - or, just as importantly, 'they will stay'.

As a result of being home to the spectacular new Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao in Spain now receives an extra 5 million visitors a year, generating another $US160 million annually and creating over 3800 new permanent jobs. And on a smaller scale, that can happen in Australia - in any community that embraces the value of culture - and fuses it with fresh thinking about business and tourism, with education and health and wellbeing; and above all, with ideas underpinned by authentic local experience.

The shift here is clear: from 'art for art's sake' to arts in a broader social context - using culture in its myriad forms to 're-vision' the role of local communities; bridging the arts to the community's wider concerns and aspirations; using them to enhance community sustainability.

This is art in action; applying creative values and creative imagination to issues affecting our daily lives. It's happening increasingly in communities worldwide. In the words of Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, 'The distinctive feature of human intelligence is imagination and the power of symbolic thought. Our lives are shaped by the ideas we have and beliefs we hold. New ways of thinking can transform us.'

On the one hand, yes, the arts are about opera and ballet, and rock music and oil painting and square dancing; about building and maintaining facilities such as performing arts centres and galleries. But seen through a different prism, the arts is also about how people live, how creativity can contribute to local identity, to a sense of place and quality of life - and how creativity can build confidence in local communities hammered by drought, by the loss of young people, by shifts in global economies, and by social isolation.

Note too how many of Australia's leading artists draw their inspiration and authenticity from local sources - think of those rough-hewn, no-nonsense characters of a Tim Winton novel, the vernacular poems of Les Murray, the evocative paintings of Ian Abdullah with poignant scenes of an Indigenous boyhood along the Murray, and the electrifying physical language of Bangarra Dance Theatre - works that are universal in their themes and scope, but also express the rich diversity of what it is to be Australian. Art that's 'local' in the most powerful way yet can speak to the world.

Local government is a strong reflector of Australia's diverse communities and environments - from farming communities to urban sprawls. And while Australia's local councils differ widely, councils that embrace the arts all share very similar objectives: to foster identity and diversity, to protect and enhance cultural heritage, to build a stronger sense of civic dialogue, to promote social cohesion and reconciliation, to create paths to environmental renewal and health promotion, and to boost economic development.

When local councils invest in creative collaborations, they tap into the qualities that underpin the arts - diversity, adaptability, an outward-looking mentality, risk taking and team playing, and innovation. For communities brave enough to plug in and listen, the arts can promote civic dialogue on tough questions - and offer creative solutions.

What motivates people to stay on, to leave? How can we draw new people to our communities, and how do we treat them when they arrive? What needs saving and what needs changing? Let's name that problem no-one wants to talk about and face it creatively.

In recent years, the Australia Council has seen a growing diversity in the ways local government has become engaged in cultural development: everything from heritage conservation to holiday entertainment programs. The Australia Council sees itself as a resource and partner for local government, and we can help in many ways - as you'll see from the Australia Council information pack every delegate has received. Contact us - connect with us - and tell us about your situation and special needs and you'll find in many cases we've already been down that road once or twice before!

We know there's no 'right' way to promote cultural development. Every council and every community is unique. What is consistent is the need for good communication; listening to what people want, and using that to unlock the creative energies of the local community.

One of Australia's best listeners is Hugh Mackay, whose pioneering work as a psychologist and social researcher has made him also one of the country's leading commentators. For two decades now he's published The Mackay Report, a quarterly barometer of what Australians are thinking and doing. His bestsellers include Reinventing Australia, The Good Listener, Generations, Turning Point, and Right & Wrong.

Hugh Mackay is a graduate of the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, an honorary professor in the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and a former Deputy Chair of the Australia Council.

He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the New South Wales, Macquarie and Charles Sturt Universities. And in his spare time, he has written three novels: Little Lies, House Guest and The Spin.

Today we are both privileged and honoured to have as this year's keynote speaker - Dr Hugh Mackay.

Jennifer Bott, Chief Executive Officer, Australia Council
introducing conference keynote speaker Dr. Hugh Mackay at the 2004 National General Assembly of Local Government

9 November,2004

Visit the ALGA website for streaming audio of Dr. Hugh Mackay's address and Jennifer Botts' introduction.