MOUNT Gambier City Council elected members prioritised recommendations from its youth engagement strategy and culture and heritage plan at a workshop this week.
Both the youth strategy and the culture and heritage plan deliver on key initiatives of the Futures Paper 2016-2020 – council’s overarching strategic plan.
The engagement strategy is the first of its kind for the city and recognises and responds to the fundamental role young people between the age of 12 and 25 play as citizens and valued members of the community.
“Initially led by City Youth, council’s youth advisory group, the strategy reflects council’s commitment to ensuring young people have input into the future planning in Mount Gambier,” Cr Josh Lynagh said.
“From the outset we were thrilled to receive feedback from more than 430 students at the launch of the engagement process at the Limestone Coast Careers Expo in August 2017.
“Throughout the four month process, we engaged with a total of 694 young people across 16 separate events and activities, including the very successful student leaders roundtable.”
Uni SA social work student Julie Baum completed a placement with council during her final year of studies and engaged with 60 young people to explore the indicators, impacts and perceptions of social exclusion in Mount Gambier.
“As a result of the consultation, we now have 17 recommendations to assess and prioritise,” Cr Lynagh said ahead of yesterday’s workshop.
“Key issues include fit for purpose recreational facilities, engaging with public space, an accessible, welcoming and engaging CBD for youths and creating a sustainable, vibrant and visual youth culture.
“Youth want to be able to access high quality wi-fi, engage with activities in the CBD and participate in public art projects.”
Under the guidance of artistic director Rachel Healy, council explored cultural values and aspirations within the community to develop another strategic blueprint – the culture and heritage plan.
“Between May and September 2017, more than 500 people provided input into 31 individual consultation activities, which included visioning workshops, surveys, chalk boards, roundtable sessions, targeted engagement interviews, door knocking, community barbecues and group meetings,” Cr Frank Morello said.
The engagement process highlighted key themes, including the preservation and celebration of our natural, cultural and heritage assets, a focus on increasing engagement and participation within cultural activities, further activation within the CBD, the need to identify and celebrate what makes Mount Gambier unique and a recommendation to address the lack of fit for purpose creative spaces, performance venues and cultural infrastructure.
“There are 28 individual recommendations to consider and prioritise within the plan,” Cr Morello said.
“This document will lead to meaningful social and economic change and is a great step forward in investing in arts and culture, bringing many benefits to the community, including building the economy.”
