EXAMINER: City of Launceston’s cultural policy confusion in March council meeting

Holly Monery

NOTE: This story appeared online at 5PM Tues March 6 and at the time of this post 7AM March 8 it has not appeared in the hardcopy version of THE EXAMINER. Also, it seems that this was Holly Monery's, – Local Govt Reporter – last piece for THE EXAMINER as it appears that she no longer works for the paper.

The city council’s process of creating a cultural strategy for Launceston was strongly questioned by Alderman Danny Gibson at Monday’s meeting.

An update on the development of the strategy was delivered in the meeting agenda, with a detailed vision of making the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery the centrepiece of the policy.

Alderman Gibson said while the QVMAG was integral to Launceston’s culture, it was a disservice to combine a strategy for both city culture and the museum.

A $50,000 economic feasibility study is being completed to examine the opportunities available to “best position the QVMAG as the centrepiece of a vibrant, dynamic cultural strategy that brands the city”.

The report is due by the end of May.

The goal of the study is to provide the direction for the optimal model for QVMAG, and how it relates to the UTAS Inveresk Precinct Redevelopment Masterplan and the cultural strategy development.

QVMAG director Richard Mulvaney said it was necessary to make the museum and gallery a focus within a broader context for a culture and arts policy.

“In the absence of a comprehensive and integrated cultural and arts strategy, it is questionable whether investigating QVMAG separately will take the council and the community to its desired destination in terms of valuing and utilising its culture,” he wrote in the council agenda. [Whose desired destination?]

Alderman Gibson said the strategy was supposed to be larger than simply QVMAG.

“We need to ensure that we know what we are actually chasing and that the vision of aldermen aligns with the general manager,” he said.

“The QVMAG fits in the policy in part, but it’s not the central focus [and] they need to do their own strategies. 

“It was never the expectation of the strategy to do that [for them].”

Alderman Gibson said there had been “some great vision and ideas” in a report presented by public advocate for the arts Robyn Archer.

That report has not been made public.