Cultural brokerage and regional arts: developing an enabler model for cultural and economic sustainability

Abstract

The research project introduced in this paper explores the interface between cultural brokerage and cultural pedagogy and the sustainable outcomes that might emerge from the application of these in arts practices in rural and remote areas of Queensland. The project investigates and documents how creative and artistic disciplines can have a relevant and enabling agency in industry and commercialisation in regional and remote communities (Gascoigne 2005), and how performing and visual arts activities can contribute to sustainable communities. These are communities that limit the decline of economic, environmental and social capital, the fundamental pillars of sustainable development. Interrelated elements include: cultural pedagogy; the relationships among forms of arts practice; and community ‘gatekeeping’ and generationalism.