Geoff Woolcock

The arts remain largely absent from place‐based policy, planning and programming in Australia, despite a long history of working in place‐based ways to create positive social change in communities. This systematic review aimed to address this absence, by providing a synthesis of evidence about the role that place‐based arts can play in advancing social equity and addressing social disadvantage. Findings reveal a potential for the arts to create change across individual, community and societal levels, yet empirical evidence to support this potential is weak. Stronger evaluation frameworks that can support capturing the impact of localised place‐based arts initiatives for translation into policy and practice are discussed.