The impact on participating artists of Australia’s participation at the Venice Biennale: report for the Australia Council for the Arts

This report identifies the impact of the Venice Biennale in rela tion to two of the Australia Council for the Arts’ aims of participation: to increase the profile of selected artists who exhibit, nationally and internationally; and to extend and leverage opportunities for those artists. The evaluation found that: (1) the impact of the Biennale is greater for early and mid-career artists than established artists;1 (2) there is scope to provide skill development to commissioned artists to increase their ability to leverage opportunities at or resulting from the Biennale; and (3) there is further scope to leverage engage ment with the Biennale amongst Australian stakeholders, including public gallery directors, professional development participants, the media and the public itself. Leveraging engagement amongst Australian stakeholders would widen the outcomes of the Australia Council’s investment to a larger group, but it may also increase the impact of participation for selected artists.