APY Art Centre Collective: Taking Indigenous Art to the City

Description

In early 2019, just a year after opening a gallery in Sydney, Australia, the elders of the APY Art Centre Collective proposed opening a second gallery in Adelaide, a much smaller city. The first year in Sydney had been profitable, in part due to an aggressive digital presence. The Collective had some seed money, an offer of a small gallery space, and the draw of serving a large number of the APY community who were residents in Adelaide. But the Adelaide art market was tiny compared to Sydney’s, staff was stretched thin, and budgets were tight. The board’s vision was certainly compelling, but was it practical? Could a digital strategy help Adelaide’s success without cannibalizing the Collective’s success in Sydney? What would such a strategy look like?

Learning Objective

This case is suitable in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on social entrepreneurship, non-profit management courses that emphasize earned income strategies, and digital marketing courses that focus on firms with limited resources. After working through the case and assignment questions students will be able to do the following: Explore the opportunities and challenges specific to Indigenous or First Nations communities striving for cultural survival and economic self-sufficiency in a capitalist context. Use a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis to evaluate the potential and challenges that arts and cultural organizations face as they adopt an earned income strategy. Apply strategy concepts while considering risks and mitigating actions to develop expansion options for a non-profit arts organization. Evaluate and apply digital marketing tools to address resource disadvantages, transform a go-to-market strategy, and enhance community engagement.