Imagine Bigger

Every child should have the opportunity to imagine, create and belong. That's the promise at the centre of A Better Future, Shaped by Creative Children, our Strategic Plan 2027–2031. It's a promise about availability as much as ambition. Creativity should be welcoming and meaningful for every child, not only for those who can most easily access it.

This is our first plan since Barking Gecko Theatre Company and AWESOME Arts Australia joined forces to form Barking Gecko Arts, and it sets out what that new organisation is for. Children are growing up in a world shaped by anxiety, disconnection, financial pressure and uneven access to creative opportunities. In that context, creativity isn't decoration. It's infrastructure. It builds empathy, confidence, emotional literacy and adaptability, and gives children a way to make sense of themselves, their communities and their futures.

The plan is built around four outcomes for children, Access, Belonging, Wellbeing and Capability, and one question we'll keep asking ourselves at every level of the organisation. What conditions do children need to imagine, participate, belong and thrive?

That question changes how we design. It isn't enough to choose which programs to deliver and hope the right families find them. Cost, transport, confidence, access for people with disabilities, and cultural safety all shape whether a child walks through the door. The work is to notice who can't get there and change the pathway so they can. It's a shift from opening doors to redesigning the route.

Five “engines” will carry the plan through to 2031. ‘Imagination’ covers creative learning, teacher development, child voice and artist pathways. ‘Place’ brings creativity closer to where families already are, through the AWESOME Festival, regional and outer-metro hubs, mini-hubs and local partnerships. ‘Story’ is the work itself, including new Western Australian stories, theatre, festival and participatory formats for children. ‘Belonging’ is access by design, from culturally safe and disability-inclusive practice to a Creative Equity Fund. ‘Stewardship’ is the partnerships, governance, people and systems that make the ambition durable.

These are practical ways to make the promise real. By 2031, we're aiming to support 10,000 to 12,000 children and young people each year through ticket or transport subsidies, reach 18 to 24 Western Australian communities annually through touring, hubs, residencies and festival mini-hubs, and see at least 80 per cent of participants report a real sense of connection and belonging. Behind those targets is new infrastructure we're building, including a statewide Access & Inspire platform, a Creative Learning and Future Skills Framework, and a Creative Equity Fund to help cover ticket, transport and regional participation costs.

The plan's title is intentional. It doesn't specify ‘a better future shaped for children,’ but rather ‘shaped by creative children,’ emphasising that children are not just future audiences or citizens waiting to emerge. They are active creators today, with ideas and rights.

By 2031, we want Barking Gecko Arts to be Western Australia's leading creativity organisation for children and families. Not because bigger is the goal, but because more children need access to creativity, more schools need support, more artists need pathways to create excellent work for and with children, and more families need an invitation that feels possible.

That work can't be done alone. It depends on children, families, teachers, artists, schools, venues, local governments, funders, philanthropists and community organisations who believe creativity belongs in every child's life. If you'd like to help more children imagine, create and belong, we'd love to start a conversation.