Indigenous innovators: the role of web marketing for cultural micro‐enterprises

Abstract

Abstract The Indigenous cultural sector is a dynamic and highly valuable to the Australian economy, returning an estimated $100 million annually. The majority of Indigenous cultural producers are micro‐enterprises—businesses consisting of fewer than five employees. Many of these struggle to market their products, some from extremely remote and isolated locations; others with few resources in urban areas. This paper initially approaches a conceptual orientation to Web marketing as a potential signifier of innovation and entrepreneurship. The paper draws on previous literature and a current exploratory study of Indigenous Cultural Micro‐Enterprises (ICMEs), focussing on two case studies for deeper analysis. The two exemplary cases outlined are Maningrida Arts Centre, and the performing arts organisation Kooemba Jdarra. Specifically, their innovative use of recent technology (multimedia websites) will be assessed to answer the question: What are the attributes of effective ICME Web marketing? Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.