A million-dollar arts project launched in Bendigo yesterday will see four central Victorian shires named the state's first "regional centre for culture" by hosting a year-long program of creative events in 2018.
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But the future of a $7 million "creative industries hub" earmarked for the region in last May's state budget remains a mystery.
Bendigo East and West MPs Jacinta Allan and Maree Edwards announced yesterday Greater Bendigo, Mount Alexander Central Goldfields and Hepburn shires would host the 12-month Regional Centre for Culture program in 2018.
The project will see Bendigo host national culture conference Artsland next September, while artworks from local creatives would also be commissioned, the MPs said.
Aborignal artists from the Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung clans will also be involved in the program.
“We already have the very talented, creative people, plus the people who know how to put on a good show,” Ms Allan said at the announcement.
“We have the people with the experience to do this.”
Those people include Castlemaine musicians Tim Heath and Felicity Cripps, who performed together at yesterday’s funding announcement.
Mr Heath believed funding the arts in regional areas could stop the pilgrimage of young creatives to capital cities or overseas.
A lack of artistic outlets led him to Melbourne aged 18 but he has since moved back home.
“Young kids seeing local artists achieve more here will encourage them to pursue the field,” Mr Heath said.
Even though she described Castlemaine audiences as supportive and said it was “really easy to pack a room” in the central Victorian town, Ms Cripps said it not yet possible to make a living solely from her art.
“It does mean you can’t always throw your heart and soul into it,” she said yesterday.
The $960,000 set aside for the cultural program is not connected with a $7 million allocation for a creative industries hub in the 2016-17 state budget.
“I know there’s an eagerness to hear more about [the hub], but it’s taken a bit of time to make sure we’ve got the foundation right so that it’s sustainable into the future,” Ms Allan said when asked about the funding.
Regional Development Victoria director Stan Liacos said last year an announcement on the hub would come in early 2017.
His agency was collaborating with the city, its university and TAFE to determine what the hub would look like and how it would benefit the region’s creative community, he said.
"The challenge and desire now is accelerate momentum and outcomes when it comes to supporting the growth of other creative industries too including design, new media, digital startups and related facets of education and training.”