A community group is calling for an arts strategy to be developed for Dunedin and is urging people to make submissions to the Dunedin City Council's long-term council community plan in support of the concept.
The "overarching consensus" from a symposium involving the city's art community last month was that an arts strategy was urgently needed, Transforming Dunedin spokesman Allan Baddock said.
"The issues were remarkably similar across all mediums."
Transforming Dunedin is an arts and culture action group that was formed as part of the council's Your City, Our Future, consultation in 2010.
Mr Baddock said six themes emerged from the 350 people who attended the symposium, including co-ordinated communication and higher visibility of arts and cultural events, creating more arts spaces and infrastructure, and more active engagement with tangata whenua.
There was also a need for a single point of liaison between the city's arts sector and funding organisations, and for career pathways to be developed.
While Transforming Dunedin would be making a submission to the plan, it believed the more support shown for arts and culture in the city, the more impact it would have, especially given the council was planning its spending for the next 10 years.
"We can't be passive bystanders in our own future."
The challenge now was to keep momentum going. During the next few weeks, task groups would tackle ideas to develop a strategy that could be presented to the sector and then the council, he said.
Submissions on the long-term plan close on April 17.
