Collingwood Yards is an emerging creative industry cluster and hub led by the new social and non-profit organization Contemporary Arts Precincts. It is a government partner which is supported by the Victorian state government and reflects the cultural policy of the government. Its operating funding is from both government and private donations. Its purpose is to support the development of local culture and communities so that Victorians can participate in creative industries and development.
Creative Victoria is the developer and implementer of the Victorian Government’s strategy for the creative industries. According to the report of Victoria’s First Creative Industries Strategy 2016–2020, creativity is the future of Victoria. The government’s strategic objective is to strengthen the creative entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The creative industries bring different forms of value to Victoria, promote innovation and provide opportunities to support creative talents, and create more employment opportunities for art creators. The creative state invested more than 115 million USD to support the creative industry. Obviously, the goals established by Collingwood Yards are to support and incubate emerging professional artists and small and medium-sized art organizations and to provide space for creativity and community activities to implement this cultural policy.
In a policy narrative, consumption is dominant (Grodach, 2017). Collingwood Yards is not only centred on art, but it also provides economic development goals. Collingwood Yards is not a landmark building of different art complexes. It is not a large museum centre such as NGV to represent the image of the city. As a cultural and creative cluster, Collingwood Yards is a new cultural iconic area created by using idle buildings to create a convenient way to increase art consumption. It renovated the old school more than 100 years ago and retains traces of history.
Another point of the policy narrative is that the culture of the “post-industrial era” is crucial (Grodach, 2017). From the perspective of economic development and employment rate, the cultural industry is a new cultural narrative, and culture and economy will no longer be discussed separately. The cultural narrative supports avant-garde art to retain traditional craftsmanship and culture. Take Collingwood Yards as an example, it retains the traditional Australian culture, and some Aboriginal handicraft studios exist. At the same time, new avant-garde art coexists with it. Mass media hi-pop music and punk street culture can be turned into new jobs, which increases the cultural employment rate. Moreover, it has promoted the extensive development of the cultural market.
The creative industry is the key mode of creative city policy, and creative city policy has been popular for 20 years (Grodach, 2017). As a creative cluster, Collingwood Yards can improve the convenience of consumers, shape the new landmark of the city, and provide artists with new work and creative studios for some culture.
Finally, cultural policies promote the emergence of new industries. Culture serves as an intermediary to retain Australian culture and attract creative classes. Art is used as a tool for consumption and brand promotion and innovative industries retain culture at the same time. Policy and culture are integrated that lead to the development of the economy and creativity. Therefore, the outcome should be mutually beneficial. Whether Collingwood Yard is a successful case of cultural policy, we still have to look at its future development.
Reference:
GRODACH, C. 2017. Urban cultural policy and creative city making. Cities, 68, 82–91.
https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/5feddc4501bfb7a9567a49d05e3d65c1#financials-documents
