Creative Achievements 2018 - 2022

*This URL is presented for the purposes of assessment for Australia Council Four Year Investment.

Australian Design Centre is an innovative, vibrant, agile organisation that makes an enormous contribution as a leader in contemporary craft and design in Australia.

We’re proud of our achievements and resilience over the past five years, weathering a time of financial restraint and the disruption of the pandemic.

From 2018-2022 we presented 83 exhibitions in Sydney, 25 ADC On Tour exhibitions across Australia and over 1000 events and public programs with a total attendance of more than one million people. We worked with close to 5000 artists and formed 500 partnerships over this period. This has been a huge endeavour for our team of 7 FTE.

We work collaboratively with First Nations artists and organisations across all of our platforms. In 2022 we developed a ‘Strategic Framework: First Nations Engagement’ that will be implemented along with a First Nations Creative Producer on our team, a First Nations director on our Board and a community reference group.

We have grown our digital communications (website and social media) to promote craft and design globally. Across our social channels we publish and republish content that speaks to our purpose and vision. In 2021 we launched our first podcast ‘Object: stories of design and craft’ for which we were nominated for an Australian Podcast Award.

The core support we receive from Create NSW and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy through the Australia Council has enabled us to leverage close to three million dollars in self-generated revenue, rental subsidies, project grants and corporate and philanthropic support in 2019-22. Aside from the fees we pay artists for their work with us, we have generated close to one million dollars in additional income through sales of artwork, markets and various other activities that we have initiated.

We have a strong and active relationship with the City of Sydney. An accommodation assistance grant with generous rental subsidy supports the Centre. The City has also supported several exhibition projects with cultural grants and annual festival grants for the Sydney Craft Week Festival.

Some of our recent standout achievements include:

We are proud of our commitment to First Nations art, craft and design over many years and recent successes include:

  • Securing funding for a temporary First Nations Creative Producer role.
  • Developing and presenting a program with up to 60% of the exhibitions having First Nations content.
  • Enhancing awareness of First Nations art, craft and design through high quality touring exhibitions.
  • Building relationships with local community through projects such as the Gadigal Mural (2019) and Darlinghurst Indigenous Garden (2022), as well as through the First Nations Creative Producer role.
  • Maintaining relationships with First Nations creatives who have worked with ADC on projects/programs.
  • Staging a successful matched fundraising campaign for First Nations projects and programs.
  • Attracting high levels of traffic on ADC’s website pages dedicated to Indigenous art, craft and design.

In 2023 we implement our Strategic Framework: First Nations Engagement with a First Nations Creative Producer on our team, a new First Nations director on our Board and a new community reference group.

Annual reports of activities can be found here: Annual reports

Here is what some of the people we work with say about Australian Design Centre:

The work ADC does to promote and support Australian designers, artists, and craft practitioners is extremely valuable. Artists are provided with a wonderful platform for showcasing their work, particularly through ADC's touring programs, which enable people in remote areas to appreciate the variety and quality of Australian artwork. Vipoo Srivilasa, artist

The value ADC adds to the sector, both locally and nationally, and the importance of a well- funded craft and design organisation cannot be overestimated. The ADC plays a vital role in providing a public platform for emerging designers and communicating the design’s capacity to solve some of our most urgent social and environmental issues. Professor Kate Sweetapple, Head of School of Design, UTS

ADC, under the dynamic, community facing steerage of Lisa Cahill and her excellent team, continues to be an inclusive, generously supportive organisation that reflects and represents the diversity of the craft and design community in Australia. In addition to delivering a consistently dynamic and thoughtfully curated inhouse exhibition program, the ADC presents touring exhibitions from around Australia & overseas in its exhibition spaces, all of which are supported by a broad range of outstanding public programs and education resources. Melinda Young, artist

In my experience, ADC is the leading craft and design organisation in Australia. I have found ADC to be a collegiate-minded organisation that seeks the betterment of the sector as a whole. It’s critically important for Australian craft and design to have an organisation like ADC in Sydney resourced so that it can achieve its aims. In the absence of a recurrently funded national organisation, ADC is best placed to take a leading role that extends beyond New South Wales. Kevin Murray, World Craft Council Australia

We have been thrilled to have many of our touring exhibtions shown in Sydney at ADC, where they always create and present innovative public programs to more deeply engage with their audience. I have been personally impressed by the stewardship of current Director Lisa Cahill during a challenging time in the organisation's history - before and during the pandemic - and note the establishment of Sydney Craft Week and the new philanthropically supported MAKE Award as further important achievements. Brian Parkes, JamFactory

One of the remarkable ADC achievements that I’ve been involved in is the Sydney Craft Week (SCW). Even though ADC funding had been limited, in mid 2017 the organisation proposed a new event to focus on the ‘beauty of the handmade and the pleasure of making’. Within a few months over 100 events were listed in the inaugural SCW in October 2017, an amazing feat given a short timeline and limited resources. In 2023, the 7th SCW will run, bringing even more makers, designers, practitioners and collectors together in a city-wide festival in Sydney’s ever expanding, thriving contemporary craft community. Liz Williamson, artist

The infographic below shows some key results indicative of our impact.

Top image: Installation view, SIXTY (Alison Milyika Carroll and Pippin Drysdale) at ADC, 2022. Photo: Greg Piper.