MOCA (the Museum of Chinese in Australia) is a not-for-profit museum based in Sydney’s Chinatown, due to open in 2023. Its founders were galvanised into action after seeing the negative rhetoric around COVID-19, and the effect on Sydney’s Chinatown – businesses closed, tourism declined, and Chinatown’s cultural legacy was at risk. A new museum, we were briefed to create a brand that could help the museum gain the traction and awareness needed to fund its opening. And, a brand that establishes MOCA as a trusted voice for the Chinese Australian community to inspire and engage audiences, and strengthen Australia’s cultural diversity.

Australia is a multicultural society. Yet anti-Asian sentiment – whether on the basis of immigration policies, assumptions linking COVID-19 to China, or misleading media coverage – is on the rise. Shattering these misconceptions isn’t an overnight fix, but a process grounded in reframing the cultural narrative through shared stories. Already, our collaboration has garnered national attention. Within 2 weeks of launch, the number of unique visitors to the new site was at 36% of the 2021 total. We’ve seen coverage from outlets including Time Out and Broadsheet, and received a government grant of $2.28m. And this is only the beginning.