This digital story was produced for the ARC Linkage Project The Role of the Creative Arts in Regional Australia: A Social Impact Model with the communities of northwest Tasmania and central western Queensland.

Throughout 2021 the RAASI team asked research participants in central western Queensland and northwest Tasmania to describe the role that arts, culture and creativity play in their community.

In both research sites, participants identified collective wellbeing, pride, hope, belonging and social cohesion as some of the outcomes of arts and cultural engagement. Art, culture and creativity is “a conduit for empathy”, a way of bridging understanding between disparate groups, and “another extension of our community social interactions”. Hear more from the communities in this video.