Footscray Community Arts Centre
We acknowledge that we are on traditional lands of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation. We offer our respect to the Elders of these traditional lands and, through them, to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
About
Since 1974 Footscray Community Arts Centre (Footscray Arts) has been a pioneer in supporting community arts and community cultural development. Throughout its 34-year history, the Centre has been a vibrant hub of artistic activity for local artists and community groups, as well as for leading arts companies and practitioners. Located in the culturally and linguistically diverse western area of Melbourne, Footscray Arts is renowned for its advancement of multicultural arts in Australia and its adoption of an artistic framework that emphasises artistic excellence in community.
Footscray Community Arts Centre has fostered the development of many artists, initiated countless innovative collaborations between leading artists and local communities, built many significant new partnerships with leading arts agencies and is well-known as a place to come to experience high quality performances, exhibitions and events.
Footscray Community Arts Centre is proud to be one of 11 companies who are all supported as Australia Council key producer organisations. The Australia Council recognises that the excellence of the art of each of these organisations shows the vitality of the communities that produced them.
Footscray Community Arts Centre’s Vision
Footscray Community Arts Centre (Footscray Arts) is a leader in contemporary community-based art and a place of excellence where artists and communities come together to create, experience, and enjoy art.
The work of Footscray Arts as a ‘producer’, an ‘enabler’ and a ‘space’ underpins the Centre’s vision and mission.
Footscray Arts envisages a society in which:
- artists and communities collaborate to produce outstanding art
- the arts belong to everyone
- places exist for artists and communities to thrive.
Footscray Community Arts Centre’s Mission
As Victoria’s flagship organisation for community-based art, Footscray Community Arts Centre
- engages with the world to produce outstanding art
- invites everyone to participate
- is a vibrant centre of activity.
Working primarily with the communities of Melbourne’s West, Footscray Arts makes this region a cultural reference point for Melbourne and beyond.
The Footscray Community Arts Centre Model
The following model of Footscray Community Arts Centre’s artistic programming maps the intent and effect of the organisation’s work.
Footscray Community Arts Centre has three key organisational dimensions that lead to outcomes across three key areas.
The organisation is
a producer: Footscray Arts is one of Australia’s leading producers of contemporary community-based art creating high-quality, innovative artistic projects, programs and events. Every artistic activity is placed within a rigorous curatorial framework
an enabler: Footscray Arts enables individuals, communities and organisations to create and engage with art. In particular, long-term partnerships with major organisations are developed to broaden and enrich community engagement with the arts
a space: Footscray Arts is a physical space for developing and presenting outstanding community-based art. Beyond being a physical space for associated communities, the Centre is an iconic space for the western region and the very practice of community-based art.
Footscray Community Arts Centre’s work has outcomes across three key areas that reflect the broad outcomes of not only art itself but the necessary conditions to enable social change. These areas are
Knowledge: Gaining insight into ourselves and others
Inspiration: Enlivening people to catalyse change
Pleasure: Satisfying the need for stimulation and enjoyment
Click here for case studies demonstrating the Footscray Arts model.
