The Pacific Ocean defines Queensland’s shoreline borders, and the state’s geographic orientation, history and identity are intimately connected to the Oceania region. Queensland is also home to the largest group of Pasifika peoples in Australia. For APT10, the desire to deepen community engagement has culminated in the ACAPA Community Engagement (ACE) Project. Its objectives include working closely with Pasifika peoples and communities in planning public programs and events; creating opportunities for artists to connect with local communities directly; strengthening the use of indigenous languages in the presentation of artworks; and exploring ways for exhibitions of Pacific art to contribute more decisively to social discourses such as mental health and environmental sustainability.

The ACE Project seeks to enrich Pasifika audiences’ engagement with works on display in APT10, while also expanding a wider audiences’ appreciation for and understanding of the cultural context of specific works by Pasifika artists. To this end, ACE has engaged with and contributed to several artist projects within the exhibition, as well as providing artwork labels in the languages of the artists across ten projects.

_{Supported by the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts.}