Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy

Arts, Culture and Heritage is for everyone! Engaging with the Strategy will guide Council’s efforts to promote, support and grow vibrant and authentic arts, culture and heritage in the region. 

The Strategy has been drafted through an extensive process, including background research, consideration of industry best practice, an analysis of current trends and challenges and a wide-reaching community engagement process.

We engaged Consultant, Maz McGann (Play Your Part) to assist us in the consultation, engagement and strategy development. During March and April 2025 we conducted a wide-ranging engagement to discover what arts, culture and heritage means to you, and were thrilled with your inspiring, creative and thought-provoking feedback!

Our survey attracted responses from more than 150 people, plus engagements with 170 more.

What did we hear?

• People believe festivals and events are our number one priority, followed by cultural tourism and arts for health and wellbeing
• Everyone should have an opportunity to participate in cultural activities (77%), and heritage and local history should be preserved (76%).
• There are many new and emerging opportunities, like developing heritage tourism, elevating public art, and reviving festivals, markets and public spaces for creative activities.

What are the key takeaways?

Our cultural identity is critical to community wellbeing, regional pride and sustainable economic development.

Subject to Council endorsement, the draft Strategy will be released for community consultation in late August 2026. The consultation will provide an opportunity for the community, artists, cultural organisations, businesses and other partners to comment on the proposed vision, goals and strategic directions before the Strategy is finalised.

The Strategy is being developed across five key phases:

Arts, Culture and Heritage encompass the many ways people create, express identity, share knowledge and connect with place and one another.

This includes visual arts, craft and design, music, performance, writing, film and digital media, festivals, museums, galleries, public art, cultural traditions, language, food, architecture, collections, significant places and community stories.

Heritage connects us with the people, knowledge, objects, traditions, buildings and landscapes that have shaped the Barossa. Creative practice enables these stories and experiences to be interpreted, questioned and shared in new ways.

Together, Arts, Culture and Heritage contribute to community wellbeing, belonging, education, creative enterprise, regional identity and visitation.

As part of the Strategy’s development, Council invited three artists to respond creatively to the question:

What could the future of arts, culture and heritage in the Barossa look like?

Visual artist Jacob Logos, photographer Aidan Dorrian and poet Daniel Fuller explored the region’s aspirations, identity and opportunities through their respective creative practices.

Their works provide perspectives on place, memory, heritage, healing, belonging and the relationship between past, present and future. They complement the findings gathered through surveys, workshops and stakeholder engagement and have helped shape the broader thinking behind the draft Strategy.