Creative Change Project

All Wellbeing ♥ Social connection ❉ Community cohesion ☺ Inclusion & accessibility ♫ Visibility & opportunity ★ Cultural & environmental sustainability ✦

Wellbeing
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Community music programs are supporting the health and wellbeing of Australians across a wide range of contexts. These programs recognise that participating in music can have positive wellbeing outcomes by supporting physical and mental health, promoting agency and confidence, experiencing mastery and joy, and creating opportunities for personal growth, skill acquisition and career development. Programs featured in this category are co-creating opportunities for musical participation for people from diverse backgrounds such as people with disabilities, families and their children, young people, carers, people in hospital and aspiring musicians. Our research shows that supporting health and wellbeing among these groups is important for mitigating the consequences of social inequity.

Social connection
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Local music programs are playing an important role in building social connection in their communities, with programs working to create meaningful bonds between people who are socially isolated and those with similar (marginalised and/or isolating) life experiences. The programs in this category include inclusive choirs, community jam sessions, bands and orchestras, and collaborative creative spaces that are leading to lasting friendships and supportive networks. Our research demonstrates that the kinds of social connections fostered by these programs can play a key role in promoting individual and collective wellbeing and building greater social equity.

Visibility and opportunity
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Many community music programs are committed to increasing visibility and creating platforms for musicians from diverse backgrounds and marginalised groups to share their creative work widely. Programs in this category include production companies specifically for musicians with marginalised identities, mentoring and professional development for musicians from diverse backgrounds, and promotion and advocacy for the recognition of musicians with identities often excluded from the music industry. These programs are creating awareness about the significant issue of inequity within the Australian music industry. Our research shows how this awareness can foster positive social change by shifting harmful social norms and the inequitable status quo.

Community cohesion
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Across the country, music programs are bringing communities together to foster understanding and tolerance among people from diverse and different backgrounds. Programs featured in this category include neighbourhood festivals, street musicians, groups and clubs promoting music from a range of countries and traditions, inclusive spaces for members of a community to create together, choirs promoting a positive sense of place, and musicians promoting and advocating for social justice issues locally and nationally. Our research suggests that community cohesion can contribute to an equitable society through empathy, tolerance and advocacy about the unequal distribution of resources, rights, and opportunities.

Inclusion and accessibility
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Many music programs are working to actively increase access to the benefits of engaging in live music for people and places that are commonly excluded. Programs in this category include touring musicians and productions to regional and remote areas, music performances in non-traditional performances spaces such as hospitals and community settings, and making venues safe particularly for women and people with diverse gender identities and sexualities. Our research shows that by not only extending the reach of music in many forms, but by making those experiences as safe and accessible as possible, these programs can address some of the barriers many marginalised groups of people face when accessing musical experiences.

Cultural and environmental sustainability
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Music programs across the country are supporting and bolstering efforts to promote cultural and environmental sustainability. Some of the programs in this category are aiming to protect, promote, and value cultural diversity, and doing important advocacy work for cultural inclusion and recognition. Such programs include touring music groups and productions foregrounding music from diverse cultures, as well as music workshops and mentoring focused on cultural practices and language preservation. Research shows that cultural sustainability is integral for inclusive, equitable, well and just societies. Other related programs in this category are working to create community and music industry support and awareness of causes relating to environmental sustainability and climate justice.