State of the Arts in Cairns (SoARTS)

Cairns Regional Council (CRC) has aspirations to become the Arts and Culture Capital of Northern Australia and has embedded this in their Strategy for Culture and the Arts 2022 (CRC 2018).

The Strategy outlines steps to strengthen Council’s ongoing commitment to growing the city’s reputation as a key hub for artistic and cultural expression with outstanding cultural facilities and a distinctive character. As part of the Strategy, Council Regional Council engaged James Cook University (JCU) to work alongside the five-year planning cycle to provide evidence based research to support and guide future decision making and investment in regards to the three core priorities or focus areas of the cultural plan.

The third State of the Arts in Cairns 2021 Report, analysing “Culture, Heritage and Place” is now available on the Cairns Regional Council’s website.

The second State of the Arts in Cairns 2020 Report, analysing COVID-19 and Soft and Hard Infrastructure, is now available. Council’s Media Release provides a snapshot overview.

The first State of the Arts in Cairns 2019 Report is a collection and analysis of data gained over the 2018/19 period, which provides a baseline for future investigation of creative and arts industry sectors in Cairns.

Research team: Lisa Law, Russell Milledge

Funding: Cairns Regional Council