Unlike Bathurst, Dubbo, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Armidale and Tamworth, Orange council is no longer committed to the program that aims to encourage capital city residents to relocate to regional areas. 

On Tuesday night, Orange councillors voted to divert the $65,000 it had earmarked for Evocities elsewhere. Only days before, Dubbo mayor and chairman of Evocities Mathew Dickerson had credited Evocities with helping Orange’s population to swell by 9.9 per cent since the 2011 census.

At the time he attributed similar population spikes in the other member cities to the success of the Evocities campaign as well.

However, despite Cr Dickerson’s statistics, in an economic climate where skyrocketing house prices are locking first home buyers out of the Sydney market, councils that have invested in the Evocities campaign should be expecting a greater return than has been seen to date.

The reality is that it’s difficult to accurately evaluate the Evocoties campaign’s success, particularly when it’s run in conjunction with other initiatives also designed to encourage people to move to regional areas.

In the end it simply comes down to money.

Since 2010 Orange has invested about $500,000 in the Evocities program but it’s hard to know exactly what the city had to show for such a hefty investment.

Perhaps even more money is needed to make the program a success?

While billboards on freeways are one way of promoting Evocities, in this tough economic climate councils now expect much more bang for their buck.

A commitment from both state and federal governments to help fund the Evocities program by perhaps matching councils’ contributions dollar-for-dollar is the only way to guarantee this ambitious imitative’s future.