HOTA, Home of the Arts

Finding the cultural heart of a city

Collaboration with Boccalatte, 2017-18

ARTS & CULTURE

FRAMING THE CHALLENGE

With a huge cultural precinct already under construction, how would the City of Gold Coast ensure their major investment engaged the whole community?

RESPONSIBILITIES

I designed a project and methodology for a cultural research project and delivery of a way forward report. The design involved a citywide engagement plan with the local arts and culture community, mayor, senior city and council stakeholders, precinct staff and board. With this group I conducted informal interviews to generate factors for success and used card sorting to stimulate conversation around the purpose, positioning and personality of the precinct. Out in the community, I conducted a two-week study using observation and interviews to investigate progressive Gold Coast social and cultural hangouts and to develop an understanding of the needs and wants of a future audience. I combined the insights from this study with a review of existing strategies and community research, competitive landscape and consumer trend analyses and collaborated with the design and executive teams to design a report including audience personas, engagement strategies, and a suite of detailed recommendations for brand strategy, naming and positioning for the cultural precinct.

OUTCOMES

Following several previous and unsuccessful attempts to ‘nail’ a solution, this project design helped a City navigate its way through a very large and complex set of decisions about a major investment and did so with the community needs at its heart and with the people as key drivers of decision making. The way forward report I co-authored drove the successful naming of the precinct, the design of the brand and visual identity as well as the precinct’s cultural program of community arts events.

REFLECTION

This project was a great opportunity to engage in a longer period of design research giving me insights into the nuances and benefits of a more ethnographic approach. The resultant strategy also benefited from this approach, being highly localised in its profiling of the cultural audience and resulting in more effective strategies to attract the wider community and enhance the lives of Gold Coast residents and visitors.

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