Together We Can: 2023 Strategic Framework

By Jillian Edwards, Chair, Creative Recovery Network

Today the Creative Recovery Network is pleased to release our 2023 Strategic Framework: Together We Can – a plan to strengthen disaster management through creativity.

Aligned with the landmark National Cultural Policy – Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place – released by the Australian Government in January 2023, our framework articulates our network’s role as an advocate for creative practitioners across the country and the continuation of our work to embed the vital role of culture, creativity, and the arts in Australia’s resilience and disaster management systems. As pioneers of a new approach, we continue to lead and guide the effective intersection of these systems.

Our service model, built from nearly 10 years of shared stories and experiences, already incorporates the five interconnected pillars of the Government’s strategic objectives. Working with disaster affected communities for many years, we are acutely aware of today’s rapidly changing disaster risk context and the importance of acting with a sense of urgency to be better prepared.

Like many organisations we cannot and do not work alone – we work with local government and community groups, building on local strengths and building relationships across sectors. Our relational focus is intentional and adaptable and works to achieve lasting systemic change.

We intend to pursue nine goals to mainstream creative practices within the disaster management sector and to showcase the value and importance of combining our skills and capabilities to help improve communities’ disaster preparedness and recovery. We do this through creative practices specifically tailored to each unique and diverse community to help:

• Prepare and imagine – build community capability, strengthen social ties before disasters happen and generate new thinking
• Respond and care – create safe spaces for people to unpack trauma, make sense of unimaginable impacts
• Recover and adapt – support wellbeing and identity, driven by community-centred engagement, placemaking and reimagining new futures
• Prevent and grow – education and connection, facilitate safe, accessible spaces to deliver information, resources and build social cohesion

The establishment of Creative Australia is a very exciting and welcome new direction, laying the foundations for an evolving new future. We welcome the recognition within this new structure of service providers such as Creative Recovery Network pioneering new career opportunities for artists and arts workers, supported by vocational pathways, and nurtured through fair remuneration, industry standards and safe and inclusive work cultures.

As Minister Bourke remarked earlier this year at the launch of the National Cultural Policy, the challenge is for us all to forge a new future for arts and culture in Australia. The Creative Recovery Network is ready to scale up and bring to the nation a unique and important cultural experience in confronting and adapting to disasters at the community level.

Want to know how it all works? We have many stories to share of how arts and culture have helped so many people – visit our case study library or listen to our podcast.

Want to join us? We have hundreds of members across Australia including artists, arts workers and community development practitioners as well as people from the health and education sectors and all levels of government. We’d love you to join us in our mission to continue building these active networks – together we can support our communities in challenging times.

Read and Download the 2023 Strategic Framework here.

Jillian Edwards, Chair, Creative Recovery Network