Cultural collections are living expressions of our history, culture, and creativity. Safeguarding these treasures is not just a responsibility but a commitment to passing on this legacy to future generations. All local governments are responsible for the care of cultural collections, with a recent audit by our team revealing an approximate average value of over $5million for Western Australian metro collections. Maintaining these collections is critical to growing their social and economic value.

Despite this, ongoing audits and valuations are rarely undertaken - a set and forget mentality is pervasive. Yet maintaining the value of public art is reliant on ongoing care, as well as being a requirement for appropriate insurance cover.

Reflecting a best practice approach to collection care, the City of Ballarat recently engaged our team to undertake a comprehensive audit and valuation of their public art collection. This work involved auditing each artwork for quality, deterioration, and required maintenance, as well as a current market valuation.