Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and Culture Counts
2 min read

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and Culture Counts

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) used Culture Counts as part of the Arts Queensland 2016 pilot to capture data about two events, the CIAF Fashion Performance (Birrimbi Dulgu Bajal) as part of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival in March 2016, and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair in July 2016.

It was important to CIAF management to identify and understand their audiences and how to reach them. They were interested in their audience’s desire to learn about Indigenous culture, the specific value they gain from attending the event and the things that will encourage them to return.

Vanessa Gillian, General Manager of CIAF reflects on their experience with Culture Counts:

“Participating in the Culture Counts 2016 pilot helped us to develop evaluation skills in looking at gender and other demographic factors, which will achieve efficiencies in targeting and growing our audiences more effectively and provide information for future marketing strategies. Surveying the audience’s artistic experience and their feedback will potentially strengthen arts networks in Queensland and nationally.”

“Being able to see how we perceive ourselves versus how our peers see us, was intriguing and exciting with the chance to see that what CIAF delivers was above and beyond most expectations of peers. Distinctiveness, a core element for CIAF, was questioned on a number of levels with varying results – again providing a healthy review during our debrief process.”

Read more about CIAF’s experience with Culture Counts and what they learned about audience diversity here.