Australian Cultural Data Engine

Putting cultural data to work

The Australian Cultural Data Engine project, funded by the Australian Research Council from 2021-23 (LE210100021) , extracted, aggregated and analysed digital data about artists and cultural activity in Australian history.

The project harnesses leading cultural databases to analyse cultural production, artistic networks, and the socio-economic implications of arts and cultural data. It aimed to improve the quality of cultural data available to researchers, industry and government and to facilitate interoperability across platforms, systems and regions.

On this site you will find aggregated datasets, sample analytics, and supplementary materials, available for ongoing analysis and reuse. We encourage you to look through the resources below, and contact the team if you would like to know more.

Explore our data analytics, available through the ACD-Engine Cultural Data Workbook.

  • In a post-pandemic world, conversations about cultural employment, portfolio careers, and the participation of people of diverse genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and sociocultural background are becoming louder across many parts of the world. We look at cultural data to consider how artist careers have evolved over time, and imagine how they might look in the future.

    Career trajectories at Circus Oz. We provide an exploratory data analysis of the career trajectories of Circus Oz performers. Read more.

    AusStage, Gender and Careers. This is an exploratory data analysis of collected data from AusStage with a focus on gender and roles. Read more.

    Exploring success quantitatively using Archibald Prize data. This case study explores the Archibald Prize, an annual portraiture competition held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The analysis focuses on the prize’s history, the artists and subjects involved, and the artworks themselves. Read more.

    Exploring intersections of external data. In this notebook, we walk through a series of case studies that explore the intersections of external data with ACDE datasets, and how they connect with interdisciplinary artist careers. Read more.

    The DAAO 500. Using a curated list of DAAO artists, we take a deep dive into the nuances of the DAAO with a focus on role types. Read more.

    International presence of indigenous artists. This is a brief analysis of collected data from DAAO with a focus on international presence of indigenous artist/designers. Read more.

    DAQA Analysis, Part 1. This case study explores the DAQA dataset, focusing on the educational affliations of architects. Read more.

  • Data about small scale clusters of cultural activity gives us unique insight into the social, political, and artistic values of cities, suburbs, neighbourhoods and regions. Tracing the formation, concentration and convergence of local scenes provides opportunities for better understanding the ways that cultural data are tied to local knowledges, place and people.

    The ACD-Engine Map is a web-based interactive map that allows users to explore our data in a visual and intuitive way. Read more.

    Tracing the evolution of Melbourne’s music scene. We use data extracted from setlist.fm, Discogs and Spotify focus to investigate the relationship between venues and artists in terms of event frequency and genre evolution. Read more.

  • DAQA Analysis, Part 1. This case study explores the DAQA dataset, focusing on the educational affliations of architects. Read more.

    DAQA Analysis, Part 2. In a continuation of the previous case study, we investigate DAQA data further with a set of specific questions in mind. Read more.

  • Natural language processing with DAAO. Using exhibition biographies as input data, we explore the similarities and dissimilarities of DAAO venues over time. Read more.

    The DAAO 500. Using a curated list of DAAO artists, we take a deep dive into the nuances of the DAAO with a focus on role types. Read more.

    International presence of indigenous artists. This is a brief analysis of collected data from DAAO with a focus on international presence of indigenous artist/designers. Read more.

  • AusStage, Gender and Careers. This is an exploratory data analysis of collected data from AusStage with a focus on gender and roles. Read more.

    Career trajectories at Circus Oz. We provide an exploratory data analysis of the career trajectories of Circus Oz performers. Read more.

  • Exploring intersections of external data. In this notebook, we walk through a series of case studies that explore the intersections of external data with ACDE datasets, and how they connect with interdisciplinary artist careers. Read more.

    Tracing the evolution of Melbourne’s music scene. We use data extracted from setlist.fm, Discogs and Spotify focus to investigate the relationship between venues and artists in terms of event frequency and genre evolution. Read more.

    Australian Cultural Data in Trove, VIAF and Wikidata. This prototype tool, developed in collaboration with historian and hacker Professor Tim Sherratt, highlights the extensive and largely unexplored connections between Australian cultural databases and global data aggregators. Access the interpretative notebook here and searchable database here.

  • This section of our cultural data workbook provides an overview of the crucial steps taken in the ACDE data processing, which include developing a unified data model, establishing the Australian Cultural Data Engine Architecture (ACDEA), as well as designing and implementing the ETL (Extraction, Transformation, Loading) process. Additionally, we discuss the future work of data processing, and other interesting projects found during the implementation of this process. Read more.

    Infrastructure Models. These models visualise the ACD-Engine’s developing understanding of our partner collections and how we might accelerate use of their data. Read more.

Last updated 22 November 2023.

Data Analysis and Policy

  • This workbook is the central accessible output from the Australian Cultural Data Engine, explaining our methods and showcasing data analytics across the arts and cultural sector. Access the site.

  • The ACD-Engine has a bespoke policy that governs how data are gathered, formatted, supplemented, analysed and published within our research partnership. Read more.

  • This guide provides a basic approach to entering cultural data into datasets to maximise interoperability and analytical potential. Read more.

  • A simple, easy-to-use guide to mapping cultural data, produced by the ACD-Engine team and partners. Read more.

Datasets and Information Architecture

  • This section of our cultural data workbook presents our innovative new information architecture, as an exemplar of database construction for the arts and cultural sector, and a detailed explanation of the ACD-Engine’s process of integrating cultural data collections. Access the site here.

  • On this page, you can find datasets drawing on the cultural collections involved in the Australian Cultural Data Engine, along with codebooks and data dictionaries to help you use them. Read more.

  • A simple, easy-to-use guide to mapping cultural data, produced by the ACD-Engine team and partners. Read more.

Other Resources