In July 2005, the Victorian College of the Arts launched the inaugural Post-Graduate Diploma Course and Masters Program in Community Cultural Development practice.

Community Cultural Development (CCD) is a community-based cultural practice, which engages artists/animateurs and communities in a process of participation, transformation and self-determination.

The role of an animateur can be comprehensive and have a social, political and cultural purpose. It can be integrated in, and aligned to many policy areas; and can extend to education, health, housing, justice, the environment, and urban development/renewal policies. In many ways animateurs work directly in community to plan and deliver strategies that develop people's creativity ability, in order to advance and achieve true cultural democracy. UNESCO Report 1971

Encompassing a diverse range of activities, CCD practice provides communities with opportunities to tell their stories; build their creative capacity and skills; address social agendas; express identity, and participate directly in the development of their culture.

CCD artist/animateurs work in partnership with a range of formal and informal community groups, cross-sectoral associations, and private or government bodies. The practice requires a capacity to work effectively cross-discipline and cross-boundaries; negotiate ethical principles and financial accountability measures with community, sponsors and stakeholders; operate in different cultural contexts according to different priorities and public policy themes; work in other languages; and navigate different expectations of process and outcomes.

The study of CCD practice references the visual and performing arts and also a range of related areas of study, such as public policy, public health, public evaluation, philosophy, social science, natural science, psychology, cultural studies and cultural geography.

Central to CCD teaching is the learning model of inquiry and the skills that are required to undertake an open-ended, interdisciplinary investigation.

Reflective inquiry is engagement of the individual in constructing meaning.
Inquiry itself integrates the reflective and collaborative aspects of thinking and learning. Garrison & Archer 2000
In line with this is the use of diverse research methodologies, including action-based research, narrative evaluation and production-based investigation which uses the development of working designs and prototypes as its method.

A recent British Academy report states that the arts, humanities and social science can provide high-level skills and groundbreaking research essential to the current knowledge-based economy. In addition, the report also shows how the cultural, intellectual and social wellbeing of the UK depends on the nurturing of these branches of knowledge. In Australia there are obvious parallels.

The CCD Post-Graduate Diploma and Masters Courses study program aims to:

• develop innovative teaching and learning models of inquiry and action based research within the context of CCD practice ;
• advance the CCD research agenda through strategic partnerships with the public policy sector;
• consolidate CCD practice strengths in all art forms;
• engage leading practitioners as state, national and international presenters;
• develop and maintain cross-sectoral partnerships with education, community development, justice, health/wellbeing, urban renewal/development, public housing and specific communities (youth, aged, ethnic and indigenous);
• align multi-discipline resources and cross-sectoral arrangements
• maintain philanthropic partnerships;
• provide scholarship opportunities for financially disadvantaged, specific ethnic and indigenous students.

The Post Graduate Diploma in Community Cultural Development Practice aims to address increasing work opportunities in the field of community cultural development (CCD) and cross-sectoral community based arts practice.

The course aims to provide an intensive learning experience for artists/animateurs from all art forms, who have a commitment to social justice and to the role of art as a process for intervention.

The course responds to the field’s expressed training needs, and will incorporate studies in a creative paradigm incorporating CCD practice, context, process and theory, and specifically aim to engage artists/animateurs experientially through the development of practical, theoretical and management skill, vital to career development in this field.

The course is co-ordinated by CCD practitioner Sue Clark (arts educator/curriculum designer/strategic planner/researcher/cultural analyst) with CCD field based artists/teachers including Graham Pitts (writer/theatre director), Sally Marsden (visual artist/CCD program coordinator), Lachlan MacDowall (researcher/writer/new media artist/cultural theorist), Richard Jones (researcher/film-maker/photographer/producer), Michelle Evans (indigenous program manager, cultural animateur) and Kevin Brennan (writer, producer/project manager/cultural planner ).

More information an be found in the Courses section of this website

Inquiry is a learning method designed to engage students in thinking critically through questioning, debating and confirming understanding collaboratively as an open communication process with emphasis on CCD practice as:

• artists working collaboratively with specific communities
  inter-discipline and cross-sectoral partnerships;
• action based research as a key foundation to the inquiry learning model;
• social justice, social entrepreneurship and social change agendas;
• paradigm of humanism (heart) working with rationalism (head);
• arts in creativity agenda (eg. Out of Our Minds UK research);
• creativity and innovation as essential drivers in a knowledge based economy;
• creative capacity strategy with economic, social, education, community wellbeing and capacity building benefits/values;
• responding to community interest in collective action.

The inquiry model facilitates the learning of content as a means to develop information processing and problem solving skills. Students learn discipline specific content but in doing so engage and refine their inquiry skills from question driven study and through:

• establishing a general theme approach to act as a trigger learning;
• identifying research questions for the theme;
• building library, interview and web research skills, along with critical thinking necessary for thoughtful review;
• reporting in oral and written/visual form;
• providing mechanisms to monitor progress;
• drawing on expertise of teachers/tutors/guest speakers to model inquiry and promote reflection.

Fundamental to this challenging work is a belief in the fact that inspirational art is created when communities and artists' dream, plan, research and work collaboratively.

• Community Cultural Development Brochure (879.4 KB, Adobe PDF document)