How can Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) transform the future? Where could our collective creativity lead us, and how will the arts respond to the greatest challenges and opportunities of our times?

In the second panel conversation at Making Time, “Arts into the Future”, arts consultant and creative producer Wendy Martin asked Nyoongar performer and advocate Jack Collard, CAN's CEO Danielle Antaki and Persian-Chinese visual artist and graphic recorder Neda Loh to share their visions of how CACD might impact the future, at a local, national and global level. Musician Pavan Kumar Hari responded to the conversation with improvised music, as well as his thoughts on the topic.

In introducing the conversation Wendy Martin shared her own stories about what has shaped her understanding of community arts and the power of this work to shape the way we think and respond.

Nyoongar man Jack Collard spoke about what we can learn from Nyoongar culture, particularly in relation to the importance of the arts to our health and well-being. He highlighted the impact of the recent Voice referendum, observing that the truth-telling that occurred during that referendum is just the beginning of what needs to happen in order for all of us to forge the connections we need in order to heal as a community.

Danielle Antaki spoke about the possible impact of AI on the arts. She floated the idea that, in the face of AI, the future of the arts is participatory and that it will be CACD that leads the charge.

Neda Loh spoke about the ability of the arts, in particular the practice of graphic recording, to traverse both physical and cultural distances. Neda spoke with pre-recorded footage in which she documented her talk, using graphic recording. This footage was projected on a screen as she spoke and we have provided a video recording of the talk with the footage.

In this last section of the panel, Wendy Martin invited Pavan Kumar Hari to speak before addressing further questions, about the role of First Nations knowledge, to Jack Collard, and about how we support young people through art, to Danielle Antaki.

This was the second of two panel discussions held at Making Time 2023. The first panel saw experienced CACD artists, producers and industry leaders come together to discuss how the Federal Government’s new Revive national cultural policy is shaping the trajectory of CACD.