Cairns Art Gallery is committed to building a collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and, through purchasing and commissioning new works by artists such as Segar Passi. The Gallery now has the second largest collection of Passi works outside the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

In 2025, the Gallery will acquire its first work by internationally acclaimed artist Sally Gabori, because of a new initiative of the Gallery Foundation – the Legacy Collection Fundraising Campaign.

An important aspect of Collection management is the care and conservation of works, such as the 2025 conservation of a major print in the Collection by Alick Tipoti.

New research is initiated through the Gallery’s exhibitions, and this is now accessible through the new online First Nations Research Archive. Examples of this include the Gallery’s Ilan Pasin exhibition in 1998, which was the first exhibition in Australia to present Torres Strait Islander art and culture.

Philanthropic organisations and industry partnerships support artists in the production of new works. To date the Cairns RSL Club has provided 12 Artist Fellowships to fund artists such as Simone Arnol and Tommy Pau, to produce new for their exhibitions at the Gallery.

Over the past 25 years, the Cairns Art Gallery Foundation has partnered with the Gallery to commission artists such as Heather Wunjarra Koowootha to create works for the Collection. The Double R Arts Foundation has also funded a range of artists to produce new work for exhibition.

Bringing great art to the region includes bringing exhibitions by renowned First Nations artists to the Gallery. In 2018, the Gallery’s exhibition Continental Drift presented, for the first time ever, works by Blak artists from South Africa with works by First Nations artists from North Australia, creating new opportunities for cross-cultural dialogues with regional artists. 

In 2025 the work of two internationally acclaimed artists will be presented for the first time to audiences in the region. Sally Gabori and Albert Namatjira will be showcased in major exhibitions at the Gallery as part of the 30-year anniversary program.