CREATIVE CITY Report card

reporting our progress

The City of Ballarat approved the implementation of the Creative City Strategy and Masterplan in May 2019, kickstarting the intent to embed creative thought and action at the heart of city operations. The wide-ranging and multifaceted Strategy was deliberately ambitious, with the Strategy expected to help guide and drive decision making, supporting the emergence of new and existing creative industries, and working to establish Ballarat as the home of the sustainable practitioner.

The Creative City Strategy is a mix of economic support for the micro-enterprise, attraction and retention of mid and large sized creative businesses while also providing dedicated focus on the practice of pure arts. 2022/23 has revealed the persistent growth of the sector, but also the fact that structural change is impacting the vulnerable community. Changes in broadcasting, multimedia and a loss of creative jobs has caused instability. This year’s report card analyses how changes are shaping our creative community and makes recommendations for the next five years.

2022/23 Report Card

REPORT CARD 2021/22

In 2019 the City of Ballarat took a bold step and endorsed a Creative City Strategy which sought to make Ballarat the city that nurtures the creative spark, builds sustainability within the creative industries, and actively grows the creative economy.

Then the pandemic hit, and the creative industries reverberated with the shock. Whole sectors went into hiatus – with theatre and performance, music and venues reeling from the impact.

But in 2021/22 the small shoots of rejuvenation started to appear. This report identifies that even facing such adversity the creative sector in Ballarat has a deep and abiding resilience. By the close of the 2021/22 Financial Year, it became clear that the microenterprise, the tiny business, the arts practitioner and the nimble creative organisation were the clear winners.

The growth of the creative sector had far outstripped the growth of the wider Ballarat economy. New practitioners had surged into the city, part of the flight from metropolitan centres. Creative businesses were testing the boundaries and practitioners were taking different risks and exploring new works.

report card 2020

The City of Ballarat released its inaugural report into the application of the Creative City Strategy, examining the period from May 2019 till December 2020. This reporting period covers the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns and assesses the impact of the City of Ballarat’s pivot to support the vulnerable creative sector.

Findings from the 2020 Report Card show the first major steps to better understand the creative ecology of Ballarat through the development of databases, a new website to house all relevant materials and information, and improved procurement processes to streamline creative gigs and opportunities. This was matched with the design of research into economic stability and resilience, the development of opportunity pathways for creatives and the implementation of training programs to support creative practitioners and industries alike.

The 2020 Report Card also identifies significant achievements over the period, including successfully securing UNESCO Creative City designation as a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art as well as becoming one of the formative members of the Victorian Creative City Network.