Winner
Surf World Gold Coast Inc.
Sharing the Stoke
Surf World Gold Coast opened in June 2009, and is Queensland’s only museum dedicated to surfing heritage and beach culture. It is located in premises leases from the National Trust of Queensland and managed by Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
Surf World Gold Coast undertook numerous initiatives in the past twelve months to progress the Museum to the next stages in its development. They held a number of diverse and exciting public programs throughout the year, all delivered by a dedicated and fully volunteer Management Committee and Staff. Through these initiatives, partnerships were strengthened and new ones developed, providing legacy outcomes.
New initiatives included: a restructured website design; implementation of a collection management system to facilitate wide access to the collection; securing of government grants to upgrade and improve the visitor experience; a marketing strategy to improve awareness of the collection and attract increased attendance; delivery of new exhibitions, events and public programs; development of education programs linked to the curriculum; and key initiatives to improve connections to the tourism sector.
Surf World delivered an impressive number of events and public programs including: hosting of the Peruvian Huanchaco World Surfing Reserve Tour featuring Peru’s first World Champion Surfer; delivery of the 2016 Nikon Surf Photo/Movie of the Year Exhibition; hosting of filmmaker/author Phil Avalon’s book launch; film screenings; and engaging with audiences at a range of off-site events, including pop-up museums, local music festivals and tourism expos. They also loaned a number of significant items from their collection to external exhibitions and events.