The Ministry defines cultural well-being as:
The vitality that communities and individuals enjoy through:
- participation in recreation, creative and cultural activities;
- and the freedom to retain, interpret and express their arts, history, heritage and traditions.
This definition is a starting point which your council may wish to use to form its own understanding of what cultural well-being is and what emphasis it might give to cultural well-being. More guidance on what the Ministry considers cultural well-being to be is available by reading Cultural well-being - what is it?, or Definitions and contexts of cultural well-being (pdf version).
We take a broad approach to "cultural well-being". This view encompasses many of the activities which local authorities already engage in – including the provision of libraries, museums, parks, venues and recreational facilities, support for the arts, celebration of events, promotion of language, heritage protection, the provision of main streeting programmes and cycle-ways etc.
Related documents
Cultural well-being - what is it? (pdf version)
Cultural well-being from a regional council perspective (pdf version)
International resources
File download
437437-cultural-wellbeing-from-a-regional-council-perspective.pdf (300.67 KB)
Cultural wellbeing from a regional council perspective (pdf version)
report1.pdf (294.48 KB)
Cultural well-being and Local Government - report 1 (pdf version)
report2.pdf (203.1 KB)
Cultural well-being and Local Government - report 2 (pdf version)
437441-CWB - What is CWB.pdf (160.57 KB)
Cultural well-being - what is it? (pdf version)
cultural_displays_jon_hawkes.pdf (223.5 KB)
Cultural displays / Jon Hawkes (pdf version)
