This symposium brings together scholars and artists to explore the persistence of notions of community in the framing of contemporary formations of art and creative activity.

Far from being swept away in an era of global flux, the notion of community remains a persistent trope, suggesting local bonds, forms of belonging, even moral purpose. And where once the term 'community arts' referred to a specialised, and perhaps marginal form of practice, the notion of art making in, with, and by communities now appears across all art forms, from public art and design to music and new media.

So what is driving the persistence of community? How are notions of community figured across art forms? What are politics of the mainstreaming of community in the arts? And what desires and anxieties are to be found in this ongoing 'turn to community'?

This event is supported by the Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Faculty of the VCA and MCM, The University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council, as part of an ARC-funded Linkage project "Towards an integrated evaluation framework for intrinsic and instrumental benefits of community-based arts".