By-roads and hidden treasures

the long version

What is keeping people strong in isolated and under-populated locales, and how much of that is cultural? In 2008 the Cultural Asset Mapping for Regional Australia (CAMRA) project was born with the very simple question: 'how can we best map regional culture in contemporary Australia so that we can assess that culture's value?' In the five years that followed, what transpired was an unpredicatable journey into unlikely places and too-often neglected communities across regional Australia, from western Sydney to the central desert, from east coast surfboard-shapers to Torres Straight hip-hop musicians. Their experiences, stories and insights confronted existing assumptions, and challenged many of the cherished precepts of cultural policy and creative industries research. By-roads and Hidden Treasures brings together the project's researchers, cultural critics and arts and creative industry figures to discuss culture and its connection to community, particularly in isolated circumstances. The book contains thought-provoking discussions on regional Australia's colonial and cultural heritage, and details innovative new methods for measuring cultural assets, as well as reflecting on fostering collaborations with peak cultural bodies in order to inform imminent policy and planning decisions for regional Australia.