Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2015 opens

31 Jul 2015

Premier and Arts Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed funding for Far North Queensland visual arts, dance, music and fashion, while attending the opening of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) last night.

“CIAF provides artists with an ethical pathway to take their art to a global audience and presents economic opportunities for artists and Indigenous art centres,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“I’m proud that my government will continue to support CIAF for the next four festivals to showcase this work, with core funding through the Backing Indigenous Arts initiative,” the Premier said.

CIAF is a major tourism drawcard for the region, with almost $3 million in direct sales of art works injecting more than $7 million into the Queensland economy and the event itself attracting more than 83 000 visitors to date.

“In 2014, work from CIAF was purchased by Harvard University Art Museum, National Gallery of Canada, University of Washington, National Gallery of Australia, Auckland Art Gallery and the University of Virginia,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“This year’s impressive list of international collectors and curators ensures that artwork from Queensland artists will again make its way to collections across the world.”

The Premier said the Queensland Government had supported CIAF since its inception in 2009 with funding through the Backing Indigenous Arts initiative delivered by Arts Queensland to build a sustainable and ethical Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts industry.

“CIAF is proof of the importance of investing in the arts sector for economic, social and cultural outcomes.”

The Premier said that support from Backing Indigenous Arts, the founding force for CIAF, also ensured artwork from remote Indigenous art centres would be on show at the event.

“It is critical that artists have economic opportunities to support themselves, and that their artwork can be seen, sold and appreciated,” she said.

For more info on CIAF visit ciaf.com.au (external site)