Media Release
Creative Work – Healthier Futures
Kwabo Events is proud to be a founding partner of the Creative Work – Healthier Futures project, a major new initiative led by Ausdance VIC and funded by VicHealth through its Shifting the Playbook program. Building on two successful pilot incubator programs in 2023 and 2025 designed and delivered by Kwabo Events, this three-and-a-half-year initiative represents an important step towards strengthening cultural safety, employment pathways and representation for People of Colour (POC) Culturally and Racially Marginalised (CARM) artists, dancers and arts workers across Victoria. At Kwabo Events, we have long advocated for a dance and performing arts sector where POC artists and communities can see themselves reflected, valued and supported. Through our work in arts education, mentorship, workforce development and community engagement, we have witnessed both the immense talent within our communities and the systemic barriers that continue to limit access to sustainable creative careers. Creative Work – Healthier Futures has been developed to address these challenges by creating stronger pathways into employment, leadership and professional development, while embedding cultural safety practices across arts organisations and local government. Delivered by Ausdance VIC in partnership with Kwabo Events, City of Maribyrnong, City of Wyndham, City of Melbourne, Dancehouse, the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Nga Matai Purua and other community partners, the project brings together expertise from across the arts, education and community sectors.
Together, we will:
Strengthen culturally diverse training pathways in dance and performing arts
Expand employment opportunities for POC artists, arts workers and creative entrepreneurs
Support cross-sector collaboration between arts organisations, local government and communities
Increase representation and leadership opportunities within Victoria’s creative industries
Develop culturally safe organisational practices that foster inclusion, belonging and participation
A central focus of the project is amplifying POC voices, stories, knowledge and lived experiences. By creating opportunities for artists and communities to lead, contribute and be visible, we aim to strengthen cultural representation while ensuring that the arts sector better reflects the diversity of the communities it serves. People from POC backgrounds remain significantly underrepresented across Victoria's dance and performing arts sectors. Too often, programs, policies and employment pathways have not been designed with the cultural knowledge, aspirations and lived experiences of these communities in mind. This can contribute to exclusion, culturally unsafe environments and reduced opportunities for participation and career progression. Creative Work – Healthier Futures directly responds to these systemic challenges through a combination of organisational capacity building, community-led programming and workforce development initiatives.
Key activities will include:
Cultural safety training and organisational development
Community-led dance training and performance programs
Public performances and creative showcases
Local government-based creative employment pathways
Mentorship and professional development opportunities
Artist incubators and leadership development initiatives
By reducing structural barriers and increasing access to meaningful employment and creative opportunities, the project aims to contribute to greater diversity, visibility and authentic representation across Victoria's arts sector, while supporting the health,
wellbeing and long-term success of POC artists, arts workers and communities. Kwabo Events is honoured to contribute its lived experience, sector expertise and community relationships to this initiative and looks forward to working alongside Ausdance VIC and project partners to create a more equitable, culturally safe and representative future for the performing arts sector in Victoria.