New community impact report

“Putting it really bluntly, they (the community) are less scared of art. It’s not a thing that happens ‘over there with those weirdos’. It’s something that I’m involved with,” Just Add Water participant, Goolwa, 2012.

A new report has been released which reveals the impact a period of sustained arts activity can have on a regional community.

Independent Consultant Dr Christine Putland has delivered an extensive evaluation report, commissioned by Country Arts SA, demonstrating the profound impact Just Add Water has made on the community of Goolwa, the host region for the South Australian Government’s 2012 Regional Centre of Culture.

The Report can be found online here.

Branded Just Add Water, alluding to ideas of creation, growth and renewal, the year-long program was managed by Country Arts SA in partnership with the Alexandrina Council and saw the 6000 people who live and work in and around Goolwa tally nearly 54,000 individual appearances between them – an average of nine per person – making, seeing, hearing, sharing and thinking about art.

The Regional Centre of Culture model fosters an environment wherein individual events build on each other across the year to create an unfolding experience, allowing people to engage as much, or as little, as they like.

Just Add Water Executive Producer, Jo Pike, said that combining an intensive year of arts programming with capital development, created a hub around which the community could experiment with the impact of arts on community life.

“Just Add Water 2012 gave people a licence to experiment with a huge range of arts-related activities, 443 in all, to see what pushed their buttons.  It was thrilling to see how wholeheartedly people embraced the opportunities, some of them for the very first time. What was first thought of as ‘a few more things to do’ is becoming a way of life for a lot more people.”

Country Arts SA Chief Executive Officer Steve Saffell said Just Add Water has created a lasting impact. “The community has been able to build on the tangible, permanent reminders in the art works and functional infrastructure left by Just Add Water.  It enabled a shift in understanding and outlook that can still be heard in the stories people tell about their community and themselves and there is also a continually growing awareness of the rich living culture of the Ngarrindjeri community,” he said.

Consultant Dr Christine Putland said of the process, “The challenge in evaluating a complex program such as Just Add Water is in taking account of the impacts on both individuals and the whole community. Because people are engaging on their own terms in many different ways, it’s necessary to use a range of measures and tools to capture the multi-dimensional nature of their experiences. Many of the most significant changes are the less tangible effects on people’s attitudes, behaviours and relationships as well as important developments in policy and programming at the local level”, she said.

Alexandrina Council Mayor, Kym McHugh said, “The program is a great example of what can be achieved when Federal, State, Local Government and the community partner successfully. We sincerely hope that, in the future, more South Australian regional communities will have the opportunity to experience the social and economic stimulus that a program of this magnitude provided us.”

Just Add Water is continuing to make a difference to the lives of people in the Alexandrina region at least until the end of 2014 through a Federal Government pilot initiative, Cultural Places, enabling a four-way partnership between the Australia Council, Arts SA, Country Arts SA and the Alexandrina Council which is capitalising on the tremendous groundswell of support to spread the artistic love throughout the region.

Image credits from top: Watersong decorations and Watersong performance: Photos Alice Bell; James Morrison masterclass Photo Richard Hodges; Storytelling inside Kondoli (Whale) & Flags at Alexandrina Council Chambers Photos Chris Herzfeld; Station to Station and Just Add Voices Photos Richard Hodges