Creative Communities

What Does it Mean?

Sandra KirkwoodAllied Health Consultant

The Creative Communities Team (Ipswich, Queensland) took up the challenge of investigating what it means to provide services within a ‘Creative Community’ context.

This has seen a shift in paradigms from providing hands-on health and rehabilitation services in people’s homes to facilitating community development at Leichhardt and Purga Community Centres.

Innovative method of service provision

Creative Communities: Federal Government

The Creative Communities philosophy arose from the recommendations of an Australia-wide scoping study of community arts programs (Australia Council for the Arts, 2006). This report validated the use of community arts as a means of improving health and well-being and community harmony, as well as achieving goals in education and artistic production.

Creative Communities:State Government

State government included a plan for Creative Communities in the Queensland Arts Industry Sector Development Plan (Queensland Government, 2007).

Creative Communities approach

• Participants are community members who live in the local area; or residents of a private hostel.

• People are supported to choose creative arts projects or physical activities that become the focus for creative collaboration with one another.

• Members of the Allied Health team work alongside people to facilitate their active participation and promote health and well-being.

Social InclusionPeople are given the opportunity to

use skills and abilities and to take on leadership roles, regardless of cultural background, health conditions, age, or disability.

This means that people can empower themselves through active participation

in community life.

Conclusions

Creative Communities is an inclusive approach that has many benefits for building the capacity of people and communities to support one another and to self-manage their own health conditions.

The Creative Communities approach is an innovative service model that helps to meet the challenges associated with the impending shifts in aged demographics and support needs of people from various target groups.

Recommendations for research &

development

New models of care service New models of care service governance are being governance are being developed that will developed that will incorporate Allied Health incorporate Allied Health involvement in involvement in Creative Creative CommunityCommunity development development initiatives.initiatives.