Creative Indigo Arts and Culture Strategy
(2022)
Future Tense is working with Indigo Shire Council to develop a new five-year strategy to set a vision for the creative life of the region and guide its contributions. The project is currently underway. You can follow its progress here.
East Gippsland Culture and Creativity Strategy
(2022)
Future Tense is working with East Gippsland Shire Council to develop a ten-year strategy to guide its investment in the region’s cultural life. The Strategy will establish a shared vision for the creative future of the Shire and articulate how Council will contribute to realising it. You can follow the project here.
South West Creative Infrastructure Pipeline
(2021–2022)
Creative Victoria commissioned Future Tense and Regional Arts Victoria to develop a framework for assessing and prioritising a region’s creative infrastructure needs over a 10-year time horizon. This process was then piloted across the South West, working with the five councils and various state and regional authorities.
Creative Horsham Strategic Plan
(2021–2022)
Regional Arts Victoria and Future Tense partnered by develop an arts and culture strategy for Horsham Rural City Council. Future Tense undertook foundational research to inform development of the Plan. This included an extensive strategy and policy scan and online survey of creative practitioners across the region. The Plan is still in development and due to be delivered in 2022.
UNESCO Creative City of Design Guiding Principles
(2021)
Future Tense was engaged by the City of Greater Geelong to develop guiding principles for the region’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City. This involved extensive consultation community and cross-sector stakeholders and close work with Council and the project advisory group. The result is a guide for how businesses, organsiations and the community can use design and creativity to achieve a sustainable and resilient future. You can read the guiding principles here.
The Great South Coast Creative Industries Strategy
(2018–2020)
Future Tense worked with Regional Arts Victoria on this project, mapping the creative ecology of the region. This has included detailed population, economic and institutional assessment of the region. This work was used to develop the strategic opportunities outlined in the plan. The report and strategy can be assessed here.
Hamilton Gallery Service Review
(2019)
Future Tense undertook a detailed review of Hamilton Gallery’s operations and developed a strategic path for Council to follow in enhancing the institution and building engagement with the local community. The outcome was a practical and actionable strategy that worked within the constraints of the context.
Activating Construction Sites
(2018–2020)
Developed in conjunction with curator Grace Leone, this program engaged students at RMIT to create temporary artworks for display across the University’s CBD building sites. The intention was to transform construction sites from an inconvenience into opportunities for engagement and make meaningful contributions to urban life. This included establishing a curatorial framework, and processes for guiding the development and production of the works. You can read about and see videos of the artwork here.
The Creative Ecologies Initiative
(2017–onging)
This national research project was instigated by Future Tense to understand what it takes to build thriving creative communities. The overall aim of this project is to develop an open access online tool policymakers and practitioners to use in fostering their growth. More information can be found at creativeecologies.net.
National Wool Museum 30-year Vision and Business Plan
(2021–2022)
A major revisioning project for the National Wool Museum in Geelong, where Future Tense has undertaken extensive reviews of strategies, policies and urban frameworks, benchmarked global best practices, engaged closely with stakeholders, and explored possible directions and implications, and undertook spatial planning for enabling infrastructure upgrades. The result is a new vision and purpose for the Museum and a detailed plan for its implementation. The Vision was adopted by Council in 2022. You can follow the project here.
Moorabool Arts and Culture Strategy
(2021)
Future Tense worked with Moorabool Shire Council to develop its first Arts and Culture Strategy. We applied the Creative Ecologies framework to establish an evidence base for development of the strategy and undertook significant and sustained community and stakeholder engagement. The resulting strategy was strongly supported by the community and adopted by Council without challenge. The Strategy can be viewed here.
Blak Pearl Art Studio
(2020–ongoing)
Blak Pearl is a community-led creative studio in Fitzroy providing a culturally safe environment for local Aboriginal peoples who cannot access mainstream spaces. This project evolved from work Future Tense director Fjorn Bastos has undertaken with community leaders. A two-year pilot will launch in early 2022. You can read more about Blak Pearl here.
Colac Office and Cultural Centre Needs Assessment
(2020)
Future Tense was commissioned to investigate Council’s future service needs, provide advice on required infrastructure and test the feasibility of different models. This involved detailed consultations with Council, the local health services, state government agencies and community organisations. We gained an understanding of the complex operational circumstances and governance arrangements, developed a range of strategic paths forward, and distilled those into clear options for Council and stakeholders to consider.
WRITING & CONCEPTS
(2019–ongoing)
WRITING & CONCEPTS is a lecture and performance series exploring the insights practitioners have into their own creative and cultural practices. It provides an opportunity to explore these insights in a public forum in a mode consistent with their practice. Started in 2016 by Jan van Schaik, it has hosted over one hundred lectures from Australian and international practitioners in venues across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and regional Victoria. Find out more and see videos of the presentations here.
UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) toolkit
(2019)
Future Tense, in partnership with Ludowyk Evaluation, was tasked by the City of Ballarat to develop the framework for a practical toolkit for municipalities wanting to implement the UNESCO HUL approach to city management in their LGA. This required extensive consultation, synthesis and workshoping across disparate (and at times conflicting) stakeholders in order to deliver a solution that worked for Australian LGAs and fit with the international framework.
Drug Harm Minimisation Roundtable
(2019)
Future Tense facilitated a roundtable with key stakeholders of the Rainbow Serpent Festival to work through their differences and develop a unified approach to minimising the harm of drug use at the festival. This brought together festival management, police and emergency services, health services, topic experts and local council representatives. This event required detailed planning and strong moderation.
Jan is an experienced educator, researcher, and designer. He is an award winning architect specialising in public buildings, the founder of the WRITING & CONCEPTS lecture series and publications, and the designer of Lost Tablets. He has provided design services, strategic advice and governance to companies, NGOs, community groups and arts institutions both internationally and within the cities and regions of Australia. After hours, Jan collects contemporary art.
Fjorn is an artist and community organiser. She has extensive experience working for and liaising with local Indigenous communities in Victoria on consultation and engagement projects. As an artist she works primarily in sound, performing under the name Papaphillia. She has coordinated, managed and overseen community-based projects that cross disciplinary and cultural fields, including the facilitation of artist and sound workshops, advocacy campaigning and community building.
Leith is an accomplished strategist. His expertise is in the articulation of complex ideas and the facilitation of meaningful dialogue between disparate audiences. He has worked across corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors and an accredited facilitator of the Victorian Department of Treasury’s Investment Management Standard. Leith is also the co-founder of Sabbatical Records, and founding member of the groups True Radical Miracle and Dead Boomers.