Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair goes global

The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation celebrates the rich cultural and artistic diversity of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres and designers. It provides vibrant and exciting platforms for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, design, and culture with a reputation for innovation, diversity and cultural integrity. The DAAF Foundation is a not-for-profit Indigenous organisation owned and governed by the 80+ Art Centres and peak bodies it represents.

The Foundation's cornerstone event is the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF). It brings art collectors and buyers, public institutions, and the general public together to meet and buy art directly from 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres nationally.

When the global pandemic struck in 2020, the DAAF Foundation's Art Centre membership made it very clear that they needed DAAF to help support sales generation. Art Centres are located in some of the most remote parts of Australia, and the pandemic left them even more vulnerable and isolated when forced into lockdowns. Within three months, the DAAF Foundation transformed its physical event into a vibrant online sales platform with an accompanying digital public program.

Building on the success of this digital pivot, the DAAF Foundation sought funding to consolidate and grow its digital platform and footprint, invest in digital capability for the Indigenous Arts Centre workforce, and investigate potential international markets for its digital offering. 

Background

The inaugural Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) was held in 2007 after the board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) recognised the need to provide an opportunity for collectors, commercial galleries, public institutions and the general public to meet and buy directly from remote community Art Centres. Over the past nine years (2015–2023), DAAF has generated over $26.1 million in sales, with 100% of proceeds going directly back to artists and Art Centres.

The vision of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation (DAAF Foundation) is to provide vibrant and exciting platforms for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture with a reputation for innovation, diversity and cultural integrity.

Developing a national Indigenous art digital platform allows DAAF to host a hybrid physical/digital event with online retail sales facilitated during the event itself, offer year-round curated content from member Art Centres, use the platform to host sales facilities for other Indigenous art fairs and link up with crucial authenticity verification and provenance databases to protect Indigenous artists.

The Ian Potter Foundation awarded the DAAF Foundation a four-year capacity-building grant to support sector development, provide professional development opportunities to Indigenous Arts Workers, and assist the expansion of the market for Australian Indigenous art.

The Pivot

The Digital Pivot Initiative aimed to further develop the DAAF Foundation's digital platform and footprint for Indigenous art, culture, and design by:

Uplifting Capability: Providing an opportunity for 75+ DAAF Foundation Art Centre members, as well as fashion creatives, to build digital marketing, business and artistic skills via a Community of Practice. The DAAF Foundation hosts workshops, develops training modules, and provides access to specialists and peer-to-peer forums with Indigenous artists nationally and internationally.

Connecting People to Art: Launching the first national digital platform for DAAF Foundation Art Centres, the Indigenous Arts Hub. The platform showcases artwork and exhibitions, an Art Centre directory, a calendar of industry events, advertising opportunities for commercial galleries, and a space for knowledge sharing, original content, news and research.

Exploring International Opportunities: Building international relationships by researching and developing a strategy to enable international connections for Indigenous Art Centres.

Consultation and connection

In the first phase of this project, the DAAF Foundation conducted an in-depth review of the landscape via a thorough consultation process with Art Centre Members to understand the essential requirements and outcomes for Indigenous Art Centres. A key outcome of this consultation was the need for a Community of Practice for Art Centres and a Learning and Community Coordinator to manage this project. Art Centre members will be invited to officially participate in the Community of Practice by the end of 2024.

In 2021–2022, the DAAF Foundation worked with two consulting firms to conduct Art Centre community consultations to ascertain the digital platform's purpose and activities. It also built relationships and networks with international First Nations curators, connecting them to Art Centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curators via the Cultural Keepers (DAAF Foundation Indigenous Curators Program & Symposium) and digital networking platforms.

Throughout 2023, the DAAF Foundation worked with web and systems development specialists to build the digital platform. The Indigenous Arts Hub had a soft launch in June of 2024. A digital curator was appointed in late 2024. The DAAF Foundation looks forward to a major launch of the platform and its exhibition program by March 2025.

"The Digital Pivot Initiative has been an ambitious and innovative project, which has focused on providing Indigenous Art Centres with access to national and international art markets via digital sales platforms, whilst focusing on building business skills that remain in community, for community. As the project's development phase comes to a close, we are incredibly excited to officially launch the Indigenous Arts Hub and our new Community of Practice."

- Claire Summers, Executive Director, DAAF Foundation

Success by numbers

In August 2020, DAAF launched its first entirely virtual art fair across nine days, having built its platform from the ground up. DAAF welcomed 69 Art Centres and 45,000 virtual visitors to the digital platform, generating over $2.6 million – with all sales being returned to the Indigenous Art Centres, 72% of visitors stated that this was their first time visiting the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair.

In 2023, DAAF welcomed 75 Art Centres and over 17,000 event visitors, generating a record $4.4 million in sales, including $638,000 from online sales across DAAF and individual Art Centre websites. A further 13,157 unique visitors accessed the online Fair. Over 200 Indigenous Arts Workers participated in managing their Art Centre's booths, with 92 also managing the online DAAF portal.

The platform has also become a mechanism for the DAAF Foundation to generate its own income through the lease of the digital infrastructure and the services it provides.

The art fair digital platform has been leased 15 times since 2020. DAAF Foundation has been proud to support other First Nations art fairs across Australia, including Tarnanthi Art Fair (SA), AIATSIS Indigenous Art Market (ACT), and Revealed (WA). From 2020 to 2023, this platform generated more than $11.7 million in sales.

The DAAF Foundation's International Development Plan began being implemented in mid-2023. As a result, the DAAF Foundation is engaged in international opportunities such as the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawaii (June 2024) and Expo 2025 Osaka (May 2025). Relationships with Australian Embassies and Consulates (such as New York, Paris, Canada and London), major public institutions (such as the Musee du Quai Branley and the Smithsonian - National Museum of the American Indian), and international art fairs are being steadily built and strengthened.

And counting...

The DAAF Foundation is confident in the learnings from its in-depth consultation with its Art Centre members and peak art bodies. This has laid a strong foundation for the Digital Pivot Initiative, ensuring that the digital platform is best placed to support Indigenous Art Centres.

Celebrating its 15th iteration in 2024, the art fair platform has continued to allow Art Centres to log in through a dedicated portal to upload their artwork for sale, which is a significant achievement considering Art Centres can have limited access to the internet, technology and staff resourcing.

In 2023, 11% of online visitors were international, which shows a slow but steady growth of global interest. The DAAF Foundation will keep refining and improving the platform, informed by feedback from Art Centres and customers. By the end of 2024, the digital art fair will have generated more than $12.5 million in sales for Indigenous artists since 2020.

DAAF Foundation has completed its new international engagement strategy, focusing on deepening relationships with key international stakeholders, including First Nations curators and curators of Australian Indigenous art from public institutions, commercial galleries, collectors, and embassies.