About us
About Arts Hunter
Welcome to Arts Hunter, a dedicated resource and archival hub supporting arts, cultural development, and community practice in the Hunter region and beyond.
At its core, Arts Hunter serves a dual purpose: we provide essential information, links, and training resources for community cultural practitioners, while also documenting a rich history of arts and cultural projects that shaped Newcastle and its surrounding areas throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Our Mission
Our mission is to foster sustainable, capable, and connected communities through the arts. We believe that cultural development is not just about creating art; it is about building the frameworks—such as care, trust, and ability—that allow communities and organisations to thrive.
What We Do
Arts Hunter is a repository of knowledge, strategy, and history. Our work spans several key areas:
- Action Monitoring Values Analysis (AMVA): We are the home of the AMVA framework, developed by Andrew Thomas Macdonald. This systems-based framework explores the critical relationship between Care, Trust, Ability, and Work, providing insights into human factors, risk intelligence, and organisational design.
- Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Collaboration: We document significant collaborations, such as our work with the Keepa Keepa Elders Group in the early 2000s. We honour the Awabakal people and their deep connection to the land, preserving strategic plans, cultural narratives, and language resources (such as the Kur-rur-ka Design and the English-Awabakal Dictionary).
- Public Art Advocacy: We champion the value of public art and ArtWalks, recognising their power to express community values, enhance environments, and provide cultural, social, and economic benefits to cities.
- Historical Archiving: We preserve the legacy of regional arts initiatives, ensuring that the creative endeavours and community projects of the past remain accessible to inform and inspire future generations.
- Community Training and Development: We proudly feature Creative Volunteering - No Limits, a nationally recognised community management training program. This initiative equips individuals in community organisations with essential skills in marketing, networking, fundraising, event planning, and business management
Our Philosophy
Whether we are supporting a local arts network, documenting Indigenous cultural heritage, or providing training for volunteers, our approach is always collaborative, respectful, and focused on building long-term capability.
Grounded in the AMVA principle, we understand that work cannot be produced without prior care, and cannot be sustained without trust.
We invite you to explore our resources, learn from our shared history, and join us in supporting the ongoing cultural development of our communities.