Tapping into art scene

Website to map region’s cultural assets

AN INTERACTIVE website mapping the region’s artistic and cultural offerings will go live next week as Cairns Regional Council taps into the lucrative arts tourism market.

The Cairns Arts and Culture Map (likely to gain a catchier name once switched on) already has more than 750 listings of council assets, historical places and contributions from local artists and organisations.

The council expects a groundswell of new submissions once the website goes live on Wednesday to geographically map and promote the region’s cultural assets.

“It will include a compilation of arts facilities and spaces, major festivals, public art locations, creative industries, arts organisations, places of historical significance and artworks held by council,” Mayor Bob Manning said.

“We will soon invite everyone in the Cairns arts and cultural sector to create a free listing to promote services.”

The online resource will track what listings web-surfers are clicking the most and where in the world those visitors come from.

That data will, in turn, help the council decide how to best market the region to tourists.

Cultural services committee chairwoman Cr Linda Cooper was excited about the project.

“This is going to be a fun, funky part of our website, where you can see all of the different venues and click on them to get information,” she said. “The fantastic thing is it creates a brilliant network for our local artists.”

The website is a key element of a proposed five-year arts strategy that will be voted on at Wednesday’s ordinary council meeting.

It identifies the completion of the Cairns Performing Arts Centre and the future Cairns Courthouse Arts Precinct as key milestones, along with the presentation of the upcoming Festival 2018 in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games.