Trust as Viability: How an Online Outcomes-focused Cultural Activity Planner Helped to Deepen Trust between a City-based Funder and a Regional Arts Producer

Abstract

This paper explores a case study where adoption of an online outcomes focused cultural activity planning and evaluation platform unexpectedly contributed to a deepening of trust between a city-based corporate funder and a regional arts producer working in a suburban area of the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Interviews with stakeholders revealed that the platform, together with the trust that it helped to cultivate, supported a creative, responsive, and flexible community arts and cultural development project that achieved cultural and social outcomes for local young people considered disadvantaged while working towards the funder’s global goal to enable social equity. The case study suggests that when funders are removed from the contexts where activities will be delivered, a trusting relationship spanning geographic and socio-cultural divides can encourage mutually beneficial collaboration, reduce rigidity to allow an emergent strategy, and achieve impactful community-determined arts and cultural activity.

Presenters

Nathan Stoneham
Artist & Producer, Company Bad, Queensland, Australia

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life

KEYWORDS

Outcomes, Arts Funding, Planning and Evaluation, Trust, Community Arts