National Regional Arts Broadband Forum

Monday 28 March 2011 was a significant day for Australia's regional and remote artists, arts organisations and arts industries, marking the nation's first National Arts Broadband Forum hosted by Regional Arts Australia at Parliament House, Canberra, delivered in partnership with Feral Arts.

Held on the same day as the House of Representatives final Parliamentary approval of a crucial legislative aspect of the National Broadband Network (NBN), the forum highlighed that the roll-out of the broadband network unlocks potential new projects, skills development and content creation for those working in creative industries right across Australia.

Special guest the Honourable Simon Crean MP, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government; Minister for the Arts, addressed the Forum during a break in parliamentary sittings highlighting in his speech that the NBN has a role to play in developing the regional arts sector and that regional arts can contribute new ways to utilise the broadband network.

"Affordable high-speed broadband will provide a huge boost for many sectors - including health and education - but there is also enormous opportunity in the arts sector," Mr Crean said.  "The Forum is the next step in making the arts, and creative industries, an important driver of change and opportunity in regional Australia - and of truly realising that, through the NBN, a creative nation is a productive nation".

Webcast and online forum

As well as the seventy people present at Parliament House, an astonishing 600 plus people from across Australia, New Zealand and the US tuned into the forum and contributed online through an audio webcast by Feral Arts through the National Regional Arts Broadband Forum project on the PlaceStories website.  The webcast featured an audio stream, live comments, twitter feed and regional arts digital showcase.

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This event was supported by the Regional Arts Fund, an Australian Government initiative supporting the arts in regional, remote and very remote/isolated Australia.