We are pleased to announce the 2018 recipients of the Audience Development Fund (ADF), a devolved funding program of the NSW Government through Create NSW and administered by Museums & Galleries of NSW. Funding was provided to five galleries for projects that aim to target and develop new audiences.

The ADF offers up to $10,000 per project to public galleries in NSW to trial new models for engaging audiences, creating innovative public programs that engage artists and the community and increasing access and participation. This year’s successful applicants proposed events and activities that were innovative for and appropriate to their organisation and purpose, engaged targeted audiences and connected them with artists and visual arts practice.

2018 Audience Development Fund Recipients

Artspace Sydney   $8,000

Artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan will create an embedded community project, The HOOP Project, expanding Artspace’s reach and depth with audiences in their neighbourhood by developing a community-led design initiative, site-specific installation and socially-engaged program around the public Woolloomooloo basketball courts.

4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art   $8,874

From early 2019, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art will launch its first major education program aimed at families and school-age young people, providing free access to artist-led educational programming focused on Asian and Australian contemporary art and culture.

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery   $8,710

The Overwintering Project is a multidisciplinary arts project addressing environmental impacts on migratory shorebirds and their habitats, bringing together high school students, Elders, scientists, birders, poets and artists to learn about shorebirds, protection of their environment and to make art, The aim of the project is to strengthen connections between the gallery and local schools, their teachers and families, who have a very diverse makeup with a large migrant and refuge cohort. The second targeted audience group is birders, birding groups, and by extension, people actively interested in environmental protection.

Murray Art Museum Albury   $10,000

Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) seeks to meaningfully engage young people within Albury’s new migrant and refugee communities through free, monthly art-based programs which will form connections between participants through the experience of creating art and engaging with current exhibitions, creating a sense of belonging in the museum.

Shoalhaven Regional Gallery   $9,416

Breaking Down Barriers is a project to work directly with local secondary schools to understand and address the barriers preventing visual arts students undertaking education programs delivered onsite at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery.

The Audience Development Fund is a Create NSW devolved funding program, administered by Museums & Galleries of NSW (M&G NSW) on behalf of the NSW Government.