History

In 1990 the Australia Council for the Arts and the Federal Office of Local Government established a ‘Local Government and the Arts Taskforce’. One of the key reports to emerge from the work of the taskforce was the 1992 Cultural Development Strategy, which made available funds for collaboration between different levels of Government. In Western Australia these funds were apportioned to an ‘Integrated Cultural Policy Project’, in which CAN WA played an essential part. A few years later, in response to the success of the project and with various smaller initiatives along the way, CAN WA established the current Local Government Cultural Planning Program. In 2000 the program was further bolstered by the devolving of the Department of Culture and the Arts’ cultural mapping function, which is now also managed by CAN WA.

To date CAN WA has partnered with over thirty local government authorities to assist with both long-term and short-term cultural planning projects.