Regional Arts Australia is proud to have made a submission to the National Cultural Policy, calling for the voices, needs and experiences of regional artists, creatives and communities to be recognised in the future of Australia's arts and cultural landscape and to have taken that message directly to Parliament.

Regional Arts Australia Executive Director Ros Abercrombie believes the timing of both the National Cultural Policy process and the Parliament's Inquiry into Arts and Cultural Philanthropy represents a rare and important opportunity.

"We are at a genuine inflection point for arts policy in this country. The National Cultural Policy and the Parliamentary Inquiry into Arts and Cultural Philanthropy are happening at the same time and together they give us the chance to make the case for regional artists on two fronts simultaneously,” Abercrombie shared. “We cannot afford to let either moment pass without regional voices being heard loudly and clearly."

Regional artists play a vital role in telling the story of Australia.

Across the country, artists and creative workers in regional, rural and remote communities are making work that reflects the diversity, complexity and richness of Australian life. Their stories are shaped by place, Country, distance, community, climate, industry, migration, memory and lived experience.

Regional Arts Australia believes that for a national cultural policy to truly speak for Australia, regional voices must be part of its development and that philanthropy has a critical role to play in sustaining that work.

Regional Arts Australia's submission highlights the importance of ensuring regional artists have equitable access to opportunities, resources, funding, infrastructure, professional development and national platforms. Too often, artists based outside metropolitan centres face additional barriers, including distance, limited access to networks, higher travel costs and fewer local pathways for career development.

These barriers should not limit who gets to participate in Australia's cultural life, or whose stories are seen, heard and valued.

Abercrombie welcomed the opportunity to appear before the Parliamentary Inquiry into Arts and Cultural Philanthropy, where she made the case for a stronger, more relational model of philanthropic investment in regional creative communities.

"When we appeared before the Inquiry, we were clear: effective philanthropy is not transactional, it is relational,” Abercrombie said. “The regional creative sector needs partners in government and in philanthropy who are willing to back people and places over the long term, not just fund the occasional event. That kind of trust-based investment is what creates lasting change.

“We’ve listened closely to what regional artists have told us. They have been asking for longer term support to work in their communities and different types of funding opportunities to complement one-off project funding.”

Across regional and remote Australia, hundreds, if not thousands, of artists and creative innovators are doing the slow, steady work of community building. They are working in town halls and neighbourhood centres, in schools and sheds, in aged care homes and mental health units, in community gardens and on Country. They are listening deeply. They are holding space. They are weaving connections.

This has never been more important than when a community is struggling, when families are worried about paying the bills, small shopfronts are being boarded up and farmers don't know if they can plant their crop this season.

In her evidence to the Inquiry, Abercrombie pointed to the Regional Arts Fund as a model of what sustained, strategic investment can achieve.

"Through our stewardship of the Regional Arts Fund, we've demonstrated what becomes possible when government investment is delivered by an organisation that truly understands regional communities. From 2021 to 2025, we distributed more than $12 million across 1,514 projects in 771 unique locations from Kununurra to Cairns,” Abercrombie shared. “For every dollar invested, recipients leveraged an additional $1.41 from other income streams. That's not just good arts policy, that's smart economic policy."

A strong National Cultural Policy must help create the conditions for regional artists to thrive with the same opportunities and recognition as artists in metropolitan areas. It must support creative practice where it happens, invest in regional cultural infrastructure and recognise the essential role artists play in strengthening communities, economies and shared identity.

Regional stories are not peripheral to the story of Australia, they are central to it.

Supporting the Regional Arts Australia submission to the National Cultural Policy, was a submission from the Regional National Advisory Group (RNAG) reflecting this belief.

"The RNAG submission is unambiguous: any national cultural policy that doesn't meaningfully address the needs of regional, rural and remote artists is incomplete. We are not asking for special treatment… we are asking for equity,” Abercrombie said. “The same exposure, the same opportunities, the same recognition as artists in our capital cities. That is what we took to the policy process, and it is what we took to Parliament."

Regional Arts Australia also highlighted the role of innovative philanthropic partnerships in its Inquiry evidence, pointing to its collaboration with the Minderoo Foundation on the Practice in Community initiative as an example of what becomes possible when values align and commitment is measured in years, not grant cycles.

By contributing to both the National Cultural Policy process and the Parliamentary Inquiry, Regional Arts Australia is advocating for a future where regional artists and communities are meaningfully included in national cultural decision-making, and where the full breadth of Australian creativity is supported, celebrated and sustained.

"After more than 80 years, Regional Arts Australia is trusted, networked and practical," Abercrombie said. "We have only just begun. And with government and philanthropy as genuine partners, I believe we can unlock the cultural ambition of even the remotest community in this country.”

To find out more about our advocacy work — including our submission to the National Cultural Policy and our appearance before the Parliamentary Inquiry into Arts and Cultural Philanthropy — visit our advocacy page to read our submissions and statements.