J9 Consulting was engaged to design and facilitate a stakeholder engagement program to inform the new Creative & Prosperous City Strategy. The project sought to understand the priorities, challenges and opportunities facing the municipality’s creative, cultural, tourism and business sectors and to provide an evidence base for its new cultural plan.
Using future focused, co design workshops, interviews, stakeholder roundtables and targeted surveys, J9 engaged a broad cross-section of the creative eco system including Council, First Nations leaders, venues, business, performance, live music, screen and gaming.
The process prioritised inclusion, sector representation and the identification of both gaps and long-term strategic opportunities. J9 encouraged groups to consider ways that Council support a sustainable creative ecosystem beyond providing project funding.
The project delivered a comprehensive, evidence-based report to inform Council's Creative & Prosperous City Strategy, identifying sector priorities across arts, live music, tourism, business, venues and creative industries. By engaging diverse and often underrepresented stakeholder groups, the report provided strategic recommendations to strengthen creative participation, cultural development, economic outcomes and sector partnerships. It also supported Council to identify opportunities, challenges, gaps and future investment priorities across the municipality's creative eco system,along side a review and recommendations for the iconic St Kilda Festival.
