Cultural Policy
The City of Adelaide’s first Cultural Policy sets a clear long-term vision to
grow Adelaide’s role as a global cultural city through to 2036.
Adelaide / Tarntanya is the Capital City, the civic and cultural heart of South Australia, and a vibrant gateway to the regions. Culture and creativity are fundamental to this place and its people. They are also critical to Adelaide’s future growth and success, with the City of Adelaide serving as a custodian of this future.
Adelaide’s cultural, arts, and creative practitioners and communities make vital contributions to the fabric of our society. Through their passion, talent, expertise, resilience, and strong networks, they strengthen the city’s vibrancy and economic growth. The sustainable development of Adelaide relies on the neighbourhoods, connections, jobs, and opportunities they help create.
Cultural policies are now in place at local, state and federal levels of government positioning culture as a central pillar of urban development, sustainability and community wellbeing for the nation.
The City of Adelaide’s first Cultural Policy sets a clear direction to celebrate the city’s unique culture and strengthen its role as a global cultural capital to 2036. As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music, Adelaide is part of a global network using culture to drive positive economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes.
In 2026 Adelaide joined the World Cities Culture Forum – a leading international network of more than 45 creative cities across six continents – further cementing the city’s standing as a global cultural leader, and growing opportunities for local creatives.
The Policy affirms what the City of Adelaide values and guides how the City and its partners invest in cultural infrastructure, places, programs, events, and partnerships to protect and promote Adelaide’s cultural identity and creativity.
Five Principles that underpin the Cultural Policy
The Cultural Policy sets out key principles that affirm how important culture, creativity, and community are to Adelaide’s identity and future. Each principle is equally important, recognising that the city’s cultural life is complex, dynamic and interconnected.
Amplifying Our Creative Capital
The City of Adelaide aims to be Australia's cultural and creative capital by nurturing careers and sector growth and supporting talent retention, through partnerships and co-investment.
By leveraging its UNESCO Creative City status, Adelaide showcases local talent globally, driving economic growth through its cultural sector.
This principle is reflected in the following priorities that acknowledge that Adelaide is a cultural and creative capital:
- Amplify Adelaide’s UNESCO City of Music designation to showcase the city’s cultural life, talent, strengths and stories on the global stage.
- Support cultural jobs and creative careers to position culture and creativity as key drivers of economic development, employment, imagination and innovation.
- Celebrate Adelaide’s unique cultural identity and enable opportunities for international exchange and collaboration.
Culturally Inclusive and Socially Connected
Honouring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the City of Adelaide is committed to ensuring that everyone has the right to participate in, enjoy, and contribute to the city's cultural life.
We prioritise equitable, culturally safe, and affordable access for communities of all abilities and backgrounds and actively celebrate diverse cultural expressions. Culture fosters social connection, wellbeing, and a sense of belonging, enriching the everyday life of our city.
This principle is reflected in the following priorities, recognising that people are at the heart of our city and its culture:
- Enable all people to contribute, participate and be represented in the cultural life of the city.
- Ensure that access to Adelaide’s culture is easy and affordable for everyone.
- Promote a cultural life in Adelaide that showcases the strength of our sector and the diversity of our communities.
Reconciliation and Truth-Telling
The City of Adelaide acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains and fully supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination. We recognise the importance of addressing past injustices, centring First Nations perspectives, and promoting cultural revitalisation through language, storytelling, and creative expression.
This principle is reflected in the following priorities that honour the continuous cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples:
- Honour and strengthen awareness of Kaurna culture and connection to Country.
- Celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures in city design, public art, festivals, events, and public spaces.
- Support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led cultural initiatives, including cultural revitalisation through language, storytelling, cultural burns, and other cultural and creative practices.
Preserving Cultural Heritage, Embracing Progress
The City of Adelaide is committed to preserving its cultural and natural heritage and embracing revitalisation and progress.
We celebrate and strengthen our world-class architecture, cultural assets, collections, and Park Lands, ensuring Adelaide’s distinctive identity and history are preserved for future generations.
The city also supports diverse cultural traditions, including national commemorations, festive events, and social practices that reflect and unite the community.
This principle is reflected in the following priorities acknowledging the connection between the city's culture and its built and natural heritage while balancing modernisation with preservation:
- Protect and revitalise the city's cultural heritage including world-class architecture, iconic cultural venues, community managed spaces and collections, and preserving the Adelaide Park Lands, open spaces and natural environment.
- Ensure people, culture and creativity are at the centre of planning, design and development decisions in the city.
- Celebrate our local character, food, culture, customs, social practices and traditions, places and spaces.
Creating Space for Cultural Expression
Council is committed to enhancing the city's vibrancy, liveability, and global profile through accessible, high-quality, and diverse cultural infrastructure, experiences, public art and activations, designed to foster connection, creativity, and cultural expression.
This principle is reflected in the following priorities that foster and celebrate a creative and culturally connected vibrant city and community:
- Embed creativity and culture into the everyday life of the city.
- Expand the city’s cultural infrastructure, including activating underutilised spaces, to enhance Adelaide’s appeal, foster community and create a sense of belonging.
- Ensure that creativity, along with Adelaide’s unique arts, cultural experiences, and stories, is easily accessible, fuelling the city's vitality, day and night, and all year- round.
Culture includes our beliefs, traditions, and ways of life, and is expressed through art, architecture, ceremonies, food, festivals, language, literature, music, theatre and much more.
In Adelaide, culture is created, protected and experienced in many places and spaces, through galleries, museums, archives, libraries, heritage places and collections, in cafés, markets, pubs and churches, in our city squares, Adelaide Park Lands, precincts and neighbourhoods.
The Policy defines culture as:
- Arts, creative, cultural, heritage sectors and work.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander continuous cultures and connection to Country.
- Multicultural communities and contributions to shaping our society.
- Activities that reflect the unique history and contemporary life and experiences of Adelaide today.
Everyone has the right to be part of the cultural life of their community. Culture makes our lives richer, helps us express ourselves, brings people together, and shapes our identity.
A city's culture, including festivals, traditions, public art and landmarks, bring communities together and help people feel connected and included, and create a sense of belonging and pride.
Having access to cultural places—like galleries, museums, and theatres—makes life better by offering fun, learning, inspiration and chances to meet others.
Investing in culture can improve neighbourhoods and attract creative people, leading to new ideas and economic growth. Cultural industries, such as tourism and the arts, also support the economy by creating jobs and helping local businesses.
Between 4 November 2024 and 5 March 2025, the City of Adelaide engaged with community members and industry stakeholders to strengthen, clarify or expand on the Themes and Priorities shared in the draft discussion paper, Culture: The Life of Our City.
Highlights of the consultation activities include:
- 200 total attendees across the Live Music Forum and Culture:The Life of the City Forum.
- 226 people shared their feedback at community drop-in sessions at City of Adelaide venues including Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide Central Markets, ART POD, Libraries and Community Centres.
- 11 submissions and community meetings documented.
- 5 City of Adelaide advisory groups and subsidiaries engaged.
- 675 community survey responses received.
Combined, this feedback guided the development of Council’s inaugural Cultural Policy in 2025, so that it reflects the community’s vision and views for the cultural life of the city and strengths that define Adelaide’s unique character and liveability:
- Cultural experiences for everyone.
- Festivals and celebrations.
- Outdoor experiences.
- Nightlife and live music venues.
- Built heritage and memorials.
- Diversity of traditions and expressions.
- Public art, sculptures, and murals.
- Community connections and belonging.
- Nature connected experiences.
- Pedestrian friendly and city layout.
- Central Market and food culture.
- First Nations culture visibility in the life of the city.
- Street level culture (food trucks, resident and neighbourhood activities, precinct events)
