The art of connection

In addition to its many theatres, museums and galleries, Adelaide’s city centre is home to dozens of smaller cultural spaces in which artist and creatives make, share and sell their work.

I was commissioned by City of Adelaide to produce The Art of Connection, a research and advocacy paper about the importance of inner city artist spaces.

The 2021 publication showcases the importance of artist spaces within Adelaide’s CBD; not only attracting people, businesses and organisations to spend time in the City of Adelaide, but also create, connect and invest in it.

It also includes a case study of one of Adelaide’s best-known CBD arts spaces: The Mill.

Download your copy of The Art of Connection from the Mill’s website. Or check out the extract below:

Small spaces = big benefits

An integral part of any major city ecosystem, artist spaces and studios attract people, businesses and organisations to create, connect, participate, spend
and invest in the City of Adelaide.

These spaces…

• Bring energy and audiences to different corners of the city.
• Provide gateway experience for locals and tourists to engage with arts and culture all year round.
• Fuel and reflect the city’s identity, profile and value.
• Increase cultural diversity, civic engagement and inclusion.
• Diversify the night time and weekend economies.
• Are central to the city’s economic health, creating employment opportunities and exportable IP. Overall, the broader visual arts and design sector contributed between 3–34% of GVA to the South Australian economy in 2019 (up to $168 million).
• Provide opportunities for investors, sponsors and individual donors to influence the shape of the city and align their brands with leading creators.
• Create what the Adelaide Economic Development Agency calls a ‘magnet city’
  destination, enhancing inner-city liveability, increasing visitation and use by residents, workers, visitors and the broader community.

With a reach extending far beyond their front doors, Adelaide’s artist spaces and studios are vital incubators, activators and accumulators of unique benefits for adjacent businesses and residential developments.

By carving out places for artists to make and present their work, these vibrant artist spaces are proven seedbeds of diversity, creativity and healthy communities, as well as cultural and tourism economies, technological innovation, market development and more.

Hubs of creativity

Vision: As a Creative City, Adelaide considers the needs of its cultural sector in all elements of development. Cultural Infrastructure – including studio hubs – are vital for the city’s dynamic growth agenda.

For artists and makers, the city’s studios foster the visibility and viability of creative arts practice in South Australia.

These are the places where artists nurture their talent and careers and build audiences for new South Australian work.

They are valued by the sector as affordable, accessible and flexible spaces to make and share work, access shared facilities and equipment, innovate and experiment, and get daily exposure to inner-city residents, workers and visitors.

Some of Adelaide’s larger and more established artist spaces also provide additional support and opportunities for artists, such as professional development, mentoring or help seeking funding.

More than the buildings in which they are based, these creative hubs and precincts connect the city’s makers with a vibrant creative community and facilitate collaboration and networks, peer-learning and clusters of expertise.

Being based in the city increases the profile of artists and makers, as well as sales of their work. Studio visits, showings, artist talks and workshops
also give audiences a look ‘behind the scenes’ of exhibitions, performances and creative arts practice.

Artist spaces of the future

Securing the future of this important part of our city’s artistic ecosystem requires strategic arts-based placemaking and multi-level public and private investment.

Retaining and growing the benefits artists bring to our cities requires artist spaces and studios that are:

• Central.
• Affordable.
• Safe, compliant and accessible.
• Based in multiple areas, precincts or hubs.
• Close to green spaces.
• Secure and sustainable, not only short-term or rolling activations that don’t provide professional artists or organisations with the security they need to support long-term, sustainable practices and outcomes.
• Fit for purpose, be that through optimising existing spaces, increasing availability of alternative studios, workshops and venues, or investing in new infrastructure for professional service organisations.

Developers and urban planners from all over the world have tried and tested dozens of effective models from which to draw inspiration, such as:

• Revamped funding programs.
• Regulatory and zoning reform.
• ‘Gifting’ vacant or underutilised public or private buildings, or leasing them at peppercorn rents.
• Community Land Trusts and other financial models.
• Development partnerships.
• Percent for art schemes that make artist spaces a mandatory component of commercial, residential or cultural developments.

With such support, the City of Adelaide will continue to be a place in which cultural ambition is fostered, independent artists flourish, and artist spaces and studios support the sector and economy to thrive.

Download your copy of The Art of Connection from the Mill’s website.

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